On October 21, the news had the effect of a bomb in the television world. It was announced that day that Nelson Monfort and Philippe Candeloro would no longer provide figure skating commentary on France Télévisions as of November 1. Instead, the group chose to trust a 100% female trio composed of Marie-Christelle Maury, Annick Dumont (who was already alongside the duo) and Nathalie Péchalat. Three experts of their kind since the first was until now a reporter on skating, the second is more focused on technique and finally, the mother of Jean Dujardin's daughters (Jeanne, 8 years old, and Alice, 3 years old) is a former champion of this discipline.
A decision which therefore puts an end to nearly twenty years of collaboration between Nelson Monfort and Philippe Candeloro. Guest of At Jordan'sthe former skating champion was naturally questioned on the subject. The opportunity for him to clarify certain things. “The real reason, the first one, is that Nelson is retiringit is obligatory because you can no longer be an employee in a public service beyond the age of 70. He has already done a year and a half off to be able to do Paris 2024. I am more the collateral damage of someone who is retiring. And we kept one person in the new trio, it’s Annick our colleague” he said.
Philippe Candeloro ousted before the end of his contract
But for Jordan De Luxe, Philippe Candeloro's few slip-ups on the air would also have contributed to getting him ousted. Something that the main person concerned denies. “I'm a skater so I've never made fun of people on the ice. On the contrary, I have always respected them. On the other hand, when there are moments that are a little dead… Basically they came to get me because I was like that. It's invisible discrimination if France Télévisions fired me for that but I don't think that's the main reason. In any case, they did not want to renew my services“. Philippe Candeloro specifies that he is currently in the phase of “early termination negotiation” with France Télévisions given that his contract was to run until the end of December.
Although saddened by this turning page in his career, Philippe Candeloro is now looking to the future. “Now, it's a shame, I'm no longer going to present skating but with Nelson we are on other things“, he concluded on the subject.
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