the essential
This Thursday evening, the show Beijing Express is back for the twentieth season. In addition to Max and Hélène, a second duo from Haut-Garonnais will be on screen: Christophe and William. The two fifty-year-old brothers presented themselves to La Dépêche.
“We thought it was a joke,” say the two brothers, smiles on their faces. Christophe and William, two Haut-Garonnais aged 54 and 56, are participating in the new season of Beijing Express. The first episode will be broadcast this Thursday evening on the M6 channel, from 9:10 p.m. It was Manon, Christophe’s daughter, who registered them for the casting of the show.
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“Since we lost our father four years ago, we have had a family reunion every Tuesday evening at our mother’s house,” they explain. “It’s a ritual: we have an aperitif and a meal all together. ” It was during one of these evenings that their children mentioned the adventure games on television. First comes the idea of Koh Lanta, then of Beijing Express. “We didn’t know at all how to register,” adds Christophe. “That’s why I entrusted the mission to my daughter, but we thought we’d never be called back.”
The 400 shots together
The show sees several pairs compete in a race across different countries. All with just one euro per day per person. For this edition, competitors are traveling through Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho and South Africa. “We knew that we wouldn’t have any problems with our agreement,” says Christophe.
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The trials did not scare the fifty-year-old brothers. “We have done the 400 strokes together since childhood, so we can climb mountains, even if sometimes we have difficulty doing it, he jokes. And then we are used to leaving together , something always happens to us, we always have lots of anecdotes.”
One a restorer, the other an artisan
Their weak point: foreign languages. “My English is rotten,” confides the participant, who never misses an opportunity to joke. I had worked on Mandarin. Too bad, this year, it was in Tanzania.” William puts things into perspective: “We’re not the first, but we’re not the last. It’s not bad, it went well.”
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The duo says they are “curious” about the broadcast: “We can’t wait to see how it was put together.” Christophe, restaurateur at Place Occitane in Toulouse, wonders how his customers will react. “I only see regulars, they all know me, we kiss each other,” he explains. For his part, William is a craftsman, and lives in Pibrac. Both born in Saint-Affrique in Aveyron, they will proudly wear the colors of our region on M6. Just like the Toulouse duo Max and Hélène, also in the competition.
