Unusual situation at France 2: a news director is preparing to take over from a star presenter on the air.
According to information from Le Figaro that we can confirm, Laurent Guimier will replace Thomas Sotto to host a duet with Léa Salamé “Elysée 2022”, the great political show of the first part of the evening of France 2. He will therefore co-present the last debate between the candidates at the Congress of the Republicans for the presidential election, scheduled for Tuesday, November 30.
With the mission of relaunching the audiences of “Élysée 2022”.
Launched at the start of the school year, this new formula pitting Valérie Pécresse against Gérald Darmanin only interested 1.05 million viewers on average (5.1% audience share) and had been totally eclipsed by the debate between Jean- Luc Mélenchon and Éric Zemmour, programmed the same evening on BFMTV, which had, for its part, attracted 3.8 million viewers, or 19% of the public present in front of his television.
An unprecedented tandem
Initially, the public channel did not want to replace Thomas Sotto and leave Léa Salamé alone at the helm of this meeting.
"Léa is brilliant and completely legitimate", assured us a framework.
Then France Télévisions approached Laurent Delahousse, who refused the job.
The Julian Bugier trail was then mentioned.
It is finally another unpublished tandem which was selected by the president of France Televisions Delphine Ernotte. A choice that temporarily allows us to turn the page on the Thomas Sotto affair. A few days ago, the presenter of "Télématin" and joker of the "20 Hours" of the weekend when Laurent Delahousse is on vacation announced that he was withdrawing from the political program.
In question, his romantic relationship with Mayada Boulos, the communications advisor to Prime Minister Jean Castex.
"A personal event, which I do not wish to develop because it concerns my private life, pushes me to make a simple and clear decision: during the presidential campaign, I have chosen to step back from
Elysée 2022
", the journalist told us in an interview published on November 7, urged by his colleagues to clarify his situation.