Do you dream of leaving with a red backpack on your shoulder on the “Beijing Express” adventure?
It is possible but the road will be long!
If the candidates who participate in season 17, currently broadcast on M6, will travel nearly 10,000 kilometers through Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil, the journey they have already made upstream, during the castings, seems almost as grueling.
No less than 45,000 people (90,000 after the success of the 2021 edition) turn up, in fact, each year for the chance to set off with Stéphane Rotenberg to conquer distant lands.
At the end of a very long process of more than three months, only sixteen lucky ones, that is eight pairs, have this chance.
To discover
“Koh-Lanta, the sacred fire”: date, candidates, news… Everything you need to know
Read alsoFiction authors put pressure on M6
The casting for season 18 is open!
The casting for season 18 is already open.
To compete, you must be at least 18 years old and be available for 45 days in the third quarter of 2023. You can complete your file on the site www.casting-pekinexpress.fr Above all, you will need to bring three photos per person: a portrait, a silhouette and a photo summarizing your personality but also a snapshot of your partner if you are participating as a duo.
“We are studying the 45,000 application files”
Thierry Guillaume, producer of "Beijing Express"
Before knowing if you will have the chance to be retained, you will have to be patient.
“We are studying the 45,000 application files”
, assures Thierry Guillaume
“We make a first selection according to regions, ages, links... Then, we receive in Paris 400 pairs in real life during a first filmed casting.
We retain what we consider to be the forty most interesting duets and then we review them for much longer
.
About fifteen are finally selected.
They then undergo extensive medical examinations (exercise tests, blood and cardiological tests, etc.) and even meet with a psychologist.
Everyone can participate
Unlike other shows, anyone can participate in “Beijing Express”
.
"There is often a sociology of television programs with a typology of candidates for each
," explains Stéphane Rotenberg.
“
Beijing Express
”
, for its part, has an astonishing variety of profiles.
We find all social backgrounds and all ages… ”
, continues the presenter.
During season 11, a participant was even… 80 years old!
“The richness of the cast is incredible
, adds Thierry Guillaume.
Every year people come to us that we had not imagined.
We don't have a precise will at the beginning of the casting.
We just know that we want diverse profiles with young people, old people, people from the North, the South, Belgians, couples, friends… But then we let ourselves be surprised and that's the case every time
” .
For this season 17, the production had the pleasure of meeting a duo formed by an employee and her boss… who say “you”!
A first on the show.
“They are great and we are happy to have found them”
, continues the producer.
Read alsoAudiences: what score for the launch of season 17 of “Beijing Express” on M6?
The difficult choice of the unknown duo
The choice of the pair of strangers always remains a special moment for the casting teams.
For several years, mayonnaise does not take and this duo often loses quickly.
“We voluntarily put opposite profiles
, admits Thierry Guillaume.
We had, a few years in a row, pairs of strangers who had trouble getting along.
This time, we wanted a positive story.
It's off to a good start, but will it last?
".
It obviously evokes the duo formed by Angie and Nathalie.
Last year, Vanessa and Étienne, although very different, got along well.
However, the latter had chosen to give up at the end of stage 3, resulting in the elimination of his partner.
Much appreciated by viewers for his originality and humor, Étienne will return in a surprising role during the fifth stage of this 17th season.
Nathalie and Angie form the unknown duo of season 17 of "Beijing express" Patrick Robert / M6
Read alsoSisters, employee and boss or lover: who are the candidates for season 17 of “Beijing Express”?
Rescue pairs
In the event of forced abandonment for medical reasons, for example, three rescue pairs, who have all the vaccines and visas, are ready to leave.
It is stipulated in the rules that they can integrate the game until the end of the 5th stage.
“It has happened before that we had to call on the rescue pairs but it was generally during the first or second stage.
Afterwards, we have a greater tendency to fish out eliminated pairs
, ”explains Thierry Guillaume.
During season 11, Élodie, who formed with Gaëlle the duo of unknowns, had been forced to return to France on learning of the death of her father, forcing her duo to abandon.
They had been replaced by a new pair who joined the game during the second stage.
Read also“Beijing Express” returns on Thursday February 16 on M6 with a new rule
No typical profile
Another particularity of “Beijing express”: the least expected pairs can win.
During season 14, Claire and her father Christophe, not very sporty, had thwarted all the forecasts by winning the final.
“We have candidates that nothing predestined to live this kind of adventure.
This allows everyone in front of their screen to say to themselves
“
I too am going to go there next year
”
, analyzes Thierry Guillaume
.
The profile of those who present themselves at castings has therefore evolved over the years.
"The fact that people who weren't necessarily athletic won the game changed things
," notes Stéphane Rotenberg.
There are physical moments but they are rarely eliminatory and that everyone has understood that, so the people who show up are very different from those we had in the first seasons.
People have understood that there is no typical profile”
.
