He's been watching "
Top Chef
" since he was 12 years old.
And this year, it is up to him to make future candidates dream.
Jean Covillault
, 26, trained at the Paul Bocuse Institute, is one of the candidates for the fourteenth season of the M6 program broadcast every Wednesday evening on M6.
"
I didn't want to do figuration so I matured the idea of participating in the competition and I waited to have the weapons and the legitimacy
", he confides to us this Tuesday on the set. of BuzzTV.
This fan of Jean Imbert was contacted by the production a few months before the shooting.
“
I don't know how they found me.
I'm not very social media, my Instagram account is quite poor
, ”he tells us.
Funny and a bit retro, Jean is an endearing character in this edition.
“
I am often told that I am an old man in a young body,
he adds.
My flannel shirt testifies to that.
I always take that comment with a smile.
It's true that I have passions for quite old guys.
I assume and forbid myself to keep the soul of a child
.
The proof, on the set of "Top Chef", between the tests, the former chef of the Belleval, a four-star hotel in Paris, killed time playing the Nintendo Switch console with other candidates, the brothers Jacques and Matthew.
"
We were the three idiots to let off steam at
Super Smash Bros
and we hit each other on the face, we laughed a lot
," he recalls.
Read alsoThe “Top Chef” notebook: Gaudry is overzealous, JoeyStarr is freewheeling and candidates are murdering the French language
During this interview, Jean Covillault revealed other behind the scenes of “Top Chef”, such as those on the preparation of the tests.
Do the candidates get the titles before?
“
We are given the theme of the event a little in advance
, confirms the Auvergnat who puts forward the argument of waste.
“
We have to send small recipe recommendations to production, which cannot provide for all the products in the world in the pantry
,” he explains.
As a general rule, the candidates are informed three days before the shooting, which gives them time to hone in on a recipe.
“
You have to churn and find the flash of genius
,” says Jean, who defends himself from cheating by asking his cook friends for help.
“
I didn't feel like calling friends.
I'm the one doing the contest, it's my recipe.
Afterwards, there is no contraindication, people do what they want
,” he concludes.