Jean Covillault marked the 14th season of “Top Chef” with his big smile and his unfailing good humor.
The candidate of Paul Pairet's brigade was eliminated after ten weeks of competition.
After a war of restaurants where his project with Carla and Mathieu was not retained, he failed during an eliminatory test prepared upstream.
But, strong in his playful character, "Jeannot", as he likes to call himself, keeps his enthusiasm.
He looks back on this adventure and confides in his projects.
TV
MAGAZINE.
- How did you experience your elimination?
Jean COVILLAULT.
- I was not at all disappointed or bitter because I was happy and proud to have come this far.
I was not excpecting that at all.
I took the competition with great enthusiasm and simplicity.
It was an amazing experience!
You've set off on a rather special test...
The restaurant war is a particular challenge and the last chance this time was a test carried out upstream for thirty minutes.
I wasn't good but that's okay, it's part of the competition.
Read also“It was the law of the strongest”: Philippe Etchebest, Glenn Viel and Paul Pairet participated in the restaurant war in “Top Chef”
Have you digested the fact of not having been able to open your restaurant in the restaurant war?
It's true that when you're a cook, you do your job to welcome customers, but I'm not disappointed.
If it is, we were not chosen because François-Régis Gaudry has a phobia of Mexicans and the inhabitants of Suresnes do not like spicy food (laughs).
It is not because our concept was not chosen that it had been badly worked.
It's just that the customers preferred the others.
What did the bosses tell you at the end?
It was special because the event ended at 4:30 in the morning!
Everyone was a little knocked out… I'm just a little disappointed on this point because I would have liked to have had a bigger debrief with the chefs, to take a little time.
But, given the time, we weren't going to drag on in the Suresnes car park (laughs).
The chefs told me about my personality and my smile and this is something that particularly touched me.
For what ?
Because before being a good cook, I try above all to be a kind, smiling and happy person.
That's what matters most to me.
“I love the simple pleasures in life”
Jean Covillault
Where does this philosophy of life come from?
It's quite a journey.
I lived in a super loving and caring family and my grandfather inspires me a lot.
I like the simple little pleasures in life like a subway that arrives at the right time or the birds that come back in the spring.
In my professional life, I've had the chance to meet lots of accessible, kind, generous and humanly inspiring people.
You also made viewers laugh with your humor. Would you like to work in television?
I love cooking and I think there are a lot of things to do in audiovisual, radio or television.
I don't close my door.
So far, I haven't been offered anything.
Me, I want to have fun and have fun.
I'm a fairly spontaneous person so we need a program that is lively, where we can have fun.
I need to have a little space and to be able to express myself, to be who I am.
In "Top Chef" I was completely freewheeling.
That was what was fun and what people liked.
Read alsoAlexandre Marchon, eliminated from “Top Chef”: “Hélène Darroze wants to take Danny Khezzar very far”
How did you experience the ordeal of the secret kitchen?
I'm a 4L in life, I need time to get started so getting back into the competition was not easy.
Especially since I had already moved on.
It was fun to come face to face with Danny because he left pretty early on the show.
When I saw him, I said to myself that he must have seen a lot of heads go by!
Why did you sign up for “Top Chef”?
I have always watched the show with my family or with my friends.
Everyone was pushing me to participate but I wanted to feel ready.
I left my job last July and, at the end of August, a friend sent me a message to tell me that registrations were still open.
The same day, a caster contacted me by message!
The planets aligned so I thought it was the right year to get started.
What did this competition mean to you?
I like competition but I'm not very competitive.
For me, cooking is about sharing and working a competition alone in your kitchen did not appeal to me.
What I love in "Top Chef" is that there is a real encounter with the personality, the candidate.
We are as interested in the man as in the kitchen.
It suited me because I do simple cooking.
Were there things that surprised you in the competition?
Not really.
I'm a bit like a child, I like to play and I always find it funny to have different themes and constraints that push you to think.
I loved this experience, for me it was like a summer camp: I went away every week with my friends, I cooked and I laughed.
Read alsoBistrot Top Chef: behind the scenes of the evening with Danny Khezzar in the kitchen
How did you acclimate to the cameras?
I quickly forgot about them and didn't realize that behind it were three million viewers watching.
I really approached this competition without the fuss and without pressure.
I had two objectives: to join Paul Pairet's team and not to leave on the first day.
When I was taken on the purple team and then won the sham test with the coffee cup in the second episode, it immediately de-stressed me!
“He has a little Édouard Baer side, with his lyrical flights and his artistic side.
»
Jean Covillault on Paul Pairet
Why did you want to join Paul Pairet's team?
I greatly admire Paul Pairet, the man he is, but also his career, which I find very beautiful.
He was not understood in France and he nevertheless believed in his vision of things.
He went to Asia and he was a hit.
It also has a relationship to simplicity that touched me.
He told me
“It's easy to add but it's more complicated to remove.
»
Each time, he advised me to purify my dishes by concentrating on two or three powerful elements and consistency.
I also liked the fact that he never questions my interpretation but rather the idea or the logic.
It served and helped me a lot.
He has a little Édouard Baer side, with his lyrical flights and his artistic side.
Sometimes we don't immediately understand what he is telling us, but if we think about it, it becomes clear.
Jean Covillault and Paul Pairet in “Top Chef” Julien THEUIL / M6
What link did you create?
He remains my idol in this competition, he is a person I greatly esteem.
He has a form of genius, like Pierre Gagnaire, with a singular and original side.
But it's not a character who plays, he is himself.
This singularity and this self-acceptance, I find it magnificent.
He is a great gentleman with whom I would like to keep in touch.
How was your passion for cooking born?
In my family everyone has passions and what brings us together are lunches or dinners where we discuss around the table.
It's super friendly and lively.
I liked the idea of bringing joy and fun into everyday life.
I have always cooked with my mom.
When I was told that I could earn money by cooking, I said to myself
“this is what I want to do!
My parents told him to pass a general baccalaureate in case I wanted to change paths.
I worked a lot in high school to join the Paul Bocuse Institute.
Read also “Top Chef World All Stars”: which French channel will broadcast the international competition?
You had very good honors in your baccalaureate S. Have we tried to encourage you to change paths?
I was already talking about it with passion and I have a mule-headed side.
I knew what I wanted to do.
I find it super important to bring your person into your work.
I am an enthusiastic person and I need to feel the quirky and funny side.
For me, you can bring lightness and joy to your work without looking like a puppet.
What was your career path then?
After the Paul Bocuse Institute, I worked for the Intercontinental group where I trained executive chefs.
I worked six months in different places: Lisbon, Marseille, Malta, Amsterdam and Paris.
Then I was sous-chef at the Crowne Plaza in Neuilly for two years.
Then, I wanted to return to the kitchen in a smaller structure.
I became chef at Belleval, a hotel-restaurant where I offered a more personal market menu.
After two years, I felt the need to change and I left.
Do you plan to open your own restaurant?
It's not an absolute goal.
I first want to create cool and accessible events in the countryside.
I have several residencies planned for this summer, notably at my place in Moulins sur Alliers or near Bordeaux.
At the end of May, I will also have a nice residence in Paris for two weeks, it will be incredible!
Next week, I will be in charge of Bistrot Top Chef.
Do you have projects with the other candidates?
I have plenty with everyone, Léo, Hugo, Jacques, Victor, Danny, Bérengère!
We are a super class, super close-knit.
Alexandre Marchon will have a stand at Taste of Paris, we will all go see him.
I will stay all Saturday with him in the kitchen.
How do you live your notoriety?
It's very pleasant and I find it quite funny.
I try to keep a cool head.
Someone once told me
“just because people are interested in you doesn't make you interesting”
and I remembered that.
People who appreciate me do so because I am simple and smiling.
I intend to stay the same person.
