He returned to the arena in September 2023 to support Léa Salamé in “Quelle époque!”, on France 2. The continuation of a career which began, for the sixty-year-old, forty years earlier, in 1983.
Christophe Dechavanne
hosted then a game show on the front page.
He then joined Antenne 2 to present “It's even better in the afternoon” where he interviews current celebrities.
Before returning to
TF1
.
An episode that he recounts in his autobiography
Sans transition...
, just published by Flammarion.
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At the time, in 1987, Christophe Dechavanne was at the Cannes Film Festival for Antenne 2. There he met Francis Bouygues, the new owner of TF1, the first privatized channel.
“Many headline stars have left for Berlusconi’s Five.
He finds himself dry with a chain to turn
,” recalls the host in his book.
An offer is made to him to join the house.
Young Dechavanne hesitates.
Half of Luis Fernandez's salary
He sees the boss at his place again, for lunch.
“So, young man, how much are you worth?”
»
Francis Bouygues asks him during their interview, relates Christophe Dechavanne, who has retained affection for the founder of the construction group.
The figure of 300,000 francs per month is fixed.
Around half the salary of Luis Fernandez, then considered the highest paid footballer in France, at Matra Racing.
The median salary in France was around 8,500 francs per month.
Also read “The Wheel of Fortune”: Christophe Dechavanne’s crazy bet
In 1987, Christophe Dechavanne took the reins of a daily cultural program entitled “Panique sur le 16”, which was inspired by the codes of “It’s even better in the afternoon”.
The experience lasts five months.
It is followed by the more fruitful one of “Heavens, my Tuesday!”
".
As he himself says, Dechavanne wanted to
“make people talk”
.
We know the success of this debate show where scuffles were not rare.
Ended in 2001, it attracted up to six million viewers.
Contacted by
Télé-Loisirs
, Christophe Dechavanne returned to this prosperous period:
“Money was never my main driving force.
But this salary was enormous, obviously, and I was very happy with it because I was able to provide for a lot of people and buy myself a country house.”