It was the adventure of their lives.
Brandon and Nathan, Belgian twins, were one of the eight pairs in the 18th season of
“Pékin Express”
but the vagaries of the game got the better of their determination.
To discover
TV tonight: our selection of the day
The two 21-year-old brothers, security agents in Liège, registered in the program even though they had never taken a vacation in their lives and had not traveled beyond France.
So it was the first time they took a plane and went far from home.
The duo experienced difficulties from the first test.
Also read “Beijing Express”: discover the candidates for season 18 launched this evening on M6
It must be said that the production of the show never gives any favors to the participants, especially during the first challenge of the game in order to immediately test their psychological and physical endurance.
“There is no ramp-up, we immediately want them to get used to it being hard
,” explains Stéphane Rotenberg, the presenter of the show.
After hours of plane and car travel, the candidates arrived in front of Lake Batur in Bali, Indonesia and had to get into the swing of things right away.
One member of each pair was blindfolded and had to be guided by the other to finish building a raft to navigate the lake and get instructions for hitchhiking.
A difficult first challenge for the twins.
Brandon, who had removed his blindfold, had great difficulty guiding Nathan to build the raft.
“I don’t understand anything, we’re going to stay there for hours
,” he got angry from the start before bursting into tears, leaving his brother in complete disarray.
“What makes me crack is the pressure of the race, the beginning... We start straight away, we have no rest after the flight.
Above all, it's the first time we've experienced emotions like that.
It had to come out
,” the young man then explained to the camera.
Brandon bursts into tears during the first test of “Pékin Express” Screenshot/M6
Read alsoThe rule of the “White Flag”, the return of Étienne and Vanessa… Discover the new features of season 18 of “Pékin Express”
Last, the pair then started hitchhiking without much success because, as Stéphane Rotenberg humorously pointed out in voiceover, the two brothers were trying to make the cars stop... in silence.
A technique that obviously didn't work.
After a long wait and more talking, the twins finally managed to find a car.
But the rest of their adventure then no longer appeared on screen.
“I notice that I don’t necessarily have the shoulders to finish the adventure”
Brandon, candidate for “Pékin Express”
At the start of the second stage and while Jérôme and Emma had won the immunity test, Stéphane Rotenberg announced the abandonment of the Belgian twins to the seven duos present.
“You see, a partner is missing.
After a particularly difficult first day, Brandon and Nathan decided to give up
,” explained the presenter, causing the surprise of the candidates.
“They never found accommodation for the night…”
Also read “I lost 8 kilos…”: what do the “Beijing Express” candidates really eat during their adventure?
The reality was harsher than they had imagined.
“It’s certain that by signing up for “Pékin Express”, it was going to be hard, to be complicated
,” Brandon then confides.
In the end, I notice that I don't necessarily have the shoulders to finish the adventure because being in an unknown country, losing my bearings, my house, my family, my parents, that's not necessarily obvious.
We tried but we clearly see that we can't do it.
We decided to stop “Pékin Express”.”
A new pair will replace them at the start of the second stage.
Each year, the production chooses two additional duos in the event of abandonment.
They have their visas and their vaccinations and are ready to leave at any time.
A defection at the start of the game is easier to manage for the show's teams.
“At the start of the adventure we have the logistical, technical and editorial capacity to overcome this problem
,” notes Stéphane Rotenberg.