He was the darling of viewers of Koh-Lanta, the cursed totem. Mattéo, 20, had won over the public in one episode, arousing enormous empathy when he could not hide his sadness at having been chosen last during the constitution of the teams. The purple tribe definitely did not give him a gift since at the end of the second program broadcast on Tuesday on TF1, she eliminated him without hesitation. The dancer of the Paris Operarecovered from his disappointment, answered questions from 20 Minutes.
When Denis Brogniart extinguishes your torch, you seem almost relieved. Is it exaggerated to say that?
Yes ! (laughs) It’s a relief because the last day was really long. The council took place late and I had known for several hours that I was going to be eliminated. But, on the whole of my adventure, it’s not at all a relief, it’s a huge disappointment.
Your ally Stephanie voted against you and you against her. You haven’t considered taking advantage of Yannick’s black bracelet to try a strategy against him?
We were both targeted. They were five against us. We couldn’t do anything, we didn’t have a collar and we knew very well that they were going to split their votes between the two of us. They would have put three votes on one and two on the other. If we had voted against Yannick, that would have been three votes against him, taking into account his black bracelet. That would have made a tie and we should have voted again. Yannick would have been saved anyway. So we said to ourselves that we were going to vote against each other, so that the person who would stay in the game would not alienate anyone.
The fact of having been chosen last during the formation of the teams conditioned all the rest of your career?
Completely ! From that moment, I felt in danger and then it was a vicious circle. When there was still Céline and Setha, I could tell myself that they would probably come out before me… But I knew that I was not in the majority alliance and I had the impression of having a target on the front . Because I had been chosen last, that I had shown a weakness… And as in Koh-Lanta, we judge very quickly, on appearances, and that I don’t seem to have an appearance that freaks you out or that makes you want to have me on your team… After crying, I said to myself: “C is good, you are categorized, direct: weak”. I felt very in danger and it showed.
Did it bring back bad memories of school?
Not at all ! Me, at school, I have always been very integrated. I was the one who was chosen first because I was very athletic, hence the violence of the moment. This sort of thing had never happened to me. Today, I receive lots of messages from people telling me: “Don’t worry, I’ve been through this all my schooling…”, but I’ve never experienced this. I was always integrated into the groups.
You are one of the candidates who aroused the most reactions during the broadcast of the first episode. Do you receive a lot of messages?
I get a lot. My number of subscribers jumped on Instagram – compared to the other candidates, there is no photo. I get messages all day, I can’t even reply to everyone. I said that, in the game, I had lost confidence in myself, but these messages, it’s like a bandage, it feels a lot of good. It gives me confidence to see that my sincerity, my authenticity, my way of not hiding my emotions, etc. people like.
You were the youngest of this season. Did you feel like you had to prove yourself?
I kept saying that I had to surpass myself, to do three times more than the others. That’s what I did on the tests. I pulled away because I had no choice. Alas, that was not enough. On the camp, it’s the same, I didn’t dare to sit down, despite the fatigue. I walked like a zombie. I was extremely tired but I dared not rest. When you feel in danger, you don’t go through the same adventure as when you are in a majority alliance, in a climate of trust.
It looks like you had a hard time hiding your pessimism from your fellow adventurers…
My authenticity, which I was talking about earlier, played on all fronts. I’m always like that in life: I verbalize things a lot. I need to talk a lot and I am excessive, that is to say, I express myself with fairly strong emotions and words, in the positive as in the negative. It also shows in my attitude. Watching the first episode on TV, I noticed that my shoulders were completely closed, whereas I usually stand up straight because I am a dancer. I can see from my posture that I don’t feel well. And on the camp, at my pace, people saw that I was not well. Nobody was mean to me, but I was lucid that from the moment there was going to be a choice to be made [pour l’élimination], it would fall on me. I felt rejected.
After your elimination, in your interview facing the camera, you say that you could not show what you wanted to show. Would you still be so hard on yourself today?
(Pause, he thinks) I have no doubt that my relatives, whom I am talking about at this time, are proud of me and do not judge me. They understood very well what happened. I’m proud of myself because, despite the fact that no one ever really trusted me, I managed to do the maximum in the events. I was very comfortable on the game of rubber bands or on the comfort of the second issue. I showed that, mentally, I had no problem. I insist: the fact of feeling in danger was the only cause of my discomfort. Mental strength, mental resistance to effort, I have it since I do ballet. I spend my day resisting in delicate positions.