- Every day at noon, the champions of “12 noon shots” on TF1 and “Everyone wants to take their place” on France 2 try to beat their opponents to return the next day.
- The two current champions, Céline on TF1 and Sébastien on France 2, have already participated in numerous game shows.
- Although they can sometimes earn the equivalent of several months’ salary, both entrust 20 Minutes be motivated first by passion.
Game show champion: a job like any other? ” The 12 strokes of noon “, ” Everyone wants to take its place “, ” Questions for a champion “, “Le grand slam”, “Everyone has their say” or even “Don’t forget the words”, there are many shows where the best candidates can stay indefinitely, as long as they don’t lose.
Some see their earnings add up for months on air. The most assiduous viewers can even have a feeling of deja vu in front of certain games, as it is common for certain champions to appear on several different shows.
“It’s really for the love of the game”
Illustration at the very moment when the champions of the two midday games, “Les 12 coups de midi” on TF1 and “Everyone wants to take their place” on France 2, are far from being novices in the field of general culture on television.
Céline, current midday mistress of Jean-Luc Reichmann’s game, is not at her first attempt. “My first game show was ‘Everyone wants to take their place’. I had gone there for fun, to try the experience. I found it so much fun. One day of filming and I felt like I had taken a week’s vacation”.
The planner at the SNCF literally got caught up in the game and then participated several times in “Questions for a champion” (from which she emerged with a victory), “Slam”, “Harry”, “Everyone has his word to say”, “The club of the invincibles”, “Motus” or even “No one had thought of it”. If the candidate has sometimes won gains in these programs, it is not for her a career plan but a real passion. “It’s really for fun. I do a lot of quizzes. I don’t know how to explain it but it’s really for the love of the game”.
A love story in every sense of the word because Céline met her husband Jérôme on a general culture quiz site. “He won €260,000 on the show ‘Le plus grand quiz de France’ on TF1 in 2011. He was the one who encouraged me to apply for TV games,” she admits.
“Having already participated in games is an advantage”
Sébastien, the current champion of Laurence Boccolini’s game on France 2, is the eleventh-highest contestant in the show’s history. He is also a regular on TV sets. “I started with “The great conquest”, a game of France 3 South-East. I then obtained a victory in “Questions for a champion”, three in “Slam”, one in the “Grand Slam” and I participated in “8 chances to win everything!” and “Questions for a Super Champion”. “But his first feat of arms dates back to 2012 when he became the fourth best midday master by winning more than 230,000 euros at the “12 noon shots”.
More than ten years later, here he is champion of the competing show. These experiences which allow him to apprehend filming more easily. “Having participated in several TV games is an advantage over others” he confesses. “We have a head start because we don’t discover the euphoria of the sets, we don’t have any stress. »
His television career, however, is not motivated by the lure of profits. “I don’t really like quizzes, but I thought I should try a TV game to test. I liked it, so I continued. But I only apply to those I find nice. And so much the better if this postman in Beaujolais wins the equivalent of several years’ salary.
Champions who make audiences shine
“Candidates tend to be more comfortable with the television system, they are better prepared, so they also become professional, explained to us two years ago Fiona Bélier, general manager of La Fabrique des Formats, an organization that monitors program trends. These are things that we have seen in reality TV, where we no longer arrive at candidates but at professionals who, moreover, all become influencers. In the game, it’s the same. »
These TV game show professionals are also the delight of television channels, which find in them the right way to retain viewers with already familiar faces. This Wednesday, March 22, the two lunchtime games brought together more than half of the viewers (35.3% for TF1 and 16.9% for France 2). The professionalization of game show champions shows no signs of stopping.