Angie and Nathalie will not see Brazil during this sixteenth season of Beijing Express. The pair of unknowns was eliminated after a hotly contested final duel against the sisters, Alexandra and Laura. The alliance, of which the two pairs were part with Chérine and Alexandre, was not enough to take them further in the game. 20 minutesAngie and “Natou”, 28 and 58 years old, look back on their journey in the M6 program which “united them forever”.
The final duel ended in a handkerchief. Angie, how did you react when you saw Nathalie arrive almost at the same time as Laura?
Angie : Frankly, I said to myself: “It’s an unlikely thing to happen. I didn’t even have time to be sad, I told myself that in any case she had done the job. She was super strong so I just thought, “Wow, amazing! »
Did you leave defeating the sisters, considered by many to be the favorites of the season?
Natalie: No way. We drew lots to find out which of us was going to go because we had each had a duel.
AT : When Natou left, I told the cameras, I knew what she was capable of and I just wanted her to understand it by tearing up this duel as she did.
With four final duels on the clock, you are the pair most designated by the secret choice, why do you think?
NOT : Regarding Laura and Alexandra, we were always after Alexandre and Chérine in the race. It was normal that they favor the best rather than the weakest. And then at the beginning, the pair of strangers is always the target to be shot down, we knew that. As it is necessary to eliminate someone they say to themselves that they will eliminate those who have not matured a project together for a long time. That’s the game and I probably would have thought the same,
AT : We worried a lot because we got to know each other late and despite that, we got along really well.
You were part of the majority alliance for the season. How did it set up?
NOT : At the end of the first final duel, when I saw that we were the head to be beaten, I said to Angie: “We have to ally ourselves with someone. “I got closer to cousins Tanguy and Florian since we were in a tie with them at the end of the secret choice. I made them understand that it was them or us and that if we voted together, we would have more chances of not being chosen during the following stages. What I didn’t know was that there was already an alliance that had sneaked in on the other side with the sisters and Cherine and Alexandre. It is the cousins that allowed us to integrate this great alliance.
AT : Tanguy and Florian were at the initiative of the alliance, it is absolutely not an alliance of Parisians as some eliminated candidates have said.
Do you think you would have gone this far without uniting with other pairs?
AT : Frankly I do not know. We would probably have done more final duels in any case.
NOT : This would undoubtedly have harmed us in the long run because a final duel is very trying. I think that after a while, we lose it… The proof (laughter). On some stages we knew that the pressure was a little lighter on us but that’s not why we were totally safe.
Your pair amused the viewers a lot. Why do you think the public got so attached to you?
AT : Nathalie is a sketch all by herself. After that it’s nice, it’s whole and I think it shows. That’s what makes it popular with the public.
NOT : People who know me well and who look at me tell me: “You are exactly like in life. In the game, I was myself and I didn’t think about the camera, moreover I forgot that I was being filmed. So if I make people laugh so much the better.
What was the strength of your pair in the game?
NOT : Both of us were there for the same reasons, to live a great adventure and take the challenges as they come. We didn’t tie knots in our brains. For me, it was a real opposite because in my life, I managed companies but what did I like for a month being told: “Do this, do that and I went like a little sheep, I did everything I was told.
AT : I think our differences are our strength. We were complementary because despite the age difference, the different styles, we said to ourselves that we were in the game together so we did what was necessary together and from there, “vamos”.
Arriving solo at the start of the game, what type of person did you think you were associated with?
AT : I suspected that I would be with someone totally different from me. After that, we can’t get an idea of who it’s going to be exactly.
NOT : I was relieved when I saw her arrive. I saw that it was a girl, I said to myself that it was easier to change in the evening (laughter)… I saw someone strong, I said to myself that she was not going to collapse at the first difficulty. I quickly knew it was going to be okay.
Have you seen each other outside of the show?
NOT : We have already seen each other three times since the shooting. Now it’s certain that Angie is 28, we don’t have the same life, we live far from each other so we can’t see each other every day. I have friends that I see once a year and it’s always with great pleasure. Of course we are not going to see each other every week but we will keep a link because I am very faithful in friendship.
AT : I often say that Natou is my “old friend” (laughter). And that won’t change!
What memory do you keep of Beijing Express ?
NOT : A discovery of unknown things… Already my meeting with Angie who made me discover a lot of vocabulary that I did not know (laughter). And then self-transcendence. We realize that psychologically we have resources that we do not imagine, we can go much further than we think.
AT : Beijing Express has changed my life! I really learned to know myself, to have another vision of life. Nathalie participated in this, Beijing Express for me it is also Natou.
Now that you have done Beijing Express together, could you imagine living the adventure with another pair?
AT : Not impossible.
NOT : I would like to do Beijing Express again but of course I would prefer to leave with Angie. In any case especially not with Etienne (laughter). At the limit if I was really asked to choose someone else or if Angie was not available, possibly Vanessa [la partenaire d’Etienne lors de la saison 15].