Neither top nor flop, make way for “ftlop” with the case Beijing Express on M6. A race of pairs around the world which has notably established its return since 2018 despite the many glitches which have marred the editions of recent years. The show presented by Stéphane Rotenberg was first hit by the Covid in 2020, halting filming in Uganda for the season On the tracks of the Red Earth. But the production was able to bounce back by sending the candidates a few months later to Greece and then to Turkey, and renaming the season The Three Continents Route.
Cursed, this same season was subsequently bereaved by a terrible road accident which cost the life of the driver of one of the cars and injured two candidates. Which didn’t stop the other hitchhikers from going to the end of this adventure, a 14th edition won by Claire and Christophe, aka Daddy.
And this year? A relatively calm and normal season. The production sent the pairs from Kyrgyzstan to the United Arab Emirates, In the lands of the golden eagle. An edition which provided its share of surprises – including the sudden departure of a candidate – and which was marked by the overwhelming and a little too predictable victory of the “Belgian brothers”. On the audience side, however, the scores did not follow… The show gathered 2.03 million viewers on average, 2.34 for the launch in February and 1.94 for the final in April, reported Puremedia. Results ? Historically low audiences, underlined the specialized site. It must be said that the program has as many faults as qualities, a double-edged dynamic.
The infernal montage
We could almost call it the “final duel syndrome” as the last minutes of the episodes of Beijing Express manage to put us in a trance. You know, that final stage where two teams fight against each other to avoid elimination, where every second seems endless and our hearts ready to explode at any moment. This year, we still remember the unbearable tension during the duel between “the couple of dreamers” and “the grandfather and his grandson from Gers”, eliminated on a test of making a spiral of dominoes. A torture.
Because the show has the gift of knowing how to blow hot and cold. In general, one pair is well ahead of the other and dominates the event, and we can see this very well on the screen. But the editing of the show – and the voice of Stéphane Rotenberg – still manage to make us believe that “it’s played in a pocket handkerchief”. And we find ourselves sweating and panting, caught by Axel’s trembling hand placing his dominoes one by one… Until the couple who were to lose, lose, and we find ourselves like noodles, rolled in the flour by the sleight of hand of the episode’s editing. Hyper efficient, but we still end up wondering if we are not taken a bit for hams.
endearing duos
“The bickering lovers”, “the prankish cousins”, “the Monegasque sisters”, “the inseparable mother and daughter”. Every year, Beijing Express seems like using a funny pair name generator to form its cast. But beyond the titles, it is above all the same somewhat caricatural profiles that resurface from season to season: the two pretty candidates who take buckets of sexism, the candidates from the south of France with shimmering language, the couple who constantly shoves on the face and bursts our eardrums or even the duo of rather rough fellows (but with a big heart) and the Belgians with a formidable sense of humor. So sometimes we have the feeling of constantly seeing the same season but in different settings.
This does not prevent these candidates from being particularly endearing. This year, Jean-Claude (“Papy”) and his grandson won the favor of the public, who fell in love with this unique, intergenerational duo, combining passion and wisdom. “We are told that we are doing good to people, that surprises me. In the street, I receive marks of affection”, said Grandpa 20 Minutes after their elimination. Viewers also fell in love with Etienne, a funny and lunar candidate who immortalized himself in funny sequences as soon as he arrived (blind crossing the pond, for example). That’s also what the show is based on, on pairs that we love with love, others that we hate very very much, and we can’t really take that quality away from Beijing Express.
WTF events and jokers that fall a little flat
And what about the plot of the game? The program offers mythical hitchhiking sequences, generous and tearful encounters with locals, but also madcap ordeals straight out of a sick brain. This year we had the right to blind canoeing, to the photo shoot in the Dead Sea or even to the stage where we had to squat the ovens of poor Uzbek bakers to make our own rolls for free and go sell them. afterwards. However, the prize goes to the carpet challenge, now in the annals of TV game events. The concept ? Complete a 3 km trek under 40 degrees (until then you follow), but constantly walking on a carpet. Clarification: carpets of various sizes drawn beforehand by lot by the candidates. Some ended up with excessively large area rugs, others excessively small. Etienne will probably remember it for life… And the Uzbeks must still tell themselves that France is a strange country.
A novelty appeared this year: the express pass. A “huge joker” which was to “upset the race”, explained Stéphane Rotenberg before the broadcast of this season. This pass was to allow a pair to avoid a final duel – the famous one – and to continue the adventure. Results ? Okay. This wild card was won by Lucas and Nicolas, who flew over the race and were never in enough danger to warrant using it. Well above the other competitors, the “Belgian brothers” won the race without much surprise during a somewhat bland final. When is THE new rule that will really upset the competition and relaunch the machine?