Initially there were thirty, but in the end, only one will remain. No, you did not click on the wrong article, yes, it is indeed Miss France 2024. The election of the big winner will take place on Saturday evening in Dijon, during a ceremony broadcast from 9:10 p.m. on TF1. At the end of a long evening around the theme of “The Music Box”, fans of the beauty contest will finally discover who will succeed Indira Ampiot, Miss France 2023.
In the running, 30 candidates. But only half of them will still be able to claim the crown when the the opening credits of the show. For good reason, 15 young women were excluded from the race just a few days before the election by a preselection jury. Preparation trip, individual interview… 20 minutes explains how the winner of the competition is chosen.
Paddle yoga, G culture and individual interview
A real obstacle course awaits the 30 misses from their regional elections. Starting with the traditional preparation trip which takes place in the fall and which puts them all to the test for the first time. This year, they flew to Guyana in November, where they spent ten days living together. In the program ? Walks in the forest, a paddle yoga session, classes to learn how to parade on a catwalk or even the discovery of the Kourou space center, specifies the website of the Dispatch.
Throughout this stay, the members of the Miss France committee (including the new director of the competition Cindy Fabre), evaluated them on their qualities of eloquence, their ease in public and their sense of camaraderie. They also had to take the famous general knowledge test (accompanied for the first time by a dictation), the results of which count for the overall evaluation of each candidate. An event won by Adeline Vetter, Miss Alsace 2024.
Once back in mainland France, it’s the final stretch. The candidates continue their training and increase the number of repetitions for the final. A particularly formidable exam awaits them three days before the ceremony (this Wednesday, therefore): the individual interview with the preselection jury. A “kind of grand oral”, described Sylvie Tellier to TVMag in 2019.
One after the other, they appear before this jury (the ten or so members of which generally gravitate around the Miss France committee or TF1), which judges their motivations or their abilities to take on the Miss scarf – and its obligations – for one year. “Personally, I would not include in my fifteen semi-finalists a young woman who I did not consider suitable to become Miss France. I do not sanction it but I protect it,” explained the former director of the competition. Following this interview, each member of the jury awards points to their 15 favorites, a vote protected by the presence of a bailiff. The name of the preselected misses is kept secret until its unveiling live on TF1.
A 50/50 vote between the jury and the public
And after ? Now it’s time to go live. If 30 candidates will follow the first parades of the ceremony with a smile on Saturday, 15 will already be out of the race without knowing it (but still having in mind that the die has been cast). Like the viewers, they will discover this first short list unveiled by Jean-Pierre Foucault during the evening. It is then that the viewers and the 100% female jury of this 2024 edition will enter the scene, chaired by Sylvie Tellier (yes, she is back). At her side will be actress Stéfi Celma, singer Nolwenn Leroy, model Adriana Karembeu, boxer Estelle Mossely, comedian Elodie Poux and pastry chef Nina Métayer.
The jury will have to select the last 5 misses for the final, 50/50 with the public vote. And again to designate the big winner during the last round, Miss France 2024, elected at the very end of the show using this same process. In summary: don’t get too attached to your regional miss or your little favorite before the announcement of the first 15 contenders for the crown, you risk being disappointed from the start of the evening (afterwards, if you like to suffer, free to you).