When France Télévisions announced to Laury Thilleman that for the first time she would be alone at the helm of the ceremony of Music Victories“obviously, it was moving as for the revelations it is a consecration for their profession, it is also one for mine”, she confides to 20 minutes between two repetitions. If she has already hosted this emblematic musical award show in France alongside Stéphane Bern then Olivier Minne, she hopes to “give a little punch” to the 38ᵉ edition of this show that allows certain artists to perform for the first times live on television. It is a long time ago when the host felt the weight of the crown weigh on her head after parading in a series of more or less naked outfits.
Elected Miss France in 2011, Laury Thilleman is far from being the only beauty queen to make her place in the French media. Elodie Gossuin on M6, Iris Mittenaere on TF1, Camille Cerf on Gulli, Diane Leyre on Europe 2, Delphine Wespiser on C8, Malika Ménard on Sqool TV… The invasion of Miss France on the small screen or through the radio seems have never been so visible.
“Before the Miss France experience, it was complicated for me to speak in public”, recalls Diane Leyre, the last winner of the beauty contest to have transmitted the crown to Indira Ampiot on December 18, 2022. Real estate developer before her coronation, she had never thought of embracing a media career. “But in the five days since my election, I’ve done 57 interviews so I had no choice but to manage to feel comfortable. » Until you get a taste for it and agree to be on the radio every morning in THE mornament without filter from Europe 2.
“From shadow to light in three hours”
Because Miss France remains a very popular program. The election of Miss France 2023 gathered an average of 7.1 million viewers on TF1 according to Médiamétrie. “It is the only show where a woman goes from shadow to light in three hours, where she takes millions of people on the networks and where she continues with dozens of TV interviews”, underlines Miss France 2022.
For Élodie Gossuin, being crowned live on the front page was an opportunity to rub shoulders with a “universe that [la] made you dream but who [lui] seemed inaccessible. Especially since the television channels love the profile of the Miss, both chic and glamorous but also close to the public, who discovers the personality and the universe of the elected official over the year. ” Whether in Traitors, Beijing Express Or The best pastry chef on M6 or in Dance with the stars on TF1, there is always a miss”, observes the one who is now a host on M6 after leaving RFM in September.
So many opportunities to sharpen your speech and show your personality. Diane Leyre says she learned to measure her words while “feeding” the media during the year following her election.
“Self-taught media training”
For Diane Leyre as for Élodie Gossuin, it is passages as guests in the media that have allowed their future employers to flash on their personalities until they pass on the other side of the microphone. Because if the profile of Miss France meets strict specifications – modified for the 93ᵉ edition of the competition -, the winner enjoys a certain freedom once elected. It was after the coronation that the public and the press discovered the personality of the young woman chosen by the public to bear the title. “We are not formatted, that’s what is great. We are not forced into anything, we are not briefed by a press officer who tells us what to say. So it’s media training but self-taught”, analyzes Diane Leyre.
But becoming the face of a primetime show is not a turnkey destiny once the crown is returned. “It’s an accelerator, a springboard, but then you have to succeed in transforming the test, believes Laury Thilleman. It’s the first time I’ve arrived in Paris so I spent a year there and I said to myself: “Well, maybe it’s time to take some business cards and we’ll see what happens. happens”. »
Because each passage on a television set is a new opportunity to meet a future colleague. The face of music victories 2023 says he received all kinds of proposals after his year discovering France, scarf slung over his shoulder. She preferred to finish her business studies before embarking on a master’s degree in journalism in order to realize this dream that she already harbored before participating in the beauty contest. This did not prevent her from returning to the small screen, first as a sports journalist on Eurosport then in entertainment of all kinds at France Télévisions.
A useful ingredient but without the recipe
All know that the opportunities that present themselves at the end of the post-election year may not come again. “That’s why it’s important to finish consolidating, we’re not finished at 19,” said Laury Thilleman, referring to her age after presenting the crown and scarf to Delphine Wespiser. “I couldn’t see myself stopping my studies and telling myself that I was letting myself be carried away by life and all the professions that could be offered to me…”
However, this is the decision that Élodie Gossuin made by interrupting her training as a nurse while ensuring all the same to “ensure her competition and her validated years” in this way. “There has always been the regret of not continuing and practicing as a nurse. […] But at the time, you tell yourself that there are these opportunities, it’s a waking dream, let’s live it as long as possible even if it’s for a year, two years. I said that to myself every year and it’s been going on for 22 years, ”she notes. To nourish her first vocation, she is an ambassador of theUnicef to be “useful to with the weapons which [lui] are given”.
Diane Leyre, for her part, decided to engage daily in a morning radio show, even though she was still Miss France. “I called Alexia Laroche-Joubert my president, and she said to me: ‘When you have opportunities like that in life, you have to seize them'”, she rewinds. She then embarks on the adventure, telling herself that if she doesn’t like it, she can always go back. Exit the apartments for sale but she does not rule out returning to them. “I could but for the moment it doesn’t have to be because I really blossom in what I do and I think it’s a good springboard and you have to follow the movement. “Suffice to say that there is no turnkey recipe but having passed through Miss France can be a key ingredient to raise the cake.
A label for life
Can we then get rid of the label of the Miss and the stereotypes that stick to the contest? Élodie Gossuin confirms that we still talk to her about it often despite the past two decades. “People often ask me how Geneviève is doing, if it’s really a fairy tale, what struck me, if there are things off, lots of questions related to curiosity,” she laughs. At no time would she want to hide this part of her life which was her first encounter with the general public. “It marks my CV because it’s written in big, shiny with sequins and I claim it, I’m very proud! The label is indelible and I leave it stuck on my forehead even when I sleep, it’s part of my life. »
“The younger generation no longer even knows that I was Miss France”, admits Laury Thilleman, more moderate. This experience allows him to better understand what the nominees in the categories of revelations can feel, an important spotlight for an emerging artist. “I met Emma Peters’ mom [nommée pour la révélation féminine avec Mentissa et November Ultra, ndlr] and I had the impression of seeing my mother when I had just been elected Miss France…” From there to denying this stage in her life? No way. “It’s a nice trip, but it’s not a job…”