Christophe Beaugrand has a busy schedule. 20 minutes was able to slip, Thursday morning, between his passage in the media program of Europe 1 and a working meeting for the coverage of July 14 on TF1. While he will be back this Friday evening at the co-presentation of the new season of “Ninja Warrior” on the first channel and he will complete his second season on July 16 at the presentation of the weekend morning show on LCI, we took the opportunity to take stock of these past busy months. A period which, he says, could be defined by the word “diversity”. A term that encompasses journalism, entertainment, but also its commitments, especially against homophobia.
This Friday, “Ninja Warrior”, which you co-host with Denis Brogniart and Iris Mittenaere, returns for a new season on TF1. What to expect?
We learned from our mistakes. Last season, we made rules that were a bit complex and smoky. We are very attentive to public feedback. I watch the tweets of Internet users during the show. Of course, you have to sort things out, but you quickly notice things that are misunderstood or what annoys people. Our boss is after all the viewer. This year, we have many new candidates. Two-thirds of the show, we will see new faces and we will find the freshness of the first seasons, with participants discovering the course for the first time. From now on, we will have “anonymous” duels. Whoever wins, if selected, will face the “great heroes” of “Ninja Warrior”, who are called the “legends” and who will be found later in the show.
You have also already recorded an “international” edition of “Ninja Warrior” with teams from France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. It’s a bit like your “Games without borders”?
These are our Olympic Games! We played hard on that side: the delegations arrive with their flags, an audience in the stands encouraging such and such a country… It was funny because the majority of the spectators were French, and there were kids from Cannes [où l’émission a été tournée], manga fans, all for Japan. They had signs… It was very happy, we had a lot of fun. I don’t know when it will air yet. [probablement cet hiver]but I can’t wait.
You will soon be concluding the second season of “Matins LCI week-end”… You need this balance between entertainment and information…
It is part of my deep nature and personality. I know it may come as a surprise, but it’s journalists who ask me this question more than viewers or listeners because people have integrated the fact that I did a lot of things. There is a real sincerity in the appetite and the gluttony of what I do.
In journalism on LCI, what do you like is adrenaline?
There is live, adrenaline, that’s for sure. I’ve been a news enthusiast since I was a kid and, by definition, with the news, you never know what can happen. Two weeks ago, when, in the middle of the night, Prigojine went up to Moscow with the Wagner militia, we blew up everything we had planned to leave in special edition, with guests, duplexes. This excitement is rarely found elsewhere. It’s also exciting to accompany people, to take them by the hand to explain the news to them and make them discover things. It’s all the stronger in a morning moment because we are in the intimacy of people. They wake up, you have to try to bring them a mood without being anxiety-provoking, whereas the news can be. Even when the news is sad, we always try to find something positive in it. It’s my way of approaching life in general. With Anne-Chloé Bottet, who co-hosts with me, we are on the same wavelength.
And this July 14, you will be on TF1…
With the firefighters! Last year, I joined the TF1 special operations team. I participated in 14-July, then in two special programs on the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of Charles III. There, I find the writing of TF1 for the National Day. I’m a little basic French, I’ve always watched fashion shows, it fascinates me. It is a pleasure to take part in this program which will be watched by all generations, because it is a day when families get together. I find it interesting the idea that television can still unite.
Do you have other animation desires?
We can always have other desires, it depends on the opportunities. If I was offered the hosting of an additional entertainment program, why not, but there is no project under the elbow… I would like to do a little more radio.
You are one of the regulars of the “Big Heads”. What are you looking for there?
I’m having fun. It’s a program that I listened to as a kid with my dad, so it sounds very familiar to me. I also like working with Laurent. I worked with him on Europe 1, when he left for RTL, he asked me to join him at “Les Grosses Têtes”. At the beginning, I intervened once or twice a month, then, on the last season, I was there once or twice a week. It’s break-time. We form a band, we are happy to meet again, we see each other regularly outside. They are more friends than co-workers.
The band was recently bereaved by the death of Claude Sarraute. Was it a blow?
Of course, she was a 95-year-old lady, so it was no surprise that we found out one day that she was gone. But there was such an eternal side to Claude. After his death, a lot of excerpts from shows emerged on YouTube. We are both sad and happy to hear it again. It was for Laurent that it was the hardest, he loved her deeply and considered her as his second mother. For him, it was really a wound. I went to the funeral, we were all saddened, but we also had a laugh: at one point, I was next to Caroline Diament and, when the speeches began in the Montparnasse cemetery, there was a Gale. The two large photo portraits of Claude flew away and crashed on the ground. Caroline said to me: “It’s sure, she’s there” (He smiles).
“Le Parisien” recently announced that Laurent Ruquier was going to leave France 2. He reacted by saying that “nothing was fixed”. If he came to TF1, would you manage the welcome committee?
I would make him a welcoming committee as a cheerleader with pleasure, I would be delighted (laughs). Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on and he himself was very transparent when asked. Nothing is done, nothing is decided, he said. So I really don’t think he knows. This is what emerges from the exchanges I have with him. I know there are projects on the table. Personally, I would find it funny if he joined the TF1 group, that would make me happy. He’s someone I really like and who could bring a lot. I don’t know how things are going, but I find it hard to understand how a channel like France 2 could let the link with one of the most popular animators deteriorate, it’s a bit sad. Laurent is a great guy, very human, who has a very strong bond with the public. When you have a Laurent in your stable, you take infinite care of him…
Your book “Son à papa(s)”, in which you tell the story of your son Valentin, born by GPA (surrogacy), was released in your pocket a few months ago. Did it boost sales?
At the beginning of January, after three months of sale, we were at 9,000 copies sold. I don’t have more recent figures. We had done more than 20,000 with the large format edition. With the pocket format, I reach a different audience. My goal is for this testimony to spread and for it to be shared, for people to pass the book around, for people to talk about it… There are people who asked themselves questions, didn’t know too much and learned things in the book. I’ve had plenty of feedback on this.
What did they learn?
For example, many have found that there are two women involved, an egg donor on one side and a surrogate on the other, so the woman carrying the child n has no genetic connection to the baby. I have no political objective in saying that surrogacy must be legalized in France, but I wanted people to have the tools to be able to position themselves. I can understand that one can be philosophically opposed to this practice, but not in the name of fallacious arguments. I want to make people understand how it can happen and give this testimony so that we don’t dirty Valentin’s story. A lot of crap was written on social networks, which had nothing to do with what we had experienced. Whitney, our surrogate, and her husband Jacob came over ten days ago. They spent a week at home, we visited Paris, they were happy to see Valentin again, we introduced them to our friends, my family… There was really the idea of a reunion.
If the subject of the legalization of surrogacy is on the agenda, in the more or less near future…
I am ready to testify.
So it will be a political commitment…
As soon as we speak on a societal subject, yes, it is a political commitment. What I wanted to say is that my commitment was not militant, I never called for legalizing surrogacy in France. It’s just that there is a situation that exists, families that exist, they have to be taken into account. Members have asked me questions. For example, for the transcription in the French civil status of children born by GPA abroad, it is long and complicated. I think we could simplify a number of things, for the benefit of the children.