Thierry Guillaume has been producing “Pékin Express” since 2008. For this 18e season which begins Thursday February 8 on M6, the eight pairs and Stéphane Rotenberg are heading to South-East Asia. In this show which has allowed us to tour the world, the new candidates continue to compete step by step in Indonesia, Malaysia to arrive in the final in Hanoi in Vietnam. This season, they will have to travel 10,000 kilometers while always hitchhiking with only one euro in their pocket per day and all their energy to find free accommodation with locals in the evening.
franceinfo: The success of “Pékin Express” lies first and foremost in the casting. On what criteria do you choose candidates?
Thierry Guillaume: In the end, we ask ourselves who we want to spend 40 days of filming with. We come back to very basic things. We end up choosing the people who touch us the most, who amuse us the most and to whom we want to give this gift, to go with us to the ends of the world.
There are absolutely iconic characters. I am obviously thinking of a certain Étienne. Those who have watched “Beijing Express” will immediately see who I am talking about. A hell of a character. He never understood the rules of the game, he always said: “It’s screwed, it’s screwed, it’s screwed”, moreover, he gave up quite quickly. Did you spot him straight away at the casting?
Yes, and here, we wanted to surprise our viewers! As soon as he arrived, we said to ourselves: “Hey, what an original character! What is he doing in this casting?” And then he was really motivated, he wanted to try. He didn’t really know what to expect, but it gave what it gave. He moans, but he made us laugh a lot. We actually brought him back the following year.
Every year, do you hope for characters like him?
Yes, as soon as we have our way, our countries, our trials. When we choose the casting, we start to imagine the program. The casting is fantastic. We have 40,000 applications every year, so each time, there are surprises. We’re not looking for anything in particular. And then there are personalities, stories, pairs who arrive.
What questions do you ask the 40,000 people who show up? How do you tell the difference? Because you don’t see the person who is complaining right away, I guess.
Yes. In ten minutes, we manage to surround people. There are personalities, the story of a couple, the bond between two people, finally, all that helps us to choose. Afterwards, you need a clever mix of old people, young people, people from the North, the South, Belgians, etc.
This year, it’s happening in Malaysia. I believe this is the first time, at least in mainland Malaysia.
Yes, it’s the first time. We had visited part of the island of Borneo, but this is the first time we are going to Malaysia. It’s also the first time that we’re going to the north of Vietnam, we’ve been to the south and it’s a very nice memory for everyone.
Are there countries where you cannot obtain filming permits?
No. We pay great attention to the choice of countries, obviously, so that security conditions are met for our candidates and that nothing happens to them, obviously. The weather too. Depending on the filming period. We can’t go everywhere. But for the moment, we haven’t had any refusals that have prevented us from filming.
Do you test the tests yourself? Because there are some very difficult things.
I don’t, but there are people on the team whose job it is to collaborate on the writing and test the proofs. Yes, all events are tested by our teams.
Do you sometimes say to yourself that some are not playable or never?
No, we adjust the rules a little to make it feasible, but yes, we make them eat not very good local specialties, we make them bungee jump! Now the candidates are waiting for these tests. They know that there is going to be a special breakfast, a bungee jump and they wait and hope for that moment to surpass themselves.
You are on location during filming. How’s it going ?
It’s a bit like the director of the Tour de France, I’m in a car in the middle of the convoy. In fact, all of our pairs are followed by production cars. With the candidates in their vehicle, there is a cameraman. In the production car there is a reporter and a local assistant. So there are eight production cars following the candidates. And then there is the race management car in which I am with the editor-in-chief and we follow what is happening.
“We have maps with trackers for the candidates, we know where they are, how fast they are driving, etc.”
Thierry Guillaume, producer of “Pékin Express”at franceinfo
And then we have all the information coming back to us by telephone, from the journalists following the action.
Your craziest memory on “Beijing Express”?
There are many, but I’m thinking of season 6 with a start in the Himalayas, in India, where we had to join the team waiting for us with the candidates at altitude. And that day there was a landslide. The road collapsed in the Himalayas, traffic was cut off and we found ourselves stuck between two landslides without being able to move forward. And we had to start filming the next morning. The candidates slept on the roofs of cars. Well, it was all completely improvised, but it made for the most surprising start of all the seasons.
How do you guarantee the safety of candidates when they get into the cars of people they don’t know and when they sleep in strangers’ houses?
There are a lot of safety instructions and that’s what keeps me from sleeping during filming. But typically, they have a GPS tracker in their backpack so we know where they are. They must respect the speed limits imposed in the country in question.
They’re not the ones driving!
They ask their driver and if they don’t, the cameraman makes them get out of the car or they are stopped to give them penalties. In the evening, once they have found a house, we will check. Our security agent will see all the houses and inquire with the neighborhood. Candidates have an emergency phone in their backpack.
Was there no kidnapping attempt?
Yes, it happened in Cuba for a few hours. There were lots of problems and adventures during these shoots…
How did you get on in Cuba? Did you pay a ransom?
We sent our security agents who spoke with the people who were holding back our candidates, who wanted to take everything they had in their backpacks.
People who had put them up for the night?
Yes. It happened once. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen that often.
Do you sometimes intervene to reconcile candidates? Because inevitably, there is tension.
No. We try to leave the pairs, really… And that’s what I tell them before leaving. I see them all before leaving and I tell them: what we want is for you to experience this adventure together. What interests us is your relationship with you. We’re just there to film and tell stories, so we do everything we can to leave them in their bubble because they’re going to make memories together. These are going to be strong memories and we really want to interfere as little as possible in their story.
Could you be a candidate?
No ! I would make a very bad candidate! I prefer to be behind. Everything is fine !
Watch this interview on video: