If it had not already been written a thousand times, we would announce a “thunderclap in the PAF”! After more than twenty years spent on France 2, Olivier Minne decided to leave the public channel, a news that caused a small earthquake in the world of television this Friday. The emblematic animator of the public service, where he has made all his career, puts an end abruptly and by surprise on an adventure, at 58 years old.
Olivier Minne had joined the channel in 1990, where he started as speaker (Speakerin’s male equivalent). Over the years, it has become one of the essential faces of France Télévisions. He was in particular in command of Fort Boyard Since 2003, succeeding Jean-Pierre Castaldi and Patrice Laffont. With more than 20 years at the head of the summer adventure game, he even held the record of longevity. Olivier Minne has also co-animated the daily game since 2017 Everyone has a say With Sidonie Bonnec. We also saw him present the Eurovision, The targetor Pyramid.
The surprise announcement of Olivier Minne’s departure did not come from France 2, or even the interested party himself. It is the competing channel that he will join at the start of the next school year that took care of it: in a press release effecting a bomb on Friday afternoon, M6 welcomed his future collaboration with the host. At this stage, Olivier Minne’s missions are not specified, the six indicating wanting to entrust her with the presentation of “great entertainment”.
M6 is in any case welcoming this arrival which comes to “strengthen the team of emblematic faces of the channel”, while the recruitment of Cyril Hanouna for W9 and Fun Radio (Group M6) had been a lot talking in recent months. This departure is also a real blow for France 2, especially since Olivier Minne does not seem to have warned his employers before the announcement.
Contacted by Le Parisien, Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez, the director of the branches and programs of France Télévisions, could not hide his surprise and his sadness. “We regret his departure and are sad. We wish him good luck and success in his new projects on M6,” he said, welcoming the work of this “extremely important face of France Télévisions for almost 35 years” and expressing his respect and admiration for the host.
At Banijai, owner of Adventure Line Productions, who produces Fort BoyardCEO Alexia Laroche-Joubert expressed the same disappointment. “We learn that Olivier Minne has decided to join M6. We regret this decision,” she said. Olivier Minne will shoot his last season of Fort Boyard In the coming weeks, before its broadcast on France 2 antennas this summer. He will also be at the helm of Everyone has a say For a few more months. Before changing creamie from the start of the school year.
