Passionate journalist, for more than 10 years, I have been carrying out investigations, portraits, reports or interviews.
Since 2018, Raphaël de Casabianca replaced Frédéric Lopez at the presentation of the magazine “Rendez-vous en terre stranger” on France 2. But after six seasons spent carrying the program, the adventurer decided to hand over the reins. The information, initially revealed by our colleagues from “Parisien”, has since been confirmed by the person concerned. Via Instagram, Raphaël de Casabianca revealed the reasons for his departure.
Raphaël de Casabianca: His departure from Rendezvous in Unknown Land “leaked”, he gives long explanations
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A page turns… As revealed by thee Parisian a few days ago, Raphaël de Casabianca will no longer host Meeting in unknown land in September. The magazine created by Frédéric Lopez, who will celebrate his twentieth birthday at the end of the year will continue, despite everything, with a new incarnation from the next school year. However, several numbers remain to be broadcast : a number worn by Kendji Girac, who recently experienced problems, and another by Tomer Sisley. Comedian Inès Reg, who crashed TF1 by abandoning the TV movie Teen but not too much that she was supposed to wear, also shot a number of Our unknown landsthe spin-off of the program broadcast on France 3.
On Instagram, Raphaël de Casabianca returned to this departure, and pointed out the “leak” of this information that he would have liked to relay himself. “The news came out this week in The Parisian. A little earlier than I imagined. The information was leaked, as they say. It therefore seemed important to me to explain to you what guided my choice.” began the ex-host ofClose callbefore justifying your choice.
The difficult, if not impossible, succession of Frédéric Lopez
“When Frédéric Lopez asked me six years ago to take up the torch of Rendez-vous en terre stranger, I didn’t hesitate for a second to say YES, without worrying about the pressure that this could cause, nor the difficulty of succeeding it. I reacted with my heart, carried by the desire and pride to in turn transmit the messages of all these people who would agree to receive us. Indeed, what a privilege it was to share their daily life for all these years: their issues, their dreams, their beliefs and their relationship with the living. And what a privilege to have been a conduit for this humanity at prime time.” initially explained the forty-year-old.
His hypersensitivity got the better of him
Raphaël de Casabianca confides that he made this decision because of the emotional overflow which prevented him from mourning the populations whom he met, and whom he had great difficulty leaving: “At first, I was attached to the idea of seeing all these faces again. I had promised myself to hug Humed and his family again in Ethiopia, to return to India with Franck Gastambide to find Roshan and Mustu, to laugh with Daria in the shade of a tree in Kenya, to return to the island of Vezo or to the Mongolian steppes… But over time, I understood that this would simply be impossible. And it became difficult for me to mourn these encounters…”
17 celebrities trusted him
Raphaël de Casabianca insisted on thank the nine celebrities which he brought to the other side of the world. He actually brought Franck Gastambide to India, then Estelle Lefébure to Kenya. In 2020, it was the comedian Nawell Madani who went to meet Mongolian yak breeders. The singers Vianney and Oli followed her, to Ethiopia for the first, and to Madagascar for the second. More recently, it was the comedian and host Jarry who went to meet Inuit in Greenland. Last May, on the sidelines of his participation in Eurovision, Slimane left to meet the Bijagos of Guinea-Bissau. Two other numbers remain to be broadcast with Kendji Girac and Tomer Sisley.
For Our unknown lands, the hexagonal spin-off of Meeting in unknown landRaphaël de Casabianca took Cécile Bois and Raphaël Lenglet, hero of Candice Renoir, Nicole Ferroni, Ahmed Sylla, Amir, Barbara Pravi, Claudio Capéo, Sabrina Ouazani and soon Inès Reg, discovering the most beautiful landscapes of our country. Unfortunately, the audiences for this spin-off magazine are not the best, he was demoted on France 3.
Declining audiences, a magazine on borrowed time?
Because indeed, the arrival of Raphaël de Casabianca, or rather the departure of Frédéric Lopez, made dizzyingly plunge the audiences of France 2’s flagship magazine. If the magazine had the heyday of France 2 at the end of the 2000s and the beginning of the 2010s, surpassing the 8 million mark with Virginie Efira and Zabou Breitman, the latest issues experienced difficult scores. The number worn by Oli in June 2022 achieved the program’s worst historical score with only 2.8 million viewers, and the very last, worn by Slimane, matched… Let’s bet that Raphaël de Casabianca’s successor will manage to redress the situation. His name is not known at this time.