"Questions for a Champion" will no longer be broadcast on weekdays

I am... I am... deprived of weekday broadcasts. The France 3 game show Questions pour un champion , created in 1988, will only be broadcast on weekends next season, AFP learned Saturday from a source inside the show. Currently, Questions pour un champion is scheduled from Monday to Sunday at 6:10 p.m. This change was revealed Saturday morning by Europe 1 media journalist Thomas Isle on the social network X.

"This decision was not easy. It comes in a particularly tight budgetary context, which forces us to rethink our schedule balances," said France Télévisions' number 2, Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez, in a statement sent to AFP. "But it does not call into question the deep attachment we have to this show," he assured, emphasizing that it would continue to "live […] on weekends, where its audience is the strongest and most unifying."

For his part, Bruno Fallot, president of Fremantle France, which produces the show, expressed his "surprise" and "sadness" at the broadcaster's decision. "At a time when France Télévisions is going through an unprecedented budgetary crisis, we understand the need to make financial choices, " he said in a statement. "However, having to cut back on a show as unifying as Questions pour un champion raises questions about the resources given to the public service to fulfill its mission." The producer sees this change as "a major break with a historic daily program, which punctuates the late afternoons of the French and regularly remains the leader in its slot" in terms of audience.

Adapted from the British game show Going for Gold , Questions for a Champion was created in France in 1988. Candidates must answer general knowledge questions (often challenging) in several rounds and the winner returns the next day.

The show was presented for more than twenty-seven years by the iconic Julien Lepers, who was succeeded by Samuel Etienne in early 2016. Lepers had challenged his dismissal in court, but the industrial tribunal and then the Paris Court of Appeal ruled that it was not abusive. In 2022, France Télévisions decided to no longer program another of its iconic game shows, Des chiffres et des lettres , created in 1972, during the week. After two seasons where it was only broadcast on weekends, it finally disappeared at the start of the 2024 school year.

"I don't know what the future holds for Questions pour un champion . But if the game is threatened, we won't be able to use the ratings argument," Samuel Etienne said Saturday on the social network X. In recent days, the show has been watched by some 1.1 million viewers, according to Fremantle. According to Le Parisien , Questions pour un champion has had an average of 1.2 million viewers since the beginning of the year, for an 11.7% audience share. That's a drop of 300,000 viewers and 1.2 points over a year. "We are determined to preserve this popular and demanding event, which is a credit to the public service," insisted Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez.