After presenting Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? for nearly 20 years, Jean-Pierre Foucault handed over the reins without emotion…
Who wants to be a millionaire? This rather innocuous question, the answer to which does not require much thought, has made thousands of candidates and viewers dream for more than 20 years on TF1 (with interruptions and format changes). A longevity that the game owes to its cult host, just as indefatigable, a certain Jean-Pierre Foucault. The historic TF1 host, who launched the British concept in France in the early 2000s, presented Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? until 2019, the year he hung up his gloves. His last episode of the game show was scheduled for January 2019, before passing the torch to Camille Combalfor a short time. The show ended after only two short seasons of daily shows.
In 2019, Jean-Pierre Foucault, then aged 71, decided to step down from the helm of the show he had presented since its launch in 2000. A carefully considered decision, as he explained at the time to Le Point magazine: “When I was offered the chance to re-host the show two months ago, I told the management: ‘Wait, I don’t want to disagree with myself and be like those singers who do three farewell galas a year.’ And I suggested to TF1 that we pass the baton to a new host.” The choice of Camille Combal delighted the person concerned: “I find a lot of qualities in him. I identify with him: he does radio on a daily basis, he is Mediterranean – which in my eyes is a huge quality – and he is extremely serious and rigorous in his work.”
A departure without emotion
At the time, Jean-Pierre Foucault assured that he had not felt “the emotion that (he) feared to feel” when recording his last episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? “When I handed over to Camille, I expected a little pang in my heart and I didn’t have it,” he confided. Perhaps because he knew that he was not leaving the world of television for good, continuing to host the Miss France election and the programs of the Française des Jeux.
On social media, dozens of viewers were moved by the host’s departure. “Thank you Jean-Pierre Foucault for having accompanied our evenings for all these years,” wrote one Internet user, while another praised “Jean-Pierre Foucault’s humility, kindness and respect for the new generation.”