“Beijing Express”: Jean-Claude and Axel crowned winners in India after a twist

“Here we are, damn grandpa!” » This victory, Axel dreamed of it. With “Papy JC”, he did it. Jean-Claude and his grandson won the 19th season of “Pekin Express”, this Saturday, October 19, on M 6 after a frantic race through New Delhi, after six stages in India. Nothing predestined them to reach the final, even less to win the competition. Especially in a final stage which had everything to go one way.

When they start at Lodhi Garden, in the heart of Delhi, the septuagenarian from Gers and his 22-year-old grandson can win 50,000 euros, like their opponents, the campsite leaders Clément and Émeline. The principle: three races before the final sprint. At each of them, the candidates must carry out a mission along their route to obtain the address where they can find Stéphane Rotenberg. With, as a result, a theft of the prize pool: the first arrivals recover 10 euros per second of delay from their opponents.

The rickshaw, sworn enemy of Jean-Claude and Axel

After the Taj Mahal, Rajasthan, Jodhpur, the Thar Desert, here they are in the Indian megacity with nearly 30 million inhabitants. It all started well for Axel and his 75-year-old grandfather: during the first race, they arrived 17 seconds ahead of their opponents. Bim, 170 euros stolen.

And starting again is the lot of Jean-Claude and Axel. Once, twice, three times… It’s laborious. A “very physical” ordeal for Grandpa, while Clément and Émeline take off. On arrival, the Gersois’ potential prize pool melts like snow in the sun: with an hour, 5 minutes and 44 seconds late, 39,440 euros slip into the fictitious wallets of their competitors. “It hurts your butt, you feel like you’ve been robbed,” admits the student.

“What do you want to do?” We’re bad, we’re bad”

The intergenerational duo can still hope to win 10,730 euros. To avoid reaching zero, they must arrive at their destination no later than 17 minutes and 53 seconds after their opponents during the third race of the evening. But a sort of mini straw golf is taking away their last potential gains. After more than 130 attempts, it’s still a disaster. “What do you want to do?” We are bad, we are bad,” Jean-Claude resigns himself. Meanwhile, Clément and Émeline impose themselves, once again. The seconds pass and the euros escape.

At the second beacon ring, it’s the hammer blow: the septuagenarian and his grandson are “broke like wheat”. No more one euro in their kitty. But when one falters, the other carries it. When Axel gets angry, his grandpa calms him down. When “JC” becomes depressed about bankruptcy, his grandson perks him up.

The prize pools, now fixed for the final sprint, are Manichean: 100,000 for Clément and Émeline, 0 for Jean-Claude and Axel. The latter know, if they win, “it will be for honor”. But a victory in “Pekin Express” is worth all the checks in the world for the young Gersois and his ancestor.

A final neck-to-neck sprint

Everything therefore depends on a single race. At nightfall, they are looking for premises in specific locations in New Delhi to answer questions about the adventure. Three people to find, three correct answers to give before reaching the final finish.

Axel has done his homework and bingo, the first answer is a formality. Their opponents fall behind after being dropped off in the wrong place on the way to the second checkpoint. The Gersois have a colossal lead. But on a busy route, they struggle to find a driver to reach the location of the third question. Behind them, it comes back. Their wrong answer forces them to a three-minute penalty: they leave the Craft Museum a few seconds before their competitors.

Jean-Claude and Axel then try to leave with the driver who has just dropped off Clément and Émeline. He accepts. But when the young man and his grandfather have just got into the vehicle, the camp leaders insist to their ex-driver that he does not take their rivals on board. He finally gives in. “It’s crazy,” says Jean-Claude, who remains on the side of the road with his grandson while the Breton and the Southerner have taken off.

And suddenly, a GPS error

A helping hand from destiny, however, turns everything upside down when the car taking Clément and Émeline takes the wrong route. Their lead is reduced to nothing, a boon for their opponents in the South-West. The adventure played out there, on a GPS error.

Arriving at the foot of Gautam Buddha University, Axel snatches the bag from his eldest, who is having the sprint of his life, running out of breath as he rarely does. A kilometer and a half to walk to reach the Grail. We are afraid for the 75-year-old man, afraid that this final effort will be too much. Breathless, he stammers “I’m going to die”, while Axel asks him to slow down. But “Grandpa JC”, he didn’t do all that for nothing. Not now. Not when victory is reaching out to them.

There they are, they did it. Jean-Claude collapses to the ground, held by his grandson. No matter how much he cries, no matter how much he is on the ground, the senior does not lose his composure: “We deserve it,” he reminds Axel who is also in tears. The two Gersois enter the pantheon of the show: the retiree becomes the oldest candidate to win the adventure, at the age of 75. And the (non-)icing on the cake, they are the first to win the show… for the honor.