“Numbers and letters” case: despite 450,000 euros obtained, the former presenters appeal

“Five letters: CALL”. If this short word would undoubtedly not have allowed a candidate from “Numbers and Letters” to go far in the game, it could in any case bring in big returns for two of its former historical faces. Or not. According to our information, Bertrand Renard and Arielle Boulin-Prat decided this week to appeal the judgment of the Paris industrial tribunal in the conflict between them and France Télévisions.

Dating back to November 27, 2025, this court decision was nevertheless favorable to them. After three years of battle, the public group was ordered to pay them nearly 450,000 euros in total. With, in detail, around 230,000 euros allocated to the “Mr. Mathematics” of the show, and 220,000 euros for his colleague specialist in the French language – each claimed more than 500,000 euros.

47 and 36 years of good and loyal service

In question, the conditions of their departure from France Télévisions in the summer of 2022. Bertrand Renard and Arielle Boulin-Prat had been thanked after respectively 47 and 36 years of good and loyal service. In its decision at the end of November, the industrial tribunal granted their request to see the countless short contracts that they signed with their ex-employer, the famous customary fixed-term contracts (CDDU), “converted” into full-time permanent contracts.

Contracts that the courts date back to March 13, 1975 for Bertrand Renard and February 25, 1986 for Arielle Boulin-Prat. Gross monthly reference salary retained by the judges: 5,600 euros for one and 5,400 for the other. The two ex-comrades of Laurent Romejko had also obtained recognition of the nullity of their dismissal, as well as that of “discrimination based on age”. So many successes which did not prevent them from appealing.

“We are very happy with this decision from a principled point of view. But we are also at the minimum possible compensation”, justifies this Wednesday their lawyer, Maître Juliette Mascart, according to whom the first judgment is far from having covered “the damage” suffered by her clients.

Compensation at the lowest possible

And to cite as an example “the requalification compensation” in a permanent contract for the CDDUs of Bertrand Renard and Arielle Boulin-Prat. Estimated at around 5,500 euros each by the industrial tribunal, it “corresponds to one month’s gross salary, that is to say the minimum provided for by the texts”, underlines their council. Another point targeted, “compensation for void dismissal” set at around 30,000 euros each. “There too, they obtained the strict minimum, that is to say six months of gross salary,” regrets Me Juliette Mascart.

This decision to appeal will not be without consequences for the two septuagenarians. In addition to the uncertainty regarding the sum that the Paris Court of Appeal will award them at the end of their appeal, Bertrand Renard and Arielle Boulin-Prat will undoubtedly have to wait between 12 and 18 additional months before being certain of their fate. Unless there is an agreement between the parties by then, which seems “unlikely” according to their lawyer.

The two ex-accomplices of “Numbers and Letters” also agree, at least temporarily, to give up a good part of the money that France Télévisions was to pay them. The provisional execution of the first judgment being only partial, they will only receive nearly 50,000 euros each out of the more than 200,000 they could have received. Contacted, France Télévisions did not wish to comment.