Julien Lepers celebrates his 75th birthday this Monday, August 12, 2024. Since his ouster from Questions pour un champion in 2016, the former host has appeared much less on television. But what has become of him? During his violent falling out with France Télévisions, Julien Lepers had tried to change his cast and bounce back. Outside of Questions pour un champion, hosted by Samuel Étienne since 2016, the Sylvains still has trouble bouncing back on television. Still an expert in general practice, he appears from time to time in the media when current events allow, such as recently on the death of Geneviève de Fontenay, described as a “woman of character” by the host. Less well for Julien Lepers: with the exception of the appeal of his judgment at the Industrial Tribunal as an appeal concerning a health worker in Germany, his three euro patients were awarded without fault to the former host last May.
Viewers certainly haven’t forgotten him. Julien Lepers is celebrating his 75th birthday this Thursday, August 12. The host was a key figure in the French audiovisual landscape for a long time before having to leave the cult show on France 3. However, he sometimes wanders around the media during the news, like the death of Geneviève de Fontenay in early August: for him, the lady with the hat was a “woman of character”. More annoying for Julien Lepers, his appeal in the industrial tribunal case last May was dismissed.
The man, who started on the radio before getting noticed on RMC, then on RTL, became a television presenter in Switzerland, on TSR, during the 1980s. But it was not until 1986 that he achieved mainstream fame, arriving on France 3. The presenter hosted many cult programs such as Intervilles, the Miss France election or Eurovision before taking the reins of Questions pour un champion in 1994. Now retired, the 74-year-old man also appeared in the seventh season of Danse avec les stars, in 2016, as well as in the special celebrity edition of Meilleur pâtissier, in 2018. In 2019, he participated in the reality TV show Je suis une célèbre, sortir-moi de là! before flying off to L’Aventure Robinson, alongside Black M, presented by Denis Brogniart. He has also been a candidate several times for the Grand concours des animateurs, on TF1. Since 2020, the famous pseudo-retiree has not disappeared from the radar. He nevertheless made an appearance on the Bienvenue chez vous of France Bleu Azur on the 12th. In February, revealing that he had recently settled in the Gairault district of Nice and continued to compose.
Julien Lepers refuses to ever watch Questions pour un champion again. After twenty-seven years as the presenter of Questions pour un champion, whose real name is Ronan Gerval Lepers, he was abruptly fired in 2016. A dismissal that the septuagenarian did not appreciate. he therefore decided to take the production company to court. Last year, in the columns of France Dimanche or during his visit to Jordan De Luxe, he discussed his future with the show, which he presented from 1988 to 2016: with Questions pour un champion, I had thirty years of TV 99% absolute happiness where I had a blast like I have never worked in my life. But it was a real, real, real job. And 1% of really bad stuff. The ending was totally botched, inexplicable, unexplained and rude. He then said he never had an explanation for his dismissal: that’s what hurt me. Before confiding that he had never watched the show presented by Samuel Étienne and that he would “never do it again. I’m not a masochist.
