Barely had they recovered from their first days in Brazil when they had to leave again for seventy-two new hours of travel to reach the city of Diamantina.
The first surprise, a beautiful train that usually carries miners, was waiting to take them forward by 40 kilometers. “Cédric was happy to see the train, given that he works at SNCF. It was really great, and it gave us a chance to talk with the other competitors. At that point, there was still good harmony (laughs),” specifies Gérard, for whom the thirty minutes also provided an opportunity to understand what was required of them in the first part of the stage.
Upon arrival, they needed to find a car to head towards Ouro Preto. A difficult task for the two Nicosians. The father recalls: “I don’t like it when we hitchhike with everyone. People preferred to first pick up couples or duos of girls. So, we often ended up being the last ones left with Pierre, Eric, Morta, and Loulou.” They get into a nice car, “a lucky break after the bad ones of the previous days, especially for the cameraman who was often very uncomfortable.” Shortly after, they had to stop already. Cédric suggested heading to a gas station. He explains: “For me, it’s better to go back to the city, five kilometers back to wait at a station. My father followed me. As a result, we found one five minutes after our arrival.”
However, from the very start, he remains disappointed with the editing. “You see me complaining again, just like during the rest of the stage. I’m disgusted. There’s a huge caricature. I complain, some are flirts, others are scared. But I have a clear conscience. Those who know me understand how I am. I have nothing to prove to others.”
On the road to the mine, the site of the immunity challenge, they cross paths with a 4X4 that agrees to take them. Gérard recounts this moment: “We took a road that made us lose time but the driver was so nice. It’s a pity that it wasn’t shown. Moreover, he arrived two hours late to his work. It touched us that he did all this for us so we gave him our Maracana t-shirts.”
Eventually, the two Nicosians arrive at the mine in fifth place, a position too late. They had to wait several hours in the sun until the three couple contestants finished the challenge. A moment that did not overly concern the father and son: “Many teams were more focused on immunity and were losing strength. We did not fixate on it although we wanted to make it. In my opinion, what mattered was after the challenge since we all started from the same point. That’s when you have to sprint.”
Except that day, it was already 3 PM by the time they had to leave, and fatigue was very much present. They eventually took two hours to cover three kilometers by car and two on foot. A situation that exasperated Cédric, to the point that he considered stopping the adventure. He reminisces about these difficulties: “You have to put it in context. We haven’t heard from our families, we don’t sleep well in warmth, and we eat little. We are with the same person 24/7, even though it’s my father and things go well with him. We have a microphone on us at all times, a camera that follows us. My father supported me a lot and he said that we didn’t have the right to give up because 15,000 people would have liked to be in our place. I felt very bad at that time and the images showed it. But they (the production note) forgot to show the evening. It was the most beautiful one we lived there.” Gérard continues: “We arrived at a school, where there was an old man, a caretaker. I explained everything and he called to get us lodging because he couldn’t do it himself. But he offered us a shower and something to eat. When Cédric saw that, he started crying and said he wanted to continue for him and to make more encounters like that one. That night, we slept at a gendarme’s house who welcomed us very warmly. We had a minister’s dinner. It was fabulous.”
The next day, an invigorated Cédric is found. He very quickly finds a car, then another. This third day is very special. Gérard explains why: “We were just crossing paths, we moved from the last to third place. It was a nice race.”
The two Nicosians had the opportunity to become better acquainted with the Belgian couple they took with them and then with Morta and Loulou. Cédric reflects on these encounters: “We wanted to show that we were good players. We took Yasmin and Harold in the same pick-up. When we were all four on the side of the road, Yasmin said that the first car would be for us, to thank us for having taken them.”
The same sentiment was echoed by the young Nicosian with the former gendarme and his teammate, Morta. “A bit further on, we got in with the son-in-law and the father-in-law. First, we took them, then they took us. They let us have the first car and since we couldn’t thank them in return, we let them finish fourth since we arrived together. With them, we had good times, we had fun during the journey, like when Loulou spent fifty kilometers on my father’s knees. It’s a pity that it wasn’t shown.”
Eighty kilometers from Diamantina, their paths separate. A lady offers to pay for a taxi for Gérard and Cédric so they can reach the destination city. These forty euros paid are a godsend for the two Nicosians who do not fail to thank with gifts for this providential help.
Eventually, they arrive fifth but regret that this stage was not eliminatory. “We got bored for nothing,” Gérard regrets. But they rejoice to spend three more days in Brazil, and look forward to one thing: “A physical stage because we think we are one of the three best teams at that level. We think that it will be crucial to reach the fifth stage and the marshes of the Pantanal. Despite hitchhiking and not mastering the languages, I think we’re doing quite well. Regarding Jean-Pierre and Joël, we thought we had a good chance of reaching the fourth stage but I don’t see their interest in having cheated.” Cédric, for his part, had not even understood what was happening: “I didn’t even know that some stages were not eliminatory, let alone that there was a penalty for the last ones. As for the cheating, I hadn’t even understood the rule myself, so I can’t blame them too much but I’m glad they had a double penalty. As for me, I was learning every day.”
He will have the opportunity to learn even more during at least three days in the longest stage of the adventure between Diamantina and Brasilia. Tune in next week on M6 for a journey of more than 1,000 kilometers.
Photo Credit: M6/Christophe Geral
P.S.: The production wanted to clarify that there are a very large number of filming hours and it is thus difficult to show everything in two hours. This is the reason why certain passages that marked Gérard and Cédric are missing.
