Published19. March 2024, 7:07 p.m.
Television: “The treasure map”: host Sylvain Augier has died
The first presenter of the France 3 game, from 1996 to 2005, died at the age of 68.
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Laurent Siebenmann
Sylvain Augier in Les Mosses, during the filming of a “Treasure Map” in French-speaking Switzerland, in 2003.
France Televisions
Made popular thanks to the TV game “La carte aux Trésors”, broadcast on France 3, Sylvain Augier died last weekend at the age of 68, reveals the French press, including “Le Figaro”. Last fall, he published an autobiography, “I come back from afar”, where he recounted his journey. But above all his slow descent into hell, since he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the 1990s.
Sylvain Augier started on radio on France Inter. He was spotted by viewers in 1987, when he presented “La Une est à vous” on TF1, a program which allowed the public to choose their Saturday afternoon series. A great sportsman and thrill-seeker, it was during this period that he suffered a paragliding accident which left him disabled in his right foot.
TV star
He then left TF1 prematurely in 1988. But the public found him two years later on France 3, at the helm of “Faut pas rêver”, a show of discovery and escape which fit him like a glove.
In 1996, Sylvain Augier became the presenter of a new game broadcast on France 3: “The Treasure Map”. Quickly, this program which allows viewers to discover all kinds of French regions, with candidates on board helicopters, was a huge success.
“The Treasure Map” will even be filmed, twice in the early 2000s, in French-speaking Switzerland. The opportunity for yours truly to meet Sylvain Augier and his team. And to see that he was a warm and friendly man, always ready to sign autographs and respond to the public, with a smile.
Everything changes
But the host arrived in 2005. He already knew he was suffering, in secret, from bipolarity and was constantly fighting against this illness which was gnawing at him. “When an episode of “The Treasure Map” ended, I went up to my hotel room to find a safe sleep because I was so tired from the tension of filming,” he explained to “Figaro”.
The rest will be more complicated. Financial problems, difficulties in working: Sylvain Augier was nevertheless a real fighter. He never let go of the ramp, despite some terribly difficult passages. Last fall, on C8, he appeared very marked by illness but still philosophical. “I continued my life, I continued to write,” he explained, he who published seven works, including “The moment where everything changed” and “Doubt and faith”. “I am afraid of suffering but not of death,” confided Sylvain Augier.