“I wanted to give a new direction to my career”. Sylvie Tellier has decided to turn the Miss France page. The one who was the patroness of the prestigious competition for 17 years announced on Tuesday August 30 that she was going to leave her post this year.

She will present the ceremony for the last time alongside Jean-Pierre Foucault on TF1, next December. “This will be my last show with him, he taught me everything. I have a lot of affection and admiration for him,” said the general manager of Miss France in an interview with TV Mag.

“I lived and slept Miss France for 17 years, to the point of forgetting myself, sometimes. On stage, I’m going to cry, that’s for sure…”, she predicts. But Sylvie Tellier is already looking ahead with ambition. “It’s a major life change for me,” she admits, confiding that she now wants to “put [her] energy at the service of promoting France and its know-how”.

Did the arrival of Alexia Laroche-Joubert as president of Miss France in October 2021 precipitate her departure? The winner of the beauty contest in 2002 assures that no: “I am not leaving because of the arrival of Alexia Laroche-Joubert (…) but because I have the feeling of having achieved my objectives”.

Until the end of the year, she has agreed to hand over smoothly to her successor: Cindy Fabre. The Miss France 2005 will have the quality of director of the National competition.

Sylvie Tellier will then be able to embark on new “entrepreneurial projects”. She should also continue her career in the media, says a press release from the Miss France committee.

Despite this announcement which had the effect of a bomb, the 2023 edition of the famous competition is preparing little by little. The first ten elected candidates are known. The regional elections indeed began on June 24th.