M6
Stéphane Rotenberg during the filming of this season 22 of “Pekin Express”.
The adventure in the dragon kingdom has taken an unexpected turn. In the fifth episode of Beijing Express, broadcast on Friday April 3 on M6, the candidates found themselves at the heart of a violent political crisis in Nepal. Filming for this 22nd season took place at the beginning of September 2025, the time of the revolt of the generation Z against the government, particularly in Kathmandu.
The ten pairs, who were about to begin the fifth stage of the race to win their place for China, saw their adventure brutally disrupted by demonstrations.
At the origin of this mobilization: Nepalese youth angry because of a system of nepotism installed in the highest political spheres of the country. Initiated on social networks with the hashtags #Nepokid then #Nepobaby, to point the finger at certain political leaders accused of favoring those close to them.
Nepalese Gen Z in the street
In response, on September 4, the government decided to censor 26 platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp, citing a lack of regulation in the face of disinformation. A decision which ignited the powder. The protest took to the streets.
For these young Nepalese, this mobilization was a way of denouncing a system in place since 2008, the date of the establishment of the Republic in Nepal. The images show that the demonstrations quickly degenerated, giving rise to violent clashes with the police.
As Stéphane Rotenberg explains in the episode, public institutions and places linked to power were targeted by the demonstrators. Some political leaders were even urgently exfiltrated by the army, hanging from a rope attached to a helicopter. An impressive scene available in the episode broadcast on April 3 on M6.
“C’est le bordel”
In the midst of this chaos, the team of Pékin Expressfinds herself stuck. And on screen, the candidates’ concern is palpable. “I’m freaking out a littleâ€lets go of one of them. “It’s a mess, we don’t know if the race will be able to continue.”testifies another. All describe a tense and unpredictable atmosphere. Behind the host, helicopters, smoke bombs and gunshots: the tension rises a notch. “The police fired on the crowd, there were several deaths”explained Stéphane Rotenberg. The toll from these demonstrations was indeed heavy: around twenty deaths and several hundred injured in the capital according to Le Monde.
The production team and the candidates finally found refuge in a small hotel. Filming was halted for five days, before the contestants could be safely evacuated. Once the airport reopened, the ten pairs, initially competing to reach China, went there. Production « a réécrit un épisode » to allow candidates to get back into the game. The adventure was then able to resume in the heart of the Yunnan region, where, without changing anything during the broadcast, a pair was eliminated.
