What do you like about the concept of Cooking impossible?
Juan Arbelaez : It’s the perfect example of everything we love to do in everyday life. When we travel, we like to discover countries through the market, meeting people or the various activities in the area. What works about this show is that it’s true: the teasing, the impossible challenges.
Julien Duboué: We can afford anything, it will not change our friendship. (Laughs.)
How do you find the destinations where you have to cook to win?
JD: We are looking on the Internet. We know each other well enough to send the other to a country he has never been to. But when I send Juan Montreal, I’m not going to ask him to make an easily reproducible poutine. So I’m going to look for a little inn lost in the woods. (Laughs.)
J.A. : I type in the search engine all the things he doesn’t like: spicy, strong smells, things placed high up …
JD: Motherfucker ! (Laughs.)
J.A. : (Laughs.) We always try to get into chaotic situations and push ourselves to our limits. Julien is used to his little Parisian restaurants, so cooking over a wood fire in Slavonia … (Both laugh.)
You show two very different styles in the face of difficulties: Juan is relaxed and Julien is more serious. Are you also like that in life?
JD: Of course ! He’s the little wanker and I’m the studious guy. (They both burst out laughing.)
J.A. : I dream.
Did this show change anything in your ten-year friendship?
J.A. : Above all, it shows France, which I cook better than Julien (Julien bursts out laughing) and that he is afraid of little animals. I had enormous respect for him and realized that there is a little heart of artichoke behind that beard and that … Behind, it is only tenderness. (Laughs.)
JD: We go out of our way and we are mean to each other (…)
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