After winning everything at 100 Genies, Félix Tétreault might have a swollen head. Some have it when leaving double occupancy. But the 17-year-old is filled with humility.
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Félix met at Collège Durocher, the private high school he attends in Saint-Lambert, and insists he’s “just a normal teenager” who enjoys meeting his friends and playing video games, but whoever the show 100 Genius sees knows this is a very incomplete portrait.
Despite a new rule dictating that a team must be disbanded and rerolled after three consecutive wins, Félix still managed to return to the arena that fall. His achievements in quizzes for young people between the ages of 14 and 17 are not new. Since his first visit in 2020, he has asserted himself. Last year his airtime had to compete with that of the host Pierre-Yves Lord so much that he drew good answers at a fast pace.
He earns nearly $13,000 in grants over three seasons. “When I signed up I just wanted to have fun. My goal wasn’t necessarily to win, but it happened,” he sums up modestly.
I know Ti-Joe
The son of psychologist parents, Félix Tétreault grew up surrounded by books and atlases, which he asked for as gifts as soon as he started reading around the age of 3. He’s always up for a game of Docte-Rat, Ti-Joe Connaissant, a few acres of traps, or any other board game that might stimulate his intellect.
In his spare time he is writing a book, a collection of portraits of important women in history. On Friday afternoons he volunteers with the elderly.
At school, he particularly enjoys geography, art, and history, but as the audience of 100 Geniuses noted, his knowledge extends well beyond those three subjects. Politics, physics, languages… He masters an impressive variety of subjects, including the musical mini-quizzes organized by Bruno Chartrand, his contemporary world teacher. “He knows all the songs, regardless of the decade,” the teacher tells us. I always have to change Félix teams. It’s a little musical bible. It’s like a running gag in class: If nobody has the answer, Felix probably has it. »
Félix is not someone who wants to learn just to answer questions, show off and score points; he is someone who wants to learn in order to emancipate himself, to satisfy his curiosity.
Bruno Chartrand, teacher
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Felix Tetreault
Bruno Chartrand is not the only teacher to shower Félix with praise. His former mathematics teacher, Alexandre Thibodeau, describes him as an “ideal student”, dedicated, independent and caring. “Félix gives everything for everything. He could have learned everything on his own. He didn’t really need me, but he participated in class. »
Those who have always had to work hard to get decent grades in school probably won’t appreciate that Felix never had to study to excel. At 100 Geniuses, he once found the answer to a question in an Edgar Allan Poe poem because he remembered an episode of his favorite show, The Simpsons, where he mentioned it. “I think I have a photographic memory. If I see something, I know I’ll remember it for the exam. I learn easily. »
Down with prejudice
Félix Tétreault is delighted with the success of 100 Genies, which reaches 367,000 viewers every Thursday evening on ICI Télé. He believes the show challenges the negative stereotypes about geniuses en herbe, those competitions that many high-profile individuals – like himself – regularly attend. Prejudices crystallized in the past through skirts and beautiful ears. Because apparently Félix Tétreault, although a pure product of the 2000s, knows this sketch from 1986 in which the blockheads of Saint-Jean-de-Bosco go head-to-head with the deadlocked nerds of the Entrailles-les-Oies college. You can even say “Bo Derek!” without looking at us with an eyebrow.
SCREEN CAPTURE FROM RADIO-CANADA’S WEBSITE
Félix Tétreault (right) with two of his teammates with whom he played this fall.
“I have the reference!” ‘ he says smiling.
We’re just curious teenagers. We like to learn. We play by testing our knowledge. That’s all.
Felix Tetreault
Speaking of budding geniuses, Félix obviously doesn’t go unnoticed when he attends meetings. Mothers often come to him to take a picture with their son. “Sometimes I forget I’m on TV. I’m always amazed when people take the time to come to me. »
Felix doesn’t yet know what he wants to do later. He hopes to find a job that satisfies two or three passions. In the meantime, he will enroll in CEGEP in science just to keep his options open. “I’m interested in so many deals, it’s difficult for me to choose. But it’s a nice problem to have I think. »
ICI Télé presents 100 Genies, Thursdays at 8 p.m. The last one will be broadcast on December 8th.