Maud Verdeyen, former Star Academy contestant, joins the team of “N’oubliez pas les paroles”

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Maud Verdeyen, former Star Academy contestant turned actress, has joined the casting team of “N’oubliez pas les paroles,” the daily game show hosted by Nagui on France 2, airing in access prime time before the 20 o’clock news. Her name recently appeared in the show’s end credits, confirming her return behind the scenes more than twenty years after her television debut.

This move comes as the game, hosted by Nagui since 2007, is enjoying a prosperous period. The contestant nicknamed maestro Céline surpassed 100,000 euros in winnings in early September, before crossing the 111,000 euro mark with thirteen consecutive victories a few days later, according to figures announced on air.

Maud Verdeyen’s arrival in the casting follows other changes in the show’s team. In January 2026, guitarists Jean-Luc, who had been with the show for nearly eighteen years, and Fabrice, who left to be closer to his family in La Réunion, departed the program. They were replaced by Bertrand Commère, a guitarist from Vernon in Eure, who has notably accompanied Marc Lavoine, Bénabar, Julien Clerc, Patrick Bruel, and Zaz.

Before joining the production teams, Maud Verdeyen was known as a contestant and then as an actress, following a career started two decades ago on the Star Academy sets.

A career built after the talent show

Revealed at seventeen during the fifth season of Star Academy in 2005, the Saint-Tropez native was eliminated before the program’s semifinals. She then turned to theater classes and acting.

Since then, she has appeared in several series and films: Marion in “Sous le soleil,” Camille Valence alongside Bernard Tapie in “Commissaire Valence,” as well as in “Hollywood Girls” on NRJ12. In cinema, she acted in “15 ans et demi” alongside Daniel Auteuil, and also performed on stage in “Famille de stars.”

Maud Verdeyen also reunited with former contestants from her season during the special celebrating twenty years of Star Academy. Nearly two decades after her time at the château, she now joins behind the scenes one of the most-watched daily shows in France 2.