Élise Lucet

Élise Lucet (French: [eliz lysɛ] ; born 30 May 1963) is a French journalist and television host. Known for her investigative journalism work on shows such as Pièces à Conviction, Cash Investigation and Envoyé spécial, she has been dubbed France's "incorruptible journalist". In 2008, she was named Knight of the Legion of Honour. Lucet's work for Cash Investigation garnered her and her crew around twenty international awards including a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for their investigation on the Panama Papers.

Élise Lucet was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime. Her father is a teacher and her mother a school director. She has a sister. Lucet began her career under Henri Sannier on the Caen affiliate of France 3 in 1983. She subsequently worked for Sygma TV and the public service radio station France Inter. In 1990, she became the host of the 19/20 evening news on France 3. In 1997, she became its lead editor.

As a writer and television producer, Lucet hosted Pièces à Conviction from 2000 until 2011. In 2005, she left 19/20 to host 13 heures le journal on France 2. In 2012, she began hosting Cash Investigation, an investigative television programme; she has also hosted Envoyé spécial since 2016.

Cash Investigation brought to light some controversies:

Her pugnacity and daring attitude are appreciated by spectators. Her show regularly achieves record viewership numbers for a news programme; she was elected favourite TV host of France in October 2017.[24]

The audiovisual club of Paris awarded her the 2014 Laurier of the TV magazine for Cash Investigation.[25] The same year, she won the yearly International Press (Television) Grand Prize for "her entire career in international news and for excellence and courage in the treatment of international issues in Cash Investigation".[26] Anti-corruption association Anticor later awarded Lucet its 2015 Ethics Price.

Lucet and Martin Bourgeois, an antiquarian, were married in 2006. They had a daughter, Rose. Bourgeois died of leukemia in 2011.