Maxime Dumontier left the artistic world in 2021. After three difficult years punctuated by a career reorientation in cabinetmaking, the ex-actor obtained, Thursday evening, the approval that he had made the right decision through in an unusual way: by emerging as the big winner from a reality show.
Under a shower of confetti, Maxime Dumontier and Stéphanie Brodeur, his partner, won Le Grand Chantier Rona, a renovation competition broadcast on Noovo, in which couples competed to win a new, fully furnished house worth 700 000 dollars. After 10 weeks of tedious work, the pair styled the other finalist tandem at the finish line, Lisette and Dideley.
For Maxime Dumontier and Stéphanie Brodeur, who had “kind of given up” on the dream of owning a home, the repercussions are major. Parents of two little boys, Alban, 10 months, and Orel, almost 4 years old, they can finally breathe.
“Having a house – but no mortgage – at 35 is a real game-changer,” comments the new carpenter in an interview. What we dreamed of, it belongs to us. We can now offer a better quality of life to our children. »
“We’re happy as hell,” he continues. After everything that happened, we feel like we’ve just finished a marathon. We’re like, “At least we didn’t run all this for nothing!” We won our bet. »
Long before Le grand chantier Rona, Maxime Dumontier was used to television sets. His acting career began in 1998 with Amandine Malabul, a British-Canadian youth series. Roles followed in Fred-dy, Smash, Nos étés, Détect inc. and 7e round, then, as an adult, Unité 9, Au secours de Béatrice and Cerebrum.
In the cinema, his name has appeared in the credits of feature films such as Séraphin: a man and his sin, by Charles Binamé, Gaz Bar Blues, by Louis Bélanger and Mémoires affectives, by Francis Leclerc. In 2008, his performance in Tout est parfait, by Yves-Christian Fournier, delighted the critics, notably allowing him to win the prize for best actor at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival, in France.
His last role on the big screen dates back to 2021, in The Drunk Birds, by filmmaker Ivan Grbovic.
Maxime Dumontier could have persisted and continued, but his heart was no longer in it.
“Because I started young, initially I was like, ‘Here you go! I found what I’m going to do until I die!” But when you realize, at 30, that you no longer love what you do, it’s like a devastating blow. Towards the end, I just felt like I was getting a check. It was impossible for me to stay, when we know how difficult it is to break into. I didn’t want to steal the place of someone who really wanted to have access. »
Although motivated, the decision to start from scratch was not easy to make. “I had put all my eggs in one basket. It’s tough to say: “The passion I’ve had since I was a kid is no longer there. Now I have to find something else.” It’s stunning. But it took so much weight off me. Instead of hanging on, I decided to walk away. That’s all. »
Today, Maxime Dumontier claims to be “elsewhere”. When he looks back, he feels no bitterness. “I still had an incredible 20 years. I’ve been through so much stuff. I have traveled the world. I experienced some really cool things. »
“I have mourned. I have no regrets. I left in peace. I’m proud of what I’ve done…I can’t even wait to show my kids that their dad was an actor for 20 years! “, he says, laughing.
In recent years, Maxime Dumontier has followed training at the Montreal School of Furniture Trades. His interest in cabinetmaking is not new. As a child, he loved following his grandfather, whom he describes as “a very, very manual man, capable of building a house from A to Z.”
It was after seeing an advert on the internet that Maxime Dumontier and Stéphanie Brodeur submitted their application to the Grand Chantier Rona last November.
The prospect of winning a house was certainly tempting, but Maxime Dumontier more or less believed in their chances of succeeding… because of the reality TV aspect of the project. Solitary by nature, the former actor feared “the whole social and strategic game”.
“Reality shows are not my bag. It’s not something I listen to. At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to be tough. Spending 24 hours a day with other people, I was like, “Oh my…” But it ended up being easier than I expected. We got closer really quickly. »
Maxime Dumontier and Stéphanie Brodeur, who currently live in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough in Montreal, still have a lot of things to prepare before calling the movers and migrating to Sainte-Julienne, in Lanaudière, where their house costs 700,000 dollars awaits them. However, they hope to settle there before the fall.
Starting from scratch is often dizzying, but when it comes with 5 zeros followed by a money sign, it’s much more appealing.