Mélanie defies Down’s to present TV weather

A young woman with Down’s syndrome is to realise her dream later this month after more than 120,000 people backed her bid to be a TV weather presenter.

Mélanie, 21, had launched an appeal on Facebook to win 100,000 ‘likes’ and after saying on a video that she was “different” and “wanted to show the world that I can do many things and I want to prove it by appearing on TV”.

Her ‘Mélanie can do it!’ video pulled in 121,000 likes in just two days.

Backed by Unapei, the French federation of associations for the disabled, her video appeal was viewed more than two million times and her plea was spotted by BFMTV, which invited her to the studios yesterday.

She met presenters Pascale de la Tour and Christophe Delay and on live TV they asked her to present the weather on March 27, six days after World Down’s Syndrome Day on March 21.

A short while later, national channel France 2 TV revealed that they had also been watching her progress and the station’s ‘Miss Météo’ Chloé Nabédian tweeted her asking if she wanted to present its weather – and she will do it on the same day.

Earlier this morning she also appeared on Europe 1 radio – which is also screened as a live internet broadcast – and chatted with presenter Thomas Sotto who gave her presenting tips... and her Facebook page had reached 150,000 likes