French TV star Igor Bodganoff, 72, dies of COVID just days after twin

Igor Bogdanoff, the French TV star known for his eccentric personality and appearance, has died at 72. 

The television presenter passed away just days after his identical twin, Grichka. The brothers are both reported to have succumbed to COVID-19.

“In peace and love, surrounded by his children and his family, Igor Bogdanoff left for the light on Monday January 3, 2022,” says a statement released by Bogdanoff’s family via his agent, the Sun reported. He is survived by his ex-wife, the writer Amélie de Bourbon-Parme, and their six children. 

Grichka was reportedly hospitalized on Dec. 18 after falling ill with the novel coronavirus. He passed away Dec. 28. 

In their native France, the pair were known for their TV careers, most notably co-presenting the 1980s science fiction series “Temps X” among other sci-fi shows, including “Rayons X.” 

Igor had a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Burgundy, and became the focus of a controversy regarding physics papers published by the twins in the early 2000s which many industry professionals believed were misleading.

The siblings have also become associated with the cryptocurrency community after Grichka claimed to have contributed to the source code of bitcoin, the Sun reported. They consistently denied that their striking, matching facial features were the result of plastic surgery, insisting they were natural. 

According to close friends who spoke to the French publication Le Monde, the brothers were both unvaccinated.

“Grichka, like Igor, was not an antivax. He was antivax for himself,” Luc Ferry, a professor of philosophy and former Minister of Education and friend of both brothers told Le Monde. “Being very athletic, without a gram of fat, they believed that the vaccine was more dangerous. They never got sick.”

Neither the brothers’ vaccine status nor their official cause of death has been confirmed by the family.