Just over 15 years ago, at the end of June 2007, Secret Story was launched on TF1. This Friday, TFX reopens the memory album of eleven seasons of the reality show with a documentary The secrets of a phenomenon. We know that memory is selective. So rather than mentioning, for example, the candidates excluded for violence or talking regarding the season 9 finale never broadcast because the live was scheduled for November 13, 2015, the program focuses on the most positive sequences. The nostalgia-reviving machine running at full throttle, 20 Minutes plunged back into the lists of the most absurd, surprising or remarkable secrets…
“I am a vampire” and other unlikely secrets
Does the silly secret generator exist? Were the minds that validated certain titles sober? There are questions to be asked. Take John-David’s elegant and respectful secret in season 2: “I have 780 conquests on my hunting board” Not 778, nor 784 no: 780. He would have said 805 or 927, it would have been the same, no one might check. We should have already agreed on the definition of “conquest”. In short, when there’s a blur, there’s a wolf and that’s the goal, to make it clear that the young man was a “serial seducer”. Same thing for Amélie Netten in season 4, who we were asked to believe was “a feminine Don Juan” – “I am a Catherine II of the 2000s” would probably also be cream if the audience of the broadcast knew who Catherine II was. Nevertheless, these erotomaniac secrets would almost pass for factual alongside some well-chosen ones. Like that of Fred, in season 1: “I am in contact with extraterrestrials”. The truth was also elsewhere for Nicolas two years later. He was “in communication with Dalida”. Oddly, the singer seemed to save her “lyric lyrics” during the show.
Florine, in season 7, it was with the animals that she spoke. The Saint-François d’Assises fan club was over the moon. False secret confessed is half forgiven: “I am a vampire”, assured Alexandre on the air in season 4. After his elimination, he admitted to being simply gothic. Confidence to Entertainment TV “Just the taste of my own blood, if for example I bite my lip, disgusts me. Really bad luck.
“I am a naturist” and other secrets to be told
” Do not be fooled by appearances ! was the watchword of Secret Story. We understand that this recommendation prevails when it comes to finding who is “policewoman and stripper” or “Anglican priest” in season 1. But “I am a naturist”, “I am bisexual”, “I am a private detective » or « I am an e-sports star », sorry, these are information that we put on a CV or in our bio on a dating app. The palm goes to the ex-miss France Rachel Legrain Trapani whose secret was “I am Rachel Legrain Trapani” and whose first words in the House of Secrets were: “Good evening, Rachel”.
“We are the masters of the underground” and other collective secrets
Being a couple or a fake couple was often enough of a secret to participate in Secret Story. Listing those who had to pretend to be in love or not would be too long. The common secrets were a great classic of the production which had fun linking candidates and candidates in a trio or quartet. There were thus “the chosen ones of the voice”, “the masters of the underground”, “the inhabitants of the Secret Box”, respectively in seasons 4, 5 and 6. A good way to make profitable the secret rooms to which only the candidates concerned were right. In season 1, it started strong: the triplets Johanna, Marjorie and Cyrielle had to make believe that they were one and the same person. While one of them was in the house of secrets, the other two remained hidden in a backstage room. The deception worked for long weeks – so well that the other candidates thought they were dealing with a young woman who was a bit cyclothymic around the edges – and the triplets won the first edition.
“I am the first pregnant man in the world” and other secrets related to trans identity
The best : Secret Story made it possible to address the subject of transidentity with the general public at a time when the visibility of trans people on screens was a bare minimum. The worst part: the show did not avoid sensationalism and disrespectful formulations. In the first season, Erwan, a 19-year-old trans man, had a secret: “I have decided to change my sex”. Despite the disrespectful title, the young man was able to use his participation to educate viewers. Morgane Enselme – who later wrote a book very critical of his experience on the show – in season 4, defended the secret “My father is called Brigitte”. The American Thomas Beatie, he introduced himself in the tenth season as “the world’s first pregnant man”. The latter made it to the final. He was a crowd favorite., touched by his story. The time was not then moral panic in the face of a poster you Planning family.
“I Was Hostage to ‘Human Bomb'” and Other Chilling Secrets
Secret Story, it was a room, two atmospheres. Candidates with the secret “I am a medium” or “I am a princess” might cohabit with a living candidate “with a bullet in the head” – we saw it in the second season. Each year, people who have been victims of dramatic events or who have not been spared by life joined the cast. In season 3, Bruno revealed that he had been homeless and Maija that she had survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. In the sixth season, Sergei had created emotion by telling how he had been “swapped at birth”. Among the outstanding secrets, there was that of Marion, in season 4, who was “the hostage of Human Bomb”. She was one of the children in the Neuilly kindergarten hostage-taking in 1993. Very quickly uncomfortable on the show, she decided to leave following 48 hours, but this time, Nicolas Sarkozy was not at the exit.
