“Caution: limited access road”. When we arrived at the filming location of The Princes and Princesses of Love, the GPS alerted us. We are only a few minutes from Saint-Tropez but behind the gate that leads to the villa of the W9 reality show, the excitement is the same as in the coastal town. The car leads us on a private road. At the end of it, two villas hidden from prying eyes.
In the premiere, the show's contestants shoot the show's ninth season. In the second, the members of the production are busy. At the edge of an infinity pool, some manage the schedule for the days to come while others book the flights of the next contenders to join the adventure. "This year, it's gone fast and strong", we are told from the outset. On the opening line, four "princes" (Anthony, Nathan, Illan and Dylan) and four "princesses" (Isabeau, Haneïa, Léna and Yoly) launch the game but others will land over the five weeks of filming.
The atmosphere is heating up, even with the cameras off
After a few minutes, we are invited to brave the strong heat of the south of France to discover the house of the candidates. It is the same house as the previous season "but we have the feeling that everything has changed with the lights, it's very Miami Vice", underlines David Warren, director of programs for Studio 89, the production company of the 'issue.
On the side, Léna and Isabeau, two of the princesses of the season, wait to be able to enter the frame to shoot a sequence. The two young women went to the agency headed by Magali Berdah to seize information that they will hasten to reveal to others. The rest of the cast is gathered in the living room, the cameras are not rolling yet. Still, the mood is heating up. "We've had the same discussion 180 times," one of the players gets angry. "Hey, it's good now," shouts the program's editor-in-chief as the participants climb the towers. Instantly, calm returns. “Sorry,” she breathes, addressing us.
Ten minutes are enough to film this sequence. Once Léna and Isabeau have finished with their declaration, the cameras continue to roll to engage the "reality" mode: the show's cameramen will follow, hand-held camera, the discussions of the candidates in the various corners of the villa. Everything that happens is then transcribed into a document, the "hot sheet", in which the course of the day is summarized in a factual manner. Although… “Summary” is a big word. “The day one hot sheet is 133 pages,” reveals David Warren.
"You're stressing me out! »
A few meters below the villa and its scuffles, Magali Berdah is preparing a sequence with Sam Vega and Aurélie Barnabot, two of her agency's "Avengers of Love", in the house of the production. Before the sound of the clap sounds in the room, the agent of influencers taps on his phone and listens to his voice messages. She ends up being cut off in her tracks: “It’s turning in the agency! All three discuss the behavior of certain participants. On several occasions, Magali Berdah must pick up the thread of her sentence. "I'm laughing, you're stressing me out," she laughs, addressing us.
Two cameras film the scene. One is placed on a tripod and the other is placed on the shoulder of a cameraman. At the end of the shoot, the latter turns off the fixed camera. “Uh… Disk is full.” Moment of hesitation in the agency. Quickly, the team decides to shoot the last minutes of the conversation again. Magali, Sam and Aurélie have no text to learn, so the words they use are not the same as a few moments before. Too bad, the magic of editing will blur the tracks.
At the villa, it's sometimes dead calm
In the afternoon, it's activity by the sea for some and siesta session for others. On the hot sand of the beach of Pampelonne in Ramatuelle first, the film crew does not go unnoticed. Three cameras, a pole, twelve candidates, there is enough to attract the attention of shoppers. On a privatized corner of a bar, suitors and suitors wait for the one they want to finish their turn of the buoy in good company. A broad smile appears on the faces of many of them, but we still feel a little tension in the air. "Come on, let's go back to the villa, we have things to settle," says a participant, taking her things.
At the villa, precisely, all those who have not jumped in the car to go for a walk on the beach pass the time. Illan takes a nap on the sofa while Dylan has settled on a deckchair in the garden, just to work on his tan. Three participants do the same by the pool. It is 3 p.m., the cameras are not rolling. No music, no noise, it's dead calm.
Welcome to the interview room (aka the punchline room)
You have to go to the interview room to catch the sound of a conversation. A contender (whose name we will hide to avoid any spoilers) is sitting on a stool. Behind her, a green background. In front of her, the journalist who holds the famous “hot sheet” in her hands. “Wait, I repeat my sentence but I have already said it in an interview. I say it again just in case? asks the candidate. "What's your sentence? “replies the journalist. "It's because at the beginning it was a freezer and now it's a radiator", launches the contender, visibly well prepared for the exercise of the punchlines.
With this young woman aged only 22, the season promises to be spicy. “She is a green plant, she is useless except crying, she says in front of the camera about her competitor. I was too good without her and there I tell myself that the clock is ticking, that she will arrive. Pffft. Frankly, lazy. »
A team watching the show
In the evening, at 10:30 p.m., a completely different atmosphere surrounds the villa. Night has fallen and no noise is perceptible. In the garden, neon lights have been installed and the candidates are gathered in an arc. Around the fire pit, the voice of Magali Berdah rises and reviews the sentimental progress of each and everyone. We witness the first time ceremony of the season, the one that will see the first prince or the first princess packing their bags.
"That's what she's saying here," raves the producer after a particularly relevant remark from the director of the agency hosting the evening. The members of the team around him are at the show and laugh as we imagine that the viewers will react on their sofa. "He manipulated that one too, it's not possible", reacts one of them about one of the princes. Then the ax falls. After the announcement of the elimination, a manager makes a call to the headset: "OK so it's going to reality, we follow the eliminated person preparing his suitcase".
Each other hugs and the cameras move around the group. The eliminated person leaves only five minutes later, the time to give everyone a last hug. The van is waiting for him and takes him to the production house. From that moment, she will no longer have the right to set foot in the villa, yet located a few dozen meters away.
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