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Secret Story France 2024

FX Sims

FX Sims

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The world is shaking! Secret Story returns to France in 2024! 👀

Our very own adaptation of Big Brother is back in France, with TF1 and Endemol announcing today that the show is making a comeback, and that casting is now open!
The show's return had been announced by a well-known French media journalist several months ago, but today it's official!

For those of you who read my previous article in the summer of 2022, I announced that Big Brother and/or Secret Story could return to France in 2023. Finally, after a year of rumors and speculation, Secret Story will be back on our screens in 2024, on TF1!
However, rumors are still swirling about a new reality show coming to France, I think it's Big Brother France (Big Brother Celebrity as far as we know), which if broadcast on another channel, will try to compete with Secret Story and TF1.

A quick reminder of what Secret Story is all about: people are locked away in a house specially built for the show, and for several weeks must hide their secret while discovering the secret of others, avoiding weekly elimination. Paced by games, secret missions and twists and turns, one of the contestants is crowned winner at the end of the game, and receives a cheque for €100,000 or more, as well as the amount of his or her personal prize fund, which may or may not have grown over the course of the game.

Secret Story ran from 2007 to 2017 on TF1, for a total of 11 seasons.

Last year, "Star Academy 2022" made its comeback on TF1 for 6 weeks, and in view of the high ratings the program achieved, the channel will be launching a new season of the show on November 4, 2023, which will last over 12 weeks. I think "Star Academy" was a test for TF1 and Endemol to see if reality TV could be revived in France, considering the decline and lack of interest in reality TV in France.

The potential return of Secret Story was announced by Clément Garin (a well-known French media journalist) several months ago, and was officially announced today on the "Secret Story" social networks with a video announcing not only the return but also the opening of casting. According to several rumors, the show could be broadcast from April/May (generally the show was broadcast from May/June during the first seven seasons), which corresponds to the end of "Star Academy 2023" which will be broadcast from November to February, thus leaving a transitional break of a few weeks between these two shows, to prepare for the show's return. All the more so as the set for the weekly Star Academy live evenings is located at Studio 217 in La Plaine-Saint-Denis; a studio also used for Secret Story at the time, where the show's set was installed during the first seven seasons, and right next door at Studio 224 was located the "House of Secrets" (a themed house built and different every year for the show), the house having moved from season eight to eleven on the roof of the AB Production studios.

Things to know: TF1 is hoping to make the return of Secret Story a more family-oriented, less trashy show compared to previous editions, while retaining the aspect of the game and secrets. Just like Star Academy 2022, which saw the evolution of a very natural and up-to-date cast, and above all more human and less dramatic in front of the cameras.

I think that Endemol and TF1 have waited for BBUK to come back to see if the sauce could catch on in France too, given the ratings achieved by ITV. Let's hope they take their cue from BBUK and not BBAU/US/CAN if they want to change/update the Secret Story formula.

Link to video of Secret Story return / casting opening:
 
FX Sims said:
🇭🇺 Hello! I just writing about the revival of Big Brother Hungary on TV2, even though Pavel Stanchev, CEO of TV2 Group, forgot to announce it at this year's Big Picture conference, and will make up for it at the 2024 Media Hungary conference by announcing the revival of Big Brother Hungary for TV2 with (family-friendly) season 3 and a new eye logo (which is using this title in the Netherlands and Belgium since 2021). 👁️
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After a 21-year hiauts, when will revive Big Brother Hungary on TV2 Group's flagship network, TV2, in 2024, this time with (family-friendly) season 3 and a new eye logo (which is using this title in the Netherlands and Belgium since 2021)?

Please confirm the revival of Big Brother Hungary for TV2 Group's flagship network, TV2, in 2024 with (family-friendly) season 3 and a new eye logo (which is using this title in the Netherlands and Belgium since 2021)! 👁️ 🙏
#BringBackBigBrotherHungary
 
Didn't realise it had been off air so long. I used to follow it quite closely before they started geoblocking the videos on their website.
 
Brekkie said:
Didn't realise it had been off air so long. I used to follow it quite closely before they started geoblocking the videos on their website.
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Since the end of Secret Story in 2017 we haven't had another lock-in show apart from Star Academy 2022 last year.

By the way, I really don't know if production is going to build the new house in its original location at Studio 224, as the environment around the studios has changed a lot with the construction of new buildings not far from there. The other location of AB Production's rooftop house used from season 8 to 11 has been abandoned. There's even a demolition permit for the building, I don't know when they're going to implement the demolition. Maybe they'll choose a brand new location for the house, in the newer, more modern studios like Studios du Lendit, built in 2010.
 
If France is anything like the UK finding a location shouldn't be a problem as studios were going up pretty much monthly during the peak in film production a few years back and now that's dried up plenty of spaces are going spare.
 
I can't wait for 2024. Secret Story France is my favourite show.
2015 was horrible, I was there when they were shooting. I want to see SS to change that image in my head
SS France is the best BB :)
 
l.a.r.a said:
I can't wait for 2024. Secret Story France is my favourite show.
2015 was horrible, I was there when they were shooting. I want to see SS to change that image in my head
SS France is the best BB :)
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Oh yeah, that must have been awful.
 
timmy said:
Oh yeah, that must have been awful.
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It was awful, because it happened in the final filming live and you could here the shots before the show shut down, one of the sites of the shooting was close to the house. The winner could not be announced then which was understandable.
 
I'd forgotten the final was impacted by that - how tragic.

I've been doing quite a bit of looking at BB worldwide lately and it's interesting how the Secret Story studio design is now quite widely used, though often in a modified format incorporating the BB eye, around the world. It still looks great. Their series 1 set still looks great too - that was very BB Aus inspired with the plank too.

 
Brekkie said:
I'd forgotten the final was impacted by that - how tragic.

I've been doing quite a bit of looking at BB worldwide lately and it's interesting how the Secret Story studio design is now quite widely used, though often in a modified format incorporating the BB eye, around the world. It still looks great. Their series 1 set still looks great too - that was very BB Aus inspired with the plank too.

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OMG! Just the start, it is the best sound and the best voice, I am so addicted to SS, can't wait for next year
 
Secret Story is back on Tuesday, April 23 on TF1!

It's official: after a 7-year absence, la Maison des Secrets reopens its doors to new contestants and la Voix, who hasn't changed a bit. For this brand-new season, la Maison des Secrets has changed address and is now located in Poissy, in a large hangar where construction began a few weeks ago (photos taken by amateur accounts have been released on X). This season should last between 6 and 8 weeks.

What we know about this new season and what's new in several points:
  • Christophe Beaugrand is back to host the show (he presented the show from seasons 9 to 11 between 2015 and 2017).
  • La Voix is back, but he hasn't changed. He's still as clever and cunning as ever when it comes to secret missions.
  • The inhabitants' secrets are part of the game.
  • The game is the producers' priority - no more clashes or trash TV. The broadcaster and producers have agreed to make Secret Story a feel-good family show.
  • La Maison des Secrets is located in Poissy, about 30 kilometers from Paris.
  • The show will return to TF1 in its entirety, as in the first 8 seasons.
  • There will only be a launch show and a final show - no more weekly themed shows that end late.
  • Candidates will be eliminated in the Friday live super daily show.
  • The public will also be able to investigate the hunt for secrets, since they won't know whose secrets belong to whom.
Point + :
For this new season, the show's iconic logo has evolved. Change of font and colors for the "Secret Story" brand, as well as a modernization of the eye.

GKKf3INWUAAFbQ0.jpeg

Point - :
The launch of the show on Tuesday, April 23 at 11.30pm... after the Koh Lanta episode (Survivor France) to reform the program duo as in the old days.
TF1 could have shifted Koh Lanta by a week, leaving Secret Story to launch at 9.10pm, or else launched the show on Friday April 26 in the second half of the evening, just after the finale of Danse avec les Stars (Dancing with the stars).
This programming choice is disappointing, but doesn't surprise me when we know that TF1's program director hates reality TV, and that he did everything in his power to ensure that the return of Secret Story either didn't happen or will be a disaster.

As for the question of the live feed channel (like we had for Star Academy), we don't know any more. No one has mentioned it, so we're assuming that there won't be any live content on a special TV channel.
The press conference takes place this morning as we speak.

What's your thougts ? Are you hyped ? I can't wait to see the house, the housemates, the secrets, the twists and turns!
 
4 hours of live broadcasting per day have been confirmed for this new season. Late morning from 10am to 12pm and evening from 8pm to 10pm.
 
FX Sims said:
The game is the producers' priority - no more clashes or trash TV. The broadcaster and producers have agreed to make Secret Story a feel-good family show.
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As someone who hasn't followed much of Secret Story: How did these clashes manifest on the show? Were producers stirring the pot like in the UK when they had to figure out what people said about them on Twitter?
 
kamui said:
As someone who hasn't followed much of Secret Story: How did these clashes manifest on the show? Were producers stirring the pot like in the UK when they had to figure out what people said about them on Twitter?
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From what I remember, some clashes went so far as not to be broadcastable.
In 2012, during season 6, a contestant violently attacked another contestant (with whom he shared a secret), and during a weekly live show this man was upset after answering some questions from former contestants from previous seasons, on returning to the house, he violently shoved this young woman, and the live connection was interrupted. He was kicked out of the game if I remember correctly.
During the same season, another contestant started a fight and security intervened in the house to separate the contestants. Production held a crisis meeting and the man was evicted from the game. Footage of the altercation was never aired, but was leaked on YouTube at the time.
A contestant from another edition revealed that the producers and journalists were deliberately asking "anxiety-provoking" questions to pit contestants against each other, while depriving them of their cigarettes and the minimum amount of alcohol allowed in the house.

Often, during the weekly live shows, contestants can see images of what the other housemates think of them, and some montages were actually faked to create tension in the game. Then again, some contestants, viewing the show after they'd left it, didn't recognize themselves on screen, because everything they'd been shown was wrong.

Secret Story was classed as trash TV at the time, because the show was criticized for being exhibitionist. In the early seasons, some of the contestants showed themselves naked in the house and under the cameras. There was even an underwater camera in the pool and showers at the time, and nothing was censored after 10pm.
 
Brekkie said:
Attempting to turn the format into a "feel good daily show" never ends well.
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I'm of the same opinion as you, but I was surprised by the Star Academy revival which, since its return in 2022, has been a real success, and the kindness of the contestants has won over the public, who are increasingly turning their backs on drama reality shows.
 
The Star Academy format is quite different though - more about nurturing talent.

Does France still have the rule preventing 24/7 filming. Can't remember which show or country it was but another show got around this by rather than turning off cameras for an hour they opened a camera free room for the period so the housemates could go off camera if they wished, but would have to choose too.
 
Yes, there's still that rule against filming 24/7.
It's in the employment contract law for reality TV contestants, which stipulates that productions don't have to film everything that's going on all the time, because that would be tantamount to exploitation in the workplace.

All reality shows in France have a CSA room where participants can withdraw from the cameras for an hour or two, in which they are neither filmed nor recorded by microphones. There are also CSA hours, when all the cameras are switched off for a set time during the day, and nothing happens in the game.
 
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