When, at the end of the presentation of “Our True Nature” to the press last month, Frédéric Lopez asked what we thought of his new show, launched this Tuesday, at 9:10 p.m., on France 2, I I replied: “It’s Frédéric Lopez, the public knows what they can come and find there. » The host and producer, a bit taken aback, asked me to elaborate. “We don’t expect, for example, to see guests shopping in bags chased by cows,” I replied (without knowing why “Intervilles” was the first thing that came to mind). Then: “We know that the personalities will be out of their comfort zone, that they will undoubtedly make confidences, that there will be emotion. »
“Our true nature” fits this presentation. Frédéric Lopez invited Adriana Karembeu, Barbara Pravi, Gérard Jugnot and Donel Jack’sman to trek for two long days in the Canadian wilderness. Between two bivouacs, the personalities, who had no idea of what awaited them, talk to each other by the fire and tears well up in the corners of their eyes as often as bursts of laughter burst from their lips.
“I told him he hadn’t sprained him.”
“When Frédéric Lopez invited me to participate, I told him that he had not sprained himself, that he was taking the concepts of “Rendezvous in an unknown land” and “A Sunday in the countryside” and that he mixed them,” jokes Donel Jack’sman, citing the host’s two flagship programs. Which is exactly the kind of thing to say to Frédéric Lopez to offend him. He takes what is in reality his trademark as a reproach.
“‘Our true nature’ is both 100% Fred and 100% new,” defends Nicolas Daniel, director of magazines at France Télévisions. It uses the same ingredients, but in a different way. » « In “A Sunday in the Country”, we tell the story of the guests. In this new show, it’s more impressionistic, we get to know them little by little, there’s no storytelling,” explains the host.
“With Frédéric Lopez, we are safe”
“Fred, it’s a promise. We say yes all the time, says Adriana Karembeu who had previously participated in “Rendez-vous en terre stranger” and “La parenthesis unexpected”. When I announced that I was going to do this new show, people were asking me: “Where are you going? What are you going to do?” When I replied that I didn’t know, they replied, “Are you stupid or something?” », she laughs.
Gérard Jugnot, who has already played the role of “Rendez-vous en terre stranger”, “Panique dans l’ earpiece” and “A Sunday in the Country”, also places great confidence in Frédéric Lopez. “We know there will be kindness. Which is a very rare quality today. We are safe. We know that if we say stupid things, they won’t keep them. It’s not like with Ardisson and Fogiel where you had to arrive as a bullfighter, says the actor. What is interesting about Fred is that he follows the same principle as Mireille Dumas or Thierry Ardisson of interviewing you for hours to get you to confide. But nothing is used to create buzz. »
“Telling your story is not an exhibition”
The main person concerned confirms: “Nothing upsets me more in life than confidence. When someone tells their story, for me, it is not exhibition but transmission. When, in “Our True Nature”, Barbara Pravi and Gérard Jugnot talk about social shame, I tell myself that this will evoke things for a lot of people. I also know that when Adriana Karembeu confides that, at 7 years old, her father told her: “I don’t love you”, that will speak to a lot of people. »
The day before this press conference, the ex-model host discovered in preview, in a small group, the final result alongside her acolytes. “It was very powerful. I said lots of things, but while watching, I felt neither embarrassment nor shame. I don’t regret anything I said. » She adds: “I have never felt so good doing TV. There, it’s like I’m on vacation with people I don’t know. » A challenge for a woman who reveals that she generally has difficulty living in a group.
Gérard Jugnot, who likes to tease the “personal development” spirit of Frédéric Lopez, still sent an SMS to the host when he left Montreal: “My wife thinks that I have been transformed: I am happy”. Another feat to be credited to the television guru who hopes that the public will be sensitive to the content: “I hope that it will make people want to go away with friends, turn off the cell phone and listen to each other. »