“Léa, you are going to have the right to a challenge… Sing and dance on the title hot stuff of Donna Summer”, launches Lucie Bernardoni, vocal coach and rehearsal with the academicians in the daily newspaper of November 10, 2022. “I am shocked that I am given this when we know that I do shit, reacts the candidate of the tit-for-tat. It’s super funny. I think they’re going to do a parody, it’s not possible! The reaction of the 24-year-old candidate is a good illustration of her state of mind at the star Academy. Standing out first for her diva side, making her the laughingstock of viewers, not missing an opportunity to denigrate her on social networks…
Yet over the weeks and without really being aware of it, this Parisian optician reveals other facets of her personality. Like a butterfly freeing itself from its chrysalis, the singer detaches herself from the label stuck on by the production at the launch of the program, discovering herself under the lens of the sixty cameras of the castle, more lazy than hardworking, more funny than delicate grace and endowed with flaws that nature brings back to him in the face. A godsend for viewers who enjoy these multiple facets at the same time.
At the same time as it evolves in the field invested by Endemol, the company which produces the star Academy, the young woman invents, perhaps builds the entertainment 2.0 candidate. No more clashes, jealousy and permanent rivalry, place for humor, benevolence – sometimes moderate – and questioning. So how is Léa rising to the rank of ultimate candidate before the eyes of viewers? 20 minutes retraces this change of course which should inspire reality TV producers.
“I can see myself being the diva 2.0”
“I have the character of a fighter, a warrior, a warrior. When I have a goal I achieve it. And so here today I am embarking on a new challenge”, assures Léa, her gaze planted in the camera in her portrait broadcast on October 15 during the first prime of the star Academy. She is sure of herself and sees herself “being the diva 2.0, the girl with a fantastic voice, who knows how to sing everything”. “When I see Beyoncé or Céline Dion letting go on stage, I only see myself like that. The images that illustrate her words build her hardworking side at the same time as her words. We see it in particular in full session of abdominals in a gym.
Very quickly the public the public assimilates his big voice, big mouth, big demands… His popularity rating struggles to take off while the rave reviews focus on the sensitive Louis, the scholar Enola, the humble Anisha or the troublemaker Julien, they too are attached to a label. “It is necessary in reality shows to characterize the characters. It goes through an assignment of roles, in particular gendered but also racial, class…”, details sociologist and author Valérie Rey-Robert in the program. C Media on France 5.
Four weeks later, while other candidates have hardly evolved in their role, it is difficult to still believe in the image portrayed of Léa during her first steps on the set of the show. Chased away the natural, it returns at a gallop. “Me when I am told 3, 2, 1… I just want to close my eyes and lie down on the ground”, we hear him say in the confessional of the show in a daily newspaper concerning the sports course from Coach Joe. She still describes herself as “Beyoncé during her pregnancy” during rehearsals for her painting for the prime. Shortcomings in dance and a lazy side that she sees with lucidity.
“I hate myself”
The candidate always impresses with her voice, especially during her duet on when we only have love with Tiana during the last prime. But his naturalness, sometimes lazy, often takes over. An attitude tense part of the public and amusing the other. But deep down, who has never wanted to skip a lesson to stay in his bed in the morning when he goes behind the school desks… Late to singing class, absent from sports class, not very playful when of drama class. She has also decided several times to put dance aside during the evaluations, relying on a… wobbly improvisation. But above all, offering teachers and viewers sequences that are as hilarious as they are memorable.
Because if the program boasts of being centered on “students […] who learn a trade, to be a complete artist with a faculty”, it remains above all a reality show and it is its entertaining side that attracts the public. It is for this reason that after an initial phase of annoyance of the public the first week, Léa was able to unconsciously turn the critics in her favor, sprinkling the program with her moods.
Side self-confidence, the image of Léa has also been scratched by several sequences. “Since I’ve been here, it’s been happening every day, morning, noon, snack and evening, I hate myself,” the candidate told Slimane during her visit to the castle on November 1. A sharp reply with his humor and his good comrade side. She told Bilal Hassani again on November 7 that she grew up without real access to culture. This is why today she is playing on her lack of knowledge on certain subjects… The faults of the young singer will not have taken long to be revealed. Like any young woman of 24, she knows she is “imperfect” and suffers from it.
The “queen” of the castle
Gone is the diva, the plague, the candidate with a voice but without real feelings. During the first four weeks in Dammarie-les-Lys, the Parisian broke her shell, overturning the image that the production had carved out for her. These successive revelations, multiplying the sequences shared massively on social networks have allowed the public to become attached to her until making her one of the favorites of the public, some referring her to the rank of “queen” – queen in French – of the castle.
And if this reversal was the proof that the time of Amélie, Maéva Ghennam and other Aurélie revealed for their bloodshed and their big mouth side of reality TV is really over for the benefit of candidates like Léa. His career is reminiscent of that of Vincent in Koh-Lanta: The secret weapons and his mythical “I don’t want this”. After an uneventful start to the adventure, he had attracted the sympathy of the public by voting against his own camp and without ever taking himself seriously, disconcerted by the injustice of the game.
Optician and singer who has become a purveyor of television sequences without concealing very contemporary questions of identity and in which any viewer or viewer can project themselves… Léa’s evolution proves that when you take your first steps on the screen, there is perhaps only a step between public laughing stock and ultimate candidate… A subtle nuance between a normal, multifaceted and fallible person with a character built and shaped for the show, no doubt.