Hélène Mannarino is preparing her big premiere to host C Canteloup on TF1, this Monday, September 12. Already host of Big Quiz and leaving the morning of LCI to ensure this new challenge, she succeeds Alessandra Sublet who left TF1 to become an actress. The 32-year-old journalist assures that she will remain “faithful to herself” and that no ultimatum has been imposed on her between LCI and TF1.
How do you prepare for your baptism of fire in C Canteloup ?
It’s a huge challenge! We did a lot of tests, photo shoots, we shot the trailer, I even had coaching to prepare myself. I was also accompanied by Alessandra Sublet and Arthur, with whom I work a lot and who accompany me on many projects. We are in the starting blocks so we can’t wait for it to start.
What will your first show look like?
I hope it will be full of laughter and info as usual. Recent news is marked by the disappearance of the Queen of England who is a mythical character of Nicolas, so things will happen around that. But I will be like a viewer, I will discover Nicolas’s text, his characters like everyone else and react to them. It’s a real exchange, like in the theater, in the cinema or in life.
What was your reaction when TF1 asked you to succeed Alessandra Sublet?
I said to myself “Wow, after Nikos and Alessandra Sublet, are you sure you are offering this to me? If the first tries hadn’t been conclusive or if I hadn’t got along with the team, I would have said no. It is a very important sign of confidence on the part of TF1. Now, I want to give myself the means to continue to participate in the success of the show. It’s a great program where you can say absolutely anything. I know that I am expected so I want to succeed in this bet.
How did your integration into the team go?
Very well. C Canteloup is a great team that works like a family. When I arrived, they all took me by the hand. Nicolas was there for the tests, everyone gives their opinion regardless of their position. These are perfect conditions to get there.
The show has been broadcast after the JT for eleven years. She is very exposed and change is often poorly perceived by viewers, does that scare you?
You can’t please everyone, that’s okay. My goal is to stay true to myself. I do a public job but I protect myself and I just want viewers to get back to their habits without distorting C Canteloup. My arrival is also synonymous with novelties because I have a different personality from my predecessors.
What will these novelties be?
I prefer to leave the surprise and the biggest changes will build over time. For now, the authors are very attentive to who I am. We test things with Nicolas and I on screen together.
You left the morning of LCI to be able to ensure this new appointment. Does this mark a turning point in your career as a journalist?
I made a choice but I didn’t have the knife to my throat. I am still a journalist. In C Canteloup, the form that changes but the substance remains current. No ultimatum was given to me by the management of the channel, but we wanted to respect the viewers so that they would not see me in the evening in a more offbeat news program and the next day present the morning show on LCI. There is also the matter of pacing. Morning is waking up at 2 a.m., C Canteloup an evening meeting. It was out of the question to impose on me a rhythm in which I was going to do less well.
Many French men and women have known you with your Unexpected portraits on Europe 1. Could this sequence come back in another form?
This sequence is a bit like my DNA so even in the Big Quiz, I do research on the guests, I call relatives. It’s an approach that I love when I meet a guest. The format will return to TV in the show weekend with, which I prepare on TMC. The notion of the unexpected portrait will be present throughout the show.
What are your other projects ?
I work on a lot of programs for the TF1 group. There are The Big Quiz which continues, Retroscopy… There are also the magazines on TFX and TMC. And then other projects in which I am involved, in particular with Arthur.