Théo Curin is second to none when it comes to creating a friendly atmosphere. This double silver medalist at the disabled swimming world championships, also a model, actor, and columnist only needs a few minutes for his exchanges with the children he receives in “You’re at the top” to resemble a conversation between friends. To lighten the mood, he organizes a blind test, learns to do a kata with a young karate enthusiast, or questions his guest about objects in the decor that echo his own life. Then he gets to the heart of the matter. Here, 7-12 year olds express themselves about their problems and Théo Curin is there to hear what they have to say. On the program of the forty programs already canned: “I’m afraid of starting school”, “My mother doesn’t let me grow up”, “I don’t have any friends at school”, “My mixed race questions people and it’s painful”, “I always want to eat”… To help them move forward, two specialists intervene in turn: Alicia Cohen, child and adolescent psychiatrist, as well as Lénaïg Steffens, child psychologist. A few weeks after filming, Théo Curin contacts his guest by Zoom to find out what has happened since their appearance on the show.
Loosen tongues
It was the Paralympic swimmer himself, accompanied by Mehdi Harbaoui (founder and president of Little Big Medias), who proposed this concept to France Télévisions. “He came with a real reflection on what he planned to do since he had decided to take a little distance from his sporting career,” remembers Pierre Siracusa, director of the youth and education team. When we listened to Théo, heard his desire to go beyond the discourse on disability, to explore new horizons and above all to take advantage of this real youth that he still has to address children, we decided to make a pilot and it turns out that Théo succeeds in loosening the tongues of children who are inevitably a little intimidated by a filming device.” As for the concept of the magazine, he specifies: “We have known from the start that these are not solutions that we are going to propose but the beginning of an understanding”.
For Théo Curin, “each show was a monstrous slap in the face”. “What surprised me the most was how easily these children talked about how they felt.” The man who had all four limbs amputated following meningitis at the age of six chose to address a young audience because he considers that there are real messages to convey. Then, the 23-year-old host talks about his personal story. “Since I was little, people have had different views on me, I am constantly asked questions about what happened to me, but the ones I prefer often come from children because I know there will be no taboo , filters. I know that when I answer their questions, they will immediately change their outlook on my particularity, my physique, they will end up forgetting what initially shocked them.”
Special programming
Moreover, on set, he admits that sometimes the roles were reversed. “They asked me questions too. They wanted to know if my prosthetics were heavy, if they could touch them,” says the host who “feels like he made 40 friends” at the end of the first season. Passionate about TV since a young age, he admits that he couldn’t dream of anything better than having his own show and that, what’s more, it serves a purpose. “At the end of the sequence where I get news by zoom, I have the impression that we are not making a TV show for the sake of making a TV show. Without having the boulder, I have the impression that we are really helping them.” He adds, “These kids are the adults of tomorrow and they’re going to be able to grow up with a guy who has no arms and no legs on TV. Maybe in a few years, it will be normal for them, it won’t even be a subject anymore,” he hopes.
A special program will accompany the launch of “You’re on top!” “. Today, it is the Okoo platform which offers the first ten issues. Then, on Wednesday November 8, the day before the anti-harassment day, Théo Curin will come to discuss in “Okoo-Koo” the testimony on this subject of a guest from “T’es au top”. The broadcast in question will be put online the same day. Finally, France 4 will schedule this weekly meeting every Saturday, from November 11, at 7:15 p.m., in order to facilitate joint parent-child listening.
Newbie to TV
“I’m only a novice on TV, I still have a lot to learn,” observes Théo Curin. There, I am well surrounded, I will be able to progress. It is in this area that I want to prove myself today, while continuing to be present in the sporting field, in adventure, and sharing.” So, next April, he is going to South Africa with Ismael Khelifa, whom he knows from “Echappée belle” (a show on which he collaborates). “We are going to do the Madiba challenge,” he explains. The idea is to swim 30 km around Robben Island, in fairly extreme conditions. Afterwards we take a long bike ride of around a hundred kilometers with a lot of elevation gain to reach a South African shanty town. We raised funds to build a sports field for the children of this township.” This expedition will be the subject of an upcoming documentary on France Télévisions.