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Secret Story (French TV series)

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Secret Story
2024 revival logo
GenreReality competition
Presented by
Voices ofDominique Duforest (as La Voix)
Narrated by
  • Emily Forest (S2–12)
  • Caroline Klaus (S7)
Opening themeI Wanna Chat by Booty Full[b]
Ending themeI Wanna Chat (Instrumental)
Country of originFrance
Original languageFrench
No. of seasons12
No. of episodes
  • 151 (live shows)
  • 843 (daily shows)
Production
Production locations
Camera setupMultiple
Production companiesEndemol France
So Nice Productions (S1–4)
2M Productions (S1)
Original release
Network
  • TF1 (S1–8 ; Live shows only, S9)[c]
  • NT1 (S10–11 ; Daily shows and After Secret only, S9)
Release23 June 2007 (2007-06-23) –
7 December 2017 (2017-12-07)
Network
Release23 April (2024-04-23) –
18 June 2024 (2024-06-18)

Secret Story is a French reality competition television show. Despite not being a direct adaptation of the Big Brother franchise's format, created by producer John de Mol Jr. in 1997, the show has a similar concept while including its own game mechanics, and is also produced and owned by Big Brother's production company Endemol Shine Group/Banijay.

It follows a group of contestants who live together in a specially constructed house named La maison des secrets (The House of Secrets) that is isolated from the outside world for a cash prize. The contestants are continuously monitored during their stay in the house by live television cameras as well as personal audio microphones. Throughout the course of the competition, contestants are evicted from the house, by being voted out of the competition by the spectators. All contestants have a secret that they try to hide, while trying to discover the other housemates' one. Finding a secret allows the candidates to add money to their prize pool, while the candidate whose secret was discovered loses money. Several challenges and secret missions are also offered to the candidates during the adventure to help them earn money or clues.

The show was hosted by Benjamin Castaldi for the first eight seasons, and by Christophe Beaugrand from the ninth to twelfth seasons.[1]

Each seasons are composed of daily shows that airs during the afternoon, except on Sundays. From the first to the eleventh seasons, the show also featured weekly live shows that aired on Friday evening to reveal the evicted member of the week. For the twelfth season, only the inaugural and final shows aired in the evening, with the eviction live shows replaced by a live daily show on Friday afternoon. From the third season onwards, the live shows were followed by an after show titled After Secret, co-hosted by Castaldi and Adrien Lemaître from seasons three to eight, and Beaugrand from the ninth to twelfth.

Secret Story premiered on 23 June 2007 on TF1. For the ninth season, the daily and after shows moved to NT1 while the live shows where still airing on TF1. Following a ratings declined, the tenth and eleventh seasons where moved completely to NT1, with TF1 only airing the first live show of each seasons. In May 2018, the show was canceled after eleven seasons. In October 2023, the TF1 Group announced that the show will be revived in 2024. The revival premiered on 23 April 2024 on TF1, with the after shows on TFX.[2] In November 2024, it was again cancelled by TF1 following a conflict between the network and Endemol France regarding the budget for a potential thirteenth season.[3]

Secret Story has spanned a franchise with numerous international adaptations including Portuguese, Dutch, Peruvian, Lithuanian, Spanish, and French-African versions. Some of his game mechanics were also used in selected seasons of the Big Brother franchise internationally.

Series overall

[edit]
Seasons Start date Finale date Days Housemates Winner Percentage Main presenter Grand prize Network Average ratings Ratings share
Secret Story 1 23 June 2007 31 August 2007 69 15 Marjorie, Cyrielle & Johanna Bluteau 42% Benjamin Castaldi[a] €178,000 TF1 4,838,467 34.60%
Secret Story 2 27 June 2008 5 September 2008 71 16 Matthias Pohl 33% €181,151 4,220,676 31.80%
Secret Story 3 19 June 2009 25 September 2009 99 20 Emilie Nefnaf 39% €186,000 3,945,400 30.30%
Secret Story 4 9 July 2010 22 October 2010 108 20 Benoît Dubois 32% €197,805 3,006,688 24.80%
Secret Story 5 8 July 2011 14 October 2011 99 19 Marie Garet 45% €186,367 2,815,333 24.20%
Secret Story 6 25 May 2012 7 September 2012 106 20 Nadège Lacroix 73% €165,140 2,172,688 21%
Secret Story 7 7 June 2013 13 September 2013 101 17 Anaïs Camizuli 52% €174,630 2,014,467 21.90%
Secret Story 8 18 July 2014 26 September 2014 71 15 Leila Ben Khalifa 51% €114,300 1,938,091 21%
Secret Story 9 21 August 2015 13 November 2015 85 16 Émilie Fiorelli 51% Christophe Beaugrand €108,028 TF1 (live shows)
NT1
(daily shows and After Secret)		 1,143,750 17.50%
Secret Story 10 26 August 2016 17 November 2016 84 16 Julien Geloën 42% €111,400 NT1[c] 743,846 4.7%
Secret Story 11 1 September 2017 7 December 2017 98 17 Noré Tir 41.6% €115,866 565,533 3.2%
Secret Story 12 23 April 2024 18 June 2024 56 15 Alexis André Jr. 49% €105,313 TF1
TFX
(After Secret)[d]		 892,815 10%

Concept

[edit]

The house of secrets

[edit]

At the beginning of each season, the "house of secrets" also contains hidden rooms. It contains for example a "Chamber of truths" in the first season (room accessible by pressing a button hidden in the tapestry), a "Cave of love" in the second season (room accessible by a passage in the pool), or "a house of intruders" in the third season (room accessible by a secret passage on the floor). Some "Secret rooms" are also set up for each season where two contestants announced as eliminated to the other candidates have to remain locked up in order to see all their comings and goings through television screens.

Other rooms are inspired by Big Brother, as the "confessional" where each contestant goes every day to give his impression or opinion on events that happen in the house to "The Voice", or a double-door entrance, an intermediary passage between the house and outside, where "nominated" (contestants who have been chosen to leave the house by the others) learn their elimination or reintegration in the house where some contestants can come into contact with other candidates who have already been eliminated through a glass pane.

The Voice

[edit]
An Ericofon, a red telephone used during seasons 2 and 6.

An invisible male character named "The Voice" (La Voix) can speak at any time to the contestants through the speakers and give them instructions. This is the voice of the radio host Dominique Duforest. "The Voice" always starts its interventions with the sentence "This is the Voice" and ends with "That is all … for now".

At the beginning of the game, "The Voice" imposes some rules that the contestants have to obey during the whole game if they don't want to be penalized (no more warm water, withdrawal of a contestant's kitty bank for example). During the game, a "red phone" makes its appearance from which "The Voice" can get the contestants that answer win or lose money, give a resident one more vote against him for nominations, or allow a contestant to "nominate automatically" another one.

"The Voice" also has the ability to propose an emotional or entertaining "secret mission" to one or several contestants of its choice, allowing him or them to win money without the knowledge of other contestants. Activities and parties are also organized by "The Voice" in order to break contestants' everyday life, but also to replenish their kitty bank.

Secrets

[edit]

The characteristic of Secret Story is the fact that each contestant must hide a secret that relates to them to protect their kitty bank initially filled up with 10 000 euros. The secrets of the contestants are usually personal as "I decided to change sex", "I survived a tsunami" or "I have Einstein's IQ", but they can also be changed or imposed by the production as "We are a false couple" or "We are the intruders of the house".

The contestant who thinks he guessed the secret of another one can "buzz" the latter, that is to say setting off a kind of sound alarm located in the confessional. Then there is a "confrontation" between the two contestants in private and in the presence of "the Voice" where the defendant has to justify himself without revealing his secret. The discoverer can confirm its "buzz" by investing a part of its kitty bank (the sum set by "the Voice" is 5000 euros). In this case, the answer is given later in front of the other contestants. If he guessed right, he wins the whole defendant's kitty bank; otherwise, he lets him having the total of the "buzz" (excepted in case of free "buzz" offered previously by "the Voice" or by the public and/or the Internet users who vote for the election of the best investigator of the week).

Franchise

[edit]

International versions

[edit]
Region/Country Local title Seasons Originally aired Network
 Portugal Secret Story - Casa dos Segredos 8 (main)
6 (all-stars) 		2010–2024 TVI
 Netherlands Secret Story 1 2011 Net5
 Peru La Casa de los Secretos 1 2012 Frecuencia Latina
 Lithuania Paslapčių namai 1 2013 TV3/TV6/TV8
 Spain Secret Story: La Casa de los Secretos 2 2021–2022 Telecinco
Francophone Africa Secret Story Afrique 1 2024 Canal+ Pop

Video game

[edit]

An official video game adaptation of the show was released for the Nintendo DS on 17 September 2009 in France. The game was developed and published by Anuman Interactive.[4]

Secret Story mechanics in Big Brother

[edit]

Both the Secret Story and the Big Brother franchises are owned by Endemol Shine Group/Banijay. In 2010, the company started to add some of the game mechanics from Secret Story, mainly the concept of secrets, in selected seasons of Big Brother internationally.

Region/Country Show Season Originally aired Network
 South Africa Big Brother Africa Big Brother Africa: All-Stars 2010 M-Net
 Germany Big Brother Big Brother: The Secret 2011 RTL Zwei
 Australia Big Brother Australia Season 9 2012 Nine Network
 Albania Big Brother Albania Season 6 2013 Top Channel
 United Kingdom Big Brother Big Brother: Secrets and Lies 2013 Channel 5
 Denmark Big Brother Big Brother : Hemmeligheder & Løgne 2014 Kanal 5
 South Africa Big Brother Mzansi Big Brother Mzansi: Secrets 2014 Mzansi Magic
 Spain Gran Hermano Season 16 2015 Telecinco

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b During the third and sixth seasons, Nikos Aliagas replaced Benjamin Castaldi for certains shows due to a sick leave.
  2. ^ In season 12, a version of the song with altered lyrics, titled I Wanna Chat (version 2024), was used.
  3. ^ a b For seasons 10 and 11, TF1 only aired the inaugural live show.
  4. ^ a b For season 12, the first After Secret was broadcast on TF1+. It was moved to TFX from the second after show onwards.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Christophe Beaugrand : 'J'espère que Secret Story 9, ça ne sera pas le Titanic...'". PurePeople. 15 April 2015.
  2. ^ "TF1 officialise le retour de « Secret Story »". Le Parisien (in French). 27 October 2023.
  3. ^ ""Faute d'accord" : Secret Story… C'est fini !". AlloCiné (in French). 28 November 2024.
  4. ^ "Secret Story". Jeuxvideo.com. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
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