Secret Story (France)

Secret Story
Genre	Reality competition
Presented by	Benjamin Castaldi (S1-8)[a] Christophe Beaugrand (S9-11) Adrien Lemaître (After Secret, S3-8)
Voices of	Dominique Duforest (as La Voix)
Narrated by	Emily Forest (S2-11) Caroline Klaus (S7)
Opening theme	I Wanna Chat by Booty Full
Ending theme	I Wanna Chat (Instrumental)
Country of origin	France
Original language	French
No. of seasons	11
No. of episodes	150 (live shows) 841 (daily shows)
Production
Production locations	Studio 224 (Seine-Saint-Denis) (house, S1-7) Studio 1000 de la Montjoie (Seine-Saint-Denis) (house, S8-11) Studio 217 (Seine-Saint-Denis) (shows)
Camera setup	Multiple
Production company	Endemol France
Original release
Network	Original show: TF1 (S1-8 ; Live shows only, S9)[b] NT1 (S10-11 ; Daily shows and After Secret only, S9)
Release	23 June 2007 (2007-06-23) – 7 December 2017 (2017-12-07)
Release	2024

Secret Story is a French reality competition television show.

Despite not being an adaptation of the Big Brother franchise, the show has a similar concept. 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. All contestants have a secret that they try to hide, while trying to discover the other housemates' one.

The show was hosted by Benjamin Castaldi for the first eight seasons, and by Christophe Beaugrand for the last three.^[1] Each seasons are composed of daily shows that aired daily during the afternoon, and live shows that aired in the evening once a week. From the third to ninth seasons, the live shows where followed by an after show titled After Secret, co-hosted by Castaldi and Adrien Lemaître from seasons three to eight, and Beaugrand for the ninth.

Secret Story premiered on 23 juin 2007 on TF1. For the ninth season, the daily and after shows moved to NT1 while the live shows where still airing on TF1. But following a ratings declined, the last two 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, a revival scheduled for 2024 was announced by the TF1 Group.^[2]

Secret Story has spanned a franchise with numerous international adaptations including Portuguese, Dutch, Peruvian, Lithuanian, and Spanish versions.^{[citation needed]}

Series overall

Concept

The house of secrets

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

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' every day life, but also to replenish their kitty bank.

Secrets

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).

International versions

Region/Country	Local title	Seasons	Originally aired	Network
Portugal	Secret Story - Casa dos Segredos	7 (main) 6 (all-stars)	2010-2018	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

• Some contestants participated in several versions of the show:
  • Daniela Martins from the third season of the original French version, returned for the first season of the Portuguese version with a different secret.
  • Fanny Rodrigues from the second season of the Portuguese version, returned for the tenth season of the original French version, with a secret link to the fact that she already participate to Secret Story. She was also a contestant in two all-stars editions in Portugal, becoming the contestant with the most participation in the franchise.
  • Sarah Lopez from the tenth season of the original French version made an appearance in a live show of the second season of the Spanish version.

Notes

References

External links

• Official site (in French)
• Secret Story on imdb