#plan #Laurent #recalls #Adeline
The Bachelor, greg the millionaire, married at first sight… There are countless shows that try to bring two soulmates together. M6 then offers to return to the biggest dating shows on the small screen in 20 years of love on television this Monday at 9:10 p.m. Specifically, we will see images of the first season of my amazing fiancéreleased on TF1 in 2005.
In this grand hoax, the producer makes Adeline, who now calls herself Angelina Toffoli, believe that she is going to meet the man of her life under the eyes of the cameras. Surprised, she finds herself face to face with Laurent Ournac, or rather with his character, Laurent Fortin, who has only one goal: to blow up a cable on his girlfriend. Once the deception was revealed to Adeline, she had to get her parents to accept this fake marriage to win the sum of 100,000 euros. “I never wanted to be publicized, I did not tell myself that I wanted to do this program to be seen,” Angelina testifies to 20 minutes.
What was the most difficult: supporting Laurent Ournac or having to do comedy in front of your parents?
Acting in front of my parents, I had to improvise in front of their emotions. Every morning we had a brief from the production that told us what we were going to do: tell them that we were going to get engaged, get married, etc. There were stages. I had no frame. Laurent had a coach and knew what to do while I was totally improvising. I didn’t know what to say to them and how they would react. It is not a comedy, they are real people and there is still a perpetual questioning, we do not want to go too far so as not to hurt them. You have to find the right size.
Did you still get attached to Laurent Fortin/Ournac on the show?
I really grew fond of Laurent, yes. Since it was just the two of us, I only had him because I was isolated in my room, they came for me just to play totally impromptu scenes with him. He had been isolated from everything long before filming, I only rubbed shoulders with Laurent, so there was really a strong bond. Otherwise, he was alone, so every time we did a scene, even if he didn’t know what was going to happen, I was very happy to find him. We were two in this lie, he became an ally. I attached myself as an ally and as a human being because he appreciated it.
Have you kept in touch with him?
Filming took place in February 2005, and the show aired in July. We met many times before the broadcast, we were very, very close. I thought I had gained a friend for life, we also said that we would never leave each other. Finally, in the transmission, nothing happened as planned. The success was great, Laurent saw that he could continue there, he took advantage of the opportunities and understood that he had to separate himself from me in his career. It was quite difficult for me because he didn’t understand why we couldn’t be friends anymore. There’s work for everyone, just because I decide to do stuff with TF1 doesn’t mean we can’t be friends anymore. This is where he let me down so much, cut ties on the fly, remained unattainable and stayed that way…
Would you say it is a life changing experience?
I think it’s a show that impacted my life. I was 24 years old at the time, she made me grow in many things, especially in my family relationships. My dad was very absent when I was young, he was very modest and when he accepted this fake marriage and led me to Laurent, he told me that he loved me, that he was proud of me and that is what every young girl expects. It is something I will never forget. This show has been necessary for there to be this rapprochement. I change my life.
You have become known throughout France: there was a maximum audience of ten million viewers during the fake wedding…
I never tried to be publicized, I didn’t tell myself that I wanted to do this show to be seen. I had this opportunity, I liked comedy, I liked acting in front of the camera, he seemed to have a facility for conveying emotions. When I moved to Paris after the show, I took acting lessons to make sure I was worth it. They told me I had that in me, so I thought if there was enough media coverage, I might say yes to the proposals. There were projects, but they were never finished, so I withdrew from all of that.
The press received this program very badly, speaking of the exploitation of obesity. Was it something you paid attention to at the time?
I did not understand the critics of the press, who took the show literally. The viewers were not wrong: I received tons of letters from people who were in a relationship with people who did not have the same religion, the same color… Thanks to the program, they had the courage to tell their family. The press had taken Laurent’s obesity badly. If the journalists had bothered to watch the show through to the end, they would have seen that we went beyond appearances. The acceptance message was beautiful. Seventeen years ago, it was innovative.
What are you doing for a living today?
I moved to Dijon in 2011, I rested in Burgundy, on my land. I do medi-aesthetics, I have been in charge of a new technology center for four years where we do non-surgical lifting, firming, scar repair.
Do people still recognize you, seventeen years later?
Yes, it happens to me! I opened in 2018, my first clients came out of curiosity because they knew who I was. When they fall in love with me, it’s 5 stars with the TV star (laughs)! I only have good comments every time, they liked this program, there is a lot of respect.