Serious charges of sexual assault and rape of minors in “The Princes and Princesses of Love” continue. The start of a real denunciation movement in French reality TV?
The affair has shaken the French reality TV scene for a few days: Illan, a candidate for the show “Princes and Princesses of Love”, is accused of serious sexual violence. Without ever having named him, Alix Desmoineaux, another candidate of the show, has indeed revealed the existence of a video where we would see the young man forcing a young girl to give him a blowjob. The person denies everything and talks about a rumor about a video that does not exist. However, languages are loosened in this tiny world of reality TV shows, everyone taking facts and causes for one or the other side.
Bastien Grimal aka Bastos, former candidate of the “Princes of Love”, answered questions from fans during a question-and-answer session live on the Twitch platform. Without direct accusations but with explicit innuendo, the young man gave his support to Alix, who launches the alert on sexual violence covered by the productions of the programs.
Bastos refers to this video as something he cannot discuss on his behalf, since he has not seen it himself.“I can’t talk about it, because it’s something that incriminates people very seriously, and we don’t do that without proof”, says Bastien Grimal. However, he continues: “I think it’s true, because Alix, she’s not talking for nothing, she didn’t make this video up”. And to add: “I’ve heard the exact same story before.” The young man specifies that no name has formally come out: “Alix didn’t get wet: she talked about what’s on the video and the fact that the productions know about it, she couldn’t tell the person because she is not in possession video“.
In addition to denouncing half-heartedly the one who was his colleague in the show “Les Marseillais vs Le Reste du Monde”, Bastien Grimal warns about the cynicism of reality TV production companies: “What she (Alix, note) says above all is that the productions are aware and continue to hire this person, and the problem is that they cannot close their eyes and have so little ethics”. He firmly supports Alix Desmoineaux: “Alix was classy, she got a little wet, (…) she took threats, this information threatens a lot of people. There are interests behind that: there is the person who risks ‘go to jail”. As for the production boxes, they “think they are all allowed”, he denounces.
Other indirectly designated interests: those of people working with candidates targeted by accusations of gender-based and sexual violence, who are also often influencers and sell all kinds of products and services to their communities. As manyagencies with financial interests and reputations to maintain.
Read also : “Slut casting”: candidates for “Vacances des Anges 4” denounce sexist and moral harassment on the set
Illan invited to TPMP to defend himself
“Nothing ever stays buried forever”, warns Bastien, who however refuses to give any clue whatsoever on the identity of the alleged assailant in this video, explaining that this story is “not a game, it’s serious”. He also warns against any surge of hatred and cyberstalking, common in the wake of such accusations. Never cited but always present in these accusations, Illan Castronovo, alias Illan Cto, was invited on November 17, 2021 to come and defend himself on the set of the program Touche Pas à Mon Poste, which had received Alix Desmoineaux the day before. He denied everything altogether, inviting the accusers to release the video since it “does not exist”, he said. “There has never been a video where I assaulted anyone”, Illan insists. On the other hand, he recounts being the victim of cyberstalking towards himself and his family since the accusations emerged.
Impossible to know who could be in possession of this video which plays the Arlésiennes. Columnist Gilles Verdez explains that, according to his sources, it was even deleted after threats to the person who held it. The man supposed to have the video, nicknamed Sebydaddy, has himself operated a denial to clear his former friend Illan. No tangible evidence, therefore, but strong suspicions towards a candidate accused by name of sexual violence by other former candidates, such as Nathanya Sonia. How can such personalities be selected by productions, despite so many rumors and accusations?
Reality TV, a universe that encourages violence?
This is not the first time that serious gender-based and sexual violence has been denounced following the filming of reality shows. How can these mechanisms last? On Twitter, Valérie Rey Robert, author of the book A French rape culture and of Ten questions about feminism, published by Libertalia, delivers an analysis of this environment.
Not content with fascinating very young people, sometimes vulnerable, reality TV generates a lot of money through the buzz. How to orchestrate this one? “What you have to understand is that in reality TV as elsewhere, we do not take violent men despite their violence but FOR their violence, explains Valérie Rey-Robert. Because that makes them funny, interesting. Humiliating women on TV, it creates buzz, images etc. The candidates most caught up in reality TV are the most violent, the most misogynistic because their violence, their misogyny has caused a buzz, which has enabled all this little world to earn a lot of money “.
Clash with ratings, viral settling of scores and behind, juicy contracts: we understand all the interest there is in protecting suspected attackers. Reality’s #MeToo may be on the way, but it might be painful. And it is urgent to take into account the courageous words of those who denounce.
Missions: Mathilde is an expert in subjects related to women’s rights and health. Addicted to Instagram and Twitter, never stingy with a good …