The image, every evening at 5 p.m., is striking. Karine Le Marchand, in front of her phone, goes live on her Instagram account to talk to singles more lonely than ever during confinement. Each time, the same catchphrase, which would snatch a smile from the most grumpy of Internet users: the host of “Love is in the meadow” on M 6 asks her interlocutors to introduce themselves (quickly), pleasant (a lot) and everyone gets what they are looking for in a couple relationship. For almost a fortnight, the meeting has been a hit. No wonder: this is a real bubble of good humor that gives balm to the heart. Karine Le Marchand excels there without a net but with her claimed outspokenness. She tells.
How are you and where are you?
KARINE THE MERCHANT. It’s going well. I am in a country house in the South with my family. Just before confinement, we all came here because I had only one idea in mind: to shelter my 75-year-old mother. I go out very little, only when it is essential for shopping.
Can you tele work?
Unfortunately, following the cessation of activity, the employees of my production company were put on partial unemployment. However, we were able to install an assembly bench at the home of one of my editors to continue working on "the Renaissance", an important project on which I have been working for a long time (Editor's note: for two years, Karine Le Marchand followed and accompanied, with specialists, people with morbid obesity) . It was to be broadcast soon, but with this crisis, it will probably not be before the start of the school year. As for Love is in the meadow , we should not be too impacted because we are not in the shooting period. We usually resume at the end of April. Even if it is impossible, we will still have room for a broadcast at the end of the summer or at the start of the school year.
How do you live this confinement?
The first week, I thought only c oronavirus, I kept watching the news in loop, I couldn't read anymore. And then, I had this idea of live on Instagram.
What prompted you to create this meeting?
I want to continue doing good to people. It is my participation in this difficult moment. And whatever may be said about it, I am more at ease with strangers than with personalities. For years, anonymous people have asked me to help them find their soul mate by repeating that it is not just farmers who are single. They are right ! In France, according to the latest figures, there are 18 million single people. Those who do not have very strong friendships take this period of confinement with full force. And then, in a very selfish way, it also feels good to get out of my family circle, to take the car…
Why are you intervening from your car?
(She laughs) I don't have a network in the house and I don't want to use Wi-Fi too much because my daughter needs it. So I go where 4G goes, at the entrance to the nearest village and I connect. Besides, last week, gendarmes came to check my exit permit while I was live in front of thousands of people. I even filmed them. But I had checked my box, I go out by obligation for my work. I try to respect parity by chatting with as many men as women every night, which is obviously not because they have pseudonyms on Instagram .
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You never really know what's going to happen?
Exactly! Even if I am very talkative and able to speak at a door, it is exhausting because we are without a net. I love the live. I come from there. When I started, I sometimes did it for 24 hours straight.
When you tell someone he has a "head for smoking joints" or when you talk about an adulterous man who posted photos of his sex on dating sites, you go even further than on M 6 …
I also say it in my shows, except that it is cut during the editing (she laughs)! The people who connect are part of my audience, they know me, they are not shocked. They know that I will not judge them. On Instagram, I am the same ... Besides crazy (she explodes with laughter).
Is it also a lot of work?
Yes, because it is 7 days a week. At first, I did not plan to do it on Saturdays. However, people who work weekdays asked me and I could not refuse them. On Sunday, we will call back those we saw during the week to find out if they had any contacts after the visit to my live. It's very addictive, but I feel really useful. It's always better than a dating site: by speaking like that, people are in interaction…
Will this exercise give you desires for your future shows?
I shoot myself in the foot for the next time I ask for my hairdresser and my makeup artist because, here, I prepare myself. This exercise is a challenge. I do what I can with the means I have. I start from the principle that constraints must always be changed into innovations. And I think the sincerity of these live exchanges will remain.
