After excludingDouble occupation in Martinique the three candidates having intimidated other participants, the production of the reality show announced Thursday their withdrawal from the episodes of the next few weeks, in which they were still to appear.
“At first, we thought we were going to put on headbands, like in the episode [de mercredi], to explain that the three candidates that we still see on the screen are excluded. But we realized that it was not coherent. It was necessary to mark a change and a rupture. […] So we throw everything away and we go back to editing, ”said in an interview with the To have to the show’s producer, Julie Snyder.
Note that due to the three-week lag between filming and the broadcast of the episodes, Philippe, Isaack and Félix were to appear on screen for a few more weeks.
The decision to withdraw the three candidates from the next episodes was announced by press release on Thursday, a few minutes before the day’s episode was broadcast. In it, there was no trace of the participants in question. As usual, the episode alternated moments captured in the board house, the girls’ house, and the boys’ house. Of the latter, however, it is essentially the interactions of the other male participants that have been shown.
In addition, the production announced that the episode of next Sunday would begin with the announcement and the explanations to the participants still in the adventure of the withdrawal of the three candidates concerned. Instead, the traditional elimination dinner will be transformed into a “discussion, information and awareness-raising session on non-violent communication” with author India Desjardins and UQAM bullying prevention professor Stéphane Villeneuve, who took the plane for Martinique on Thursday.
Impossible, however, to know what will happen to the episodes already broadcast since the beginning of this 16e season, which suddenly disappeared from Noovo’s platform on Thursday afternoon. “The decision is up to the broadcaster,” says Julie Snyder. But as of this writing, Bell, which owns Noovo, had yet to respond to questions from the To have to.
Controversial
The production has been the subject of strong criticism for days from viewers, who accuse it of having trivialized the intimidation of which the candidate Jonathan would have been the victim on the part of other participants to inflate his ratings. The show’s producer’s apologies and the announcement of training on “non-violent communication” were not enough to calm things down.
On Wednesday, several sponsors, including Shop Santé, Polysleep and Oraki, announced that they would end their partnership with the show for the next seasons, believing that bullying has no place on our screens.
The same day, the production officially announced the withdrawal of the three candidates associated with acts of intimidation.
She said in her statement on Thursday that this decision had been taken “well before the official announcement. However, it was necessary to take the time to notify their families and allow them to board the plane and reach their destination. At the moment, two mothers of two candidates, sister of a candidate and stepfather are on site. Other family members will also join tomorrow, ”she says to defend herself.
The production adds that it warned the three candidates on several occasions that their “behaviour was not in accordance with the values of living together with respect”, before choosing to exclude them from the adventure.
“I think we did it in order. It is important that the excluded candidates are also supervised in all of this, that they meet the psychologist, that they understand why they were excluded, ”underlines Julie Snyder in an interview.
Despite this turnaround, several other sponsors still decided to dissociate themselves from the show on Thursday, in turn ending their partnership. These are Couche-Tard, GURU, That’so, Nail Creation, Twenty Compass and Lambert.
For their part, two other major sponsors, Cook It and Groupe Geloso — which owns Bulles de nuit and Shaker Mixologie — have decided to maintain their partnership with Double occupation, welcoming the production’s decision to exclude the contestants. On the other hand, they too denounced bullying, which has no place in our society.
Allegations
The production ofDouble occupation also indicated Thursday to have been made aware of “disturbing allegations concerning one of the candidates already withdrawn”. The alleged events occurred off the show several years ago.
“Out of respect for her approach and to protect the victim, we decided by mutual agreement with her not to react publicly so as not to rush her in her journey. She is currently receiving support from the production, from a lawyer specializing in sexual violence, as well as from all the stakeholders necessary for her accompaniment, ”we can read.