Star Academy | For a guy’s story

100% male vigil at Star AcademySunday evening on TVA, with Belgian popstar Stromae, the duo Milky Chance, Saint-Germain-des-Prés by director Serge Denoncourt and the three guys on the sofa who fought for their bed at the Waterloo mansion.

No surprise here: Olivier Bergeron, 20, of Kedgwick, N.B., won the popular vote (again) after his raucous replay of My angel, by Eric Lapointe. It was not the best performance of the three competitors in danger, let’s say it.

And no, Olivier does not have the most beautiful voice of the cohort, but he has heart, determination and he is working hard not to return to his job at the sawmill. Result: viewers fall for his inspiring life story. It’s hard to kick out such an endearing young man, for whom singing is the only way to get out of a professional environment he hates and which pushes him to consume too much alcohol.

The public will remain faithful to him until the final, probably.

Julien Charbonneau, 23, of Montreal, was bold in taking over I love youby Lara Fabian, the current director of Star Academy and also his former coach at voice 6. He was excellent and in control on this difficult and classic Lara Fabian piece. The teachers logically protected him from elimination.

It was therefore Édouard Lagacé, 27, of Cowansville, who was fired. His impostor complex got him in trouble until the very end. Too bad, because his version of Tonight love is in your eyesby Martine St-Clair, was charming and very close to that of Louis-Jean Cormier.

This ninth gala Star Academy à TVA took off with the inspiring Belgian artist Stromae, who was energetic, invested and generous towards the academicians. Superb staging for this talented singer-songwriter, who had the humility to reveal, on returning from a commercial break, that he had misled Sarah-Maude Desgagné during the play Health. What a nice artist, though.

The section devoted to the classics of French song allowed 17-year-old Camélia Zaki to stand out on Do not leave me. Krystel Mongeau, 25, was also solid on No, I do not regret anything, by Edith Piaf. Fake cigarettes, use of black and white and period costumes, this journey through time has been beautifully cobbled together by Serge Denoncourt.

As for the passage of the German duo Milky Chance, it was correct, far from ecstasy. And what about the humorous segment concocted by Patrick Groulx with the best friends of the candidates in danger? It deserved an immediate elimination. A big “skip” (without food).

Crucial election campaign

Stéphanie Harvey farted the McTrio of girls from Big Brother Celebritiesat the end of February, by orchestrating the eviction of Catherine “Peach” Paquin.

The world video game champion broke the dynamic duo of musketeers (my favorites!) on Sunday evening by sending Claudia Bouvette home.

It is a formidable player who has thus been cut off. Probably the best of all the roommates who still live in the house-studio in Anjou. Claudia Bouvette, 26, was headed for victory, and all the Noovo reality TV fans were predicting the grand prize for her.

Claudia Bouvette lost for a laudable gesture: she refrained from leading a campaign of seduction by lying or denigrating her colleagues from the elimination block, namely Tranna Wintour and Éléonore Lagacé. Stéphanie Harvey, 35, hoped Claudia would promise her all the Ben & Florentine lunches in the world – and probably all the sushi at Yuzu, too.

But the singer-songwriter refused to commit herself or her friends. Integrity is a rare phenomenon in Big Brother Celebrities. And this decision honors Claudia Bouvette, whose love rating has exploded in the last 11 weeks.

Really, she is an endearing, funny, lively and brilliant young woman.

A “chic chick”, to paraphrase one of the successes of MixMania 2, the popular Vrak show she appeared on in 2011. Bonus: Claudia won’t have to live in a condo in Mirabel for three years. Everyone wins.

For her part, Éléonore Lagacé, 24, did not hesitate to swear to Stephanie that she would keep her in the yellow room, even if it was a deception. Éléonore adopted the opposite tactic to that of her friend Claudia, but just as valid, to ensure access to the top 4. By leading an aggressive and effective election campaign, Éléonore won Stéphanie over. Tranna did similar fieldwork.

Now, the outcome of the boss’s challenge will turn the rest of the events upside down. If Tranna wins, it smells scorched for mute cyclist Hugo Barrette. If Stephanie wins, red alert flashes for Tranna Wintour who doesn’t dress in Prada, but in diva sweaters.

And it will all be settled this Monday night with a stack of wooden bacon strips!