Sweet salty | Melanie, without compromise

After more than 25 years in the industry, Mélanie Maynard knows what she wants and, above all, what she doesn’t want. “I no longer want to play parrot and learn questions by heart. »

Mélanie Maynard invites us to meet at Messorem, a microbrewery located near the Lachine Canal, in the South-West borough of Montreal, after a day of filming. She welcomes us sipping not one of the many IPA or sour beers offered by the establishment, but a slush blue. Royal blue. The type that stains your tongue, lips, and entire teeth after just one sip.

“Do I have a blue mouth? she asks, laughing.

Obviously, the “uncompromising” spirit that the host cultivates goes far beyond her choice of drink in the kingdom of hops. He expresses himself in a much more embodied way. And no amount of money can shake it.

The proof ? When it reached an agreement with TVA and Productions Déferlantes to take control of Sweety salty, this spring, Mélanie Maynard decided to leave her microphone at WKND 99.5 FM, a station she was particularly fond of. But after eight years of radio, including seven of morning daily, the actress by training chose to favor her family, giving up the “interesting salary” that accompanies this type of position.

In a message delivered to the airwaves a few weeks before her departure in April, the actress declared that she did not intend “to be the richest in the cemetery”.

“The radio in the morning pays off,” she says in an interview. I would have insured my retirement. But I have too much to live for. And I lost my sister two years ago. It gave me a little boost. She retired, and three years later it was over. Its expiry date arrived earlier than expected. For me, it has become an emergency to take advantage of it. I want to have fun. »

Mélanie Maynard has already followed this pattern. It was in 2010 and 2011, when she alternately retired from the shows Ends the week well And two girls in the morningwhen his father died, then when his mother fell ill.

“It was never a monetary question,” she continues. I come from a very modest family. I have no intention of sacrificing my quality of life for more money. For me, it’s the search for balance at all costs… even if it impoverishes me. »

In the water, interviews in a pedal boat!

Next Monday, Mélanie Maynard will take the helm of Sweety saltya VAT institution entering its 22^e season. She succeeds Patrice Bélanger and Guy Jodoin, who respectively remained in office for 8 and 13 years. Although she takes a high-speed train, a well-oiled machine that attracts 630,000 viewers every evening, the host wanted to bring her color to the format.

First major change: in the water, the interviews in the pedal boat! Allergic to flaflas, Mélanie Maynard does not intend to “do activities” with her guests. Rather, she wants to engage in a real discussion. “We will not pick strawberries or milk a chicken,” she sums up.

His team has also received an instruction: never interrupt him during an interview. She hesitates, makes a mistake or asks the wrong question? The problem will be solved during editing, or through a “confession camera” in front of which the host or the artist interviewed can comment, make a correction or verbalize their moods.

The audacity of TVA

Mélanie Maynard salutes the audacity of TVA to have recruited a fifty-something to pilot its summer cultural magazine, an age at which women are often tablettées, she underlines.

“It’s something I see with my colleagues, with my friends who lose their jobs. It is sure that with Sweety salty, I expect to get a lot of feedback that a man would never get. On my looks, my make-up… And for sure I will continue to spend my $120 a month on hair dye. Because people are not ready to see a woman with gray hair or white hair on screen. »

(A little compromise, here.)

At 51, Mélanie Maynard considers herself a better interviewer than before. Not just because she learned to manage her attention deficit disorder, but because she got older.

“I really care about people now. When I started, I repeated the questions that had been prepared for me. Over time, I have a lot less insecurities. It feels so good! »

quest for authenticity

Mélanie Maynard repeats it several times during our tete-a-tete: she seeks to create moments (alert to the trendy/overused term) of “authenticity” with Sweety salty this summer. Will she raise her bet? We ignore it. But one thing is certain, in terms of authenticity, she sets an example as an interviewee.

Indeed, she answers questions simply and honestly. Did we ask her to leave TV kids and Radio-Canada when Sweety salty and TVA phoned? Yes. But she refused. And the offer remained. A privilege, she admits.

Speaking of TV kids, Mélanie Maynard described her first year alongside André Robitaille, replacing Édith Cochrane, as “candy”. “I’m lucky to have a co-host who loves me so much, a co-host who gives me all the space I want. »

Thanks to the nostalgia appointment of ICI Télé, she believes that the audience has discovered a new side of her. “People said to me: ‘My God! We didn’t know you could be so sweet and caring.” Because in the industry, we are often called upon for one and the same thing. Me, I was the girl with no filter, the one who had “torque”, the one who could punch To Hot pepper. I was one of the boys. I had never been asked [d’exploiter] my more empathetic and softer side. »

Although she plans to spend more time with her loved ones, Mélanie Maynard would like to revive her acting career in the coming years. And to achieve this, she chose to take matters into her own hands and write. “I have ideas for fiction. The actress is not dead. But I feel like I’m going to have to write my project myself to play what I really want to play. »

No compromise, got it?

Melanie Maynard anime Sweety salty Monday to Friday at 6:30 p.m. on TVA. Starting May 22.