- Deal concluded regularly breaks audience records on France 2.
- 20 Minutes went behind the scenes of the flagship afternoon show.
- The success of the show owes a lot to Sophie Davant, a presenter known to viewers.
Her name is, every month, associated with the new audience records for Affaire concluded , the auction show that she presents in the afternoon on France 2. For two and a half years, Sophie Davant has hosted day of individuals who came with family objects, found in a flea market or found in an attic to the highest bidder, whom they have appraised before auctioning them off.
This Thursday in February, the whole team has an appointment on set, in Saint-Denis, for a new day of shooting. Each has its place in a well-functioning operation. It is about 10 am, the team turns the arrivals of the vendors of the morning. In the dressing rooms, Sophie Davant finishes preparing. She is dressed in a very chic black suit: we are shooting a special James Bond number , which will be broadcast just before the release of the next film in the franchise, in March.
A vintage poster of "James Bond"
On the main stage, that of the expertise room, the auctioneers compare their tuxedos. There is Jérôme Duvillard, Harold Hessel and Patricia Casini-Vitalis: all three are regulars on the show. "Above or below the jacket, the sleeves of the shirt? Asks Patricia Casini-Vitalis to Sophie Davant, who has just joined them. "Above," replies the host, before embarking on an improvised photo session with the auctioneers, in front of a vintage poster of The Man with the Golden Gun , the first object of the day.
Everyone takes their place. There is silence, filming can begin - it is 10:20 am Laurent, the first salesperson, enters the room and joins Sophie and Harold at the expertise table. She welcomes him with: "How Laurent, you're not in a tuxedo?" The host listens to the anecdotes of the passionate Laurent, relaunches Harold Hessel at the right time, and remains unperturbed when, in the background, Patricia Casini-Vitalis drops an object with great noise. "Harold masters Louis XIV dressers better than" James Bond girls "", jokes Sophie Davant, as he lists with Laurent the characters present on the poster.
Two parallel shootings
The presenter and the team of Deal concluded have left for almost three hours of shooting - they will assess ten objects by the lunch break. In production, the producers, the director and the scripts follow the two shootings - the expertise room on one set, the sales room on another -, note the passages to be cut, launch instructions. Vincent Clément, the artistic producer, slips a joke into the headset of the host. It remains almost imperturbable and just blinks, staring, before resuming the thread of the discussion.
After the first part of the expert appraisals, Sophie Davant joined the management team, to observe the progress of the auctions. A larger than expected sale is being concluded and Thomas Burnichon, the executive producer, asks the host to come to the set for the occasion. You have to go quickly: the saleswoman is ready to leave the room, Sophie Davant must run to catch up with her.
"We bring Sophie into the auction room according to our feelings," explains Thomas Burnichon. It is often when a sale is exceptional, or when the story is beautiful. "For Vincent Clément," if unfortunately we no longer had Sophie on the show, Affaire concluded would lose a lot. The contentment of some participants with it is something to see. They are sometimes disarmingly frank, one has the impression that they are addressing her as if she were their girlfriend from the hairdressing salon ”.
"I have more than thirty years of daily presence on France 2"
Some participate in Affaire concluded especially to meet Sophie Davant. The host is a head known to viewers. "I have more than thirty years of daily presence on France 2, recalls the interested party, it is not everyone who can take advantage of it. We grew up together, I belong to them a bit. Sophie Davant started to present the weather forecast at the age of 23, in April 1987, in Télématin on Antenne 2. Since then, she has not left public service. “I never imagined that one day people would come to see me as we visit a historic monument! "
The presenter of C'est au program et Tout une histoire almost failed to present the auction program. "They weren't thinking of me for Affaire concluded at the start, but Stéphane Bern refused. When I saw the German format [ Bares für Rares , from which the France 2 broadcast is inspired, note] , I found it very smooth, very serious, I did not understand what I could bring to it. But the producer said to me, "I want you to make it what you are, be your world." "
Make the link between the "different personalities"
Its mission: to lead the conversations, to make the link between the "different personalities" - the buyers, the auctioneers -, to "enhance them" and to put at ease the sellers who are not used to TV. "I accompany them. Some arrive very stressed, but it disappears quickly. They end up forgetting the cameras. Otherwise, I make a number of it, I joke on it. "
Launched in August 2017, Affaire concluded quickly found its audience. In three years, audiences have increased from 5% to more than 20% of audience share on average. The show has brought together more than 2 million viewers several times. Affair concluded is well established in the television landscape, its audience or sales records are taken up in the media - 20 Minutes included. The show and Sophie Davant are also regularly cited in Quotidien , the TMC program presented by Yann Barthès. In his section "Wednesday canap", Etienne Carbonnier returns to the episodes with mocking montages on the replicas of the sellers ... Or on the attitude of Sophie Davant, whom he describes as "not so nice".
"With montages, you can make everything say"
So, not nice, Sophie Davant? "With montages, you can make everything say," said the interested. "But in general it makes me laugh a lot, when they remove the" n "from the word" bargain hunting ", for example, it's irresistible", she said smiling, before resuming her seriousness: "I laugh at myself all the time, I'm the first to laugh about it. Afterwards, you just need not to falsify reality. To say that I speak badly to people is not true. I see 23 a day and am more than friendly to them. When unfortunately there is a little expression that is not nice, and that Daily only mimics that are not nice one behind the other, it is misinformation, ”said the presenter.
She also stays away from social networks, which are not always tender with her. “I got into it, but I'm not crazy about it. I'm happy with Instagram, because it's the least bad. I don't want to be a slave to all this. She admits to finding her job "sometimes violent". “When we did La Lettre and we see the hearings the next day in front of The Voice or a TV movie, it was hard. You don't get used to it: as soon as a hearing is bad, I feel like I'm taking an uppercut. But what we see with Affaire concluded , I never experienced that. "
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“This is no longer what it was to be a facilitator” 😂 #affaireconclue #fourire
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Success does not contradict, and his team supports it. “Sophie is caring, she listens and she likes people to confide in her. This is an essential asset of the program, ”insists Thomas Burnichon. The host sees herself as "the relay" between the viewers and the experts. “I think people like me to be a neophyte. They like to learn at the same time as I do, they can identify themselves. I discover many things about objects and the world of auctioneers. If I have fun, people too; and vice versa if I'm bored. "
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