Stacy, one of the witnesses of Operation Renaissance, during her interview with Karine Le Marchand.
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Camille HOBAKET / M6
Monday at 9:05 p.m., M6 broadcasts the first episode of
Operation Renaissance
, which was filmed for three years.
The program, produced and presented by Karine Le Marchand, follows people with obesity having recourse to bariatric surgery.
“I think we were able to pinpoint what was not working and was not implemented in the French system,” says Karine Le Marchand.
However, individuals and associations, like the Gras politique collective, are indignant: "We recall that weight loss is a complex process, and that the diet industry pockets billions of euros each year in the world. without succeeding in making its consumers lose weight on a lasting basis.
"
Three years of filming and one year of editing.
This is the time it took M6 to shoot
Operation Renaissance
launched on Monday at 9:05 p.m.
Each week, the public will discover the journey of two morbidly obese people undergoing surgical operations (gastric banding, by-pass or sleeve) and seeing their morphology change considerably.
Some have lost up to 70 kg.
Guillaume Charles, the channel's director general of programs, speaks of a “very ambitious” concept aimed at “following a long-term human, psychological and physical adventure, with a lot of emotion.
"
The project is led by Karine Le Marchand who had the idea in 2015. The host, who appears regularly on the screen, sometimes even in the blocks when operations are in progress, argues that “the time factor was fundamental to be in reality and not in reality TV ”.
"Do something sustainable"
The one who is also the producer of the program insists on standing out from
The Biggest Loser
.
“In this American program, 75% of people regain their weight within five years because after having subjected them to drastic things, we put them back in their usual lives without ever addressing the origin of obesity and the consequences of weight loss.
I wanted to do something different, sustainable, ”she says.
Karine Le Marchand knocked on the doors of health professionals to constitute a team of specialists ready to accompany the "witnesses".
It obtained the approval of the various authorities and specifies that all the people followed in
Operation renaissance
were selected when they were already engaged in a course of bariatric surgery.
“We offered them a protocol and to accompany them for more than two years, bouncing back every time there was something stuck.
We met, we called them, we took care of them.
I think we have been able to put our finger on what was not working and was not implemented in the French system, "says the host and producer.
Controversial
The show arrives on M6 not without causing controversy.
During her filming, she had provoked the concerns of feminist activists, as noted, three years ago, our colleagues from Buzzfeed.
On Friday, the Gras Politique collective listed on its blog hosted by Mediapart, its reasons for indignation.
“Obese people are considered living dead as long as they fail to lose weight.
It takes the magical intervention of television and its charismatic prophetess to save them, ”laments the text.
“Fat Policy is not opposed to bariatric surgery.
(…) It is not therefore for us to condemn surgeries or surgeons, or those who are candidates.
We recall that weight loss is a complex process, and that the diet industry pockets billions of euros each year in the world without succeeding in making its consumers lose weight sustainably, ”adds the group, which also fears that the show does reinforce grossophobia.
"It's a part of the population that is invisible"
Karine Le Marchand, she insists on her empathy with the people concerned.
“Without doing counter psychology, I am a former anorexic and I have to keep a somewhat special relationship to food, to self-appearance, to dysmorphophobia,” she explains.
And hastened to add: "But it's not just that: everything interests me and I love to understand.
Eight million obese [in France] is no small feat.
Where do you see it on television?
It is a part of the population that is invisible.
"
The host then becomes alarmed about grossophobia - this subject is however minimal in the episode that
20 Minutes
was able to watch -: “They have all suffered insults and all suffer from the gaze of others.
Today, we never sanction someone who insulted someone because he was obese.
I don't think this is normal.
The Department of Health reportedly got a preview of the show.
“He gave us satisfaction when he saw the result and I am very proud of it,” says Karine Le Marchand.
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Controversy
M6
Obesity
Karine Le Marchand
Television