As the premiere of the new season of The Island of Love draws near, we got the chance to talk about the show on TVA with new host Olivier Dion and new narrator Geneviève Schmidt.
This marks the first time in the world that The Island of Love format has hired a male headliner. Since Naadei, the previous host, was often referred to for her slow-motion walks, we wondered if Olivier Dion would need to commit to the same practice. “I sat around in my living room for three months,” he says. “The famous slow-motion walks are really the hallmark of The Island of Love’s format, so you’re sure to see me walking in slow-motion. »
Olivier Dion tells us why he was drawn to this project: “This type of project represents the bubble. It is the intensity of emotions that you can experience there. Without having done love reality TV in my life, I have experienced this type of project, whether with Star Académie or Danser avec les stars in France or when I was presenting Danser pour Win. I also wanted to return to television, it had been a long time since I had done that. I’ve focused a lot on my music over the last few years. And of course it will be filmed in the Dominican Republic. »
Olivier Dion’s animation will reflect his personality. “I want to be dynamic but have a human and open side connected to the candidates. I want to use my background, my TV experience and what I’ve acquired over the last few years to understand what they’re about to experience. I also want to be lighthearted and humorous as I can be in life. »
The events that unfolded in OD last year have obviously given the production of The Island of Love food for thought. “It meant that everyone in TV production said to themselves that we would be extra careful in relation to this type of situation. In our case, Production Déferlantes, TVA and me, it’s zero tolerance, everyone will be on their guard. But The Island of Love isn’t a format that really encourages that. It’s a format where the islanders are all together all the time. So there is a kind of brotherhood that is taking hold. For her, the goal of finding love is to ally with a candidate. There are no stories about conspiracies to eliminate people. We avoid each other, I think, the kind of situations that happened in OD. »
Olivier Dion also tells us that the villa has been completely “remodeled, redecorated” by the excellent Antoine Laurier.
The third season of The Island of Love will air on TVA Mondays to Thursdays at 9pm from April 10th.