The Star Academy has just made its comeback for a new new season. The opportunity for Nikos Aliagas, who has been at the helm of the program since the very first edition broadcast in 2001, to resume his hosting role every Saturday on TF1.
In the media columns I have funthe presenter returned to all his memories linked to the telecrochet.
Nikos Aliagas talks about his Star Academy debut
If today Nikos Aliagas masters his work as an animatorhe remembers that in 2001, everything was not as rosy. “It was difficult! I remember having the entire management of TF1 in my dressing room. The late Patrick Le Lay and Étienne Mougeotte were there. There was also Stéphane Courbit, founder of Banijay, and Arthur, who was trying to help me write the texts for the teleprompter. All the pundits of the time, I was a journalist, not an animator, I didn’t have the codes. he says.
He then mentions the beginning of his friendship with Florent Pagnythanks to the program. “Florent Pagny, who I didn’t know, then told me: ‘You’re not in trouble with all these people, you don’t have the pressure.’ (Laughs) That day, he became a friend.”
The deaths that haunt the host
When asked which guests had the most impact on him, Nikos Aliagas replied: “I was thinking this morning of Tina Turner. She showed up (in 2004, editor’s note), rehearsed as if she were live, gave everything. She was exceptional. What a woman, what a career, what an artist! And then also to Lara Fabian. See her again twenty years later, still a star, still this incredible voice.”
And to add: “I think the one I miss the most is Johnny Hallyday. With Charles Aznavour, they were the leaders of my time, when I started. I think of artists who appeared on the show and never are no longer there, like Grégory Lemarchal : what I experienced with him were moments of absolute truth, almost of transcendence. He managed to touch something sacred, almost, so strong was he in what he sought, in his power..
A word for the artists
But we must not forget that this show celebrates art. Nikos Aliagas explains what he admires in artists. “I like their fragility. An artist who gives his all on stage is someone who is not like the others. He is not afraid to bare himself, but, for that, he must work on himself- even to put themselves in the spotlight I respect artists, because they are in a state of creation and they do good. I love them deeply..
And to remind about the students: “The first moments are magical: they are a little impressed, they see the set, the cameras… A few months later, they fill rooms with 30,000 people!”.
