“We called each other and said let’s put it on pause“. Since the start of the school year, the faithful of the show “Confidentiel”, on RTL, no longer have to deal with Ophélie Meunier, who presented this weekend meeting last year but with Anthony Martin, the head of The station’s Culture department was made official in a press release at the beginning of September, but no reason was given for this change of incarnation.
“We said to ourselves that there would certainly be an arbitration to be made”
During an interview given to PuremédiasOphélie Meunier, who returns from October 5 with her talk show “La grande week” every Saturday afternoon on M6, explained her absence from the RTL schedule this season. “When we launched ‘La Grande Semaine’ at Easter, I explained to RTL that as it was during the season, I was continuing everything and that there was no question of ‘La Grande Semaine’ taking the place of something thing“, begins the host.
“But when you combine the presenting and editor-in-chief of ‘Forbidden Zone’, the writing, interviewing and recording of ‘Confidentiel’, and the weekly ‘La grande week’ with all that that involves preparing for interviews, reading books… And two children who are 3 and 5 years old and a bit of sport on the side… You add all that up and at a given moment, in fact, it’s a little complicated“, continues the journalist, who specifies that “Forbidden zone” has “never been questioned“. “This is my base“, she confides.
“But we said to ourselves with the channel that there would certainly be an arbitration to be made depending on the future of ‘The Big Week‘”, reveals Ophélie Meunier. “Everything was done in complete transparency. We called with Régis Ravanas (the boss of RTL, editor’s note) and we said to each other that we would put it on pause to concentrate on ‘Forbidden Zone’ and ‘The Big Week’, and to keep a little time for my personal life“, explains the host. “But for very personal scheduling reasons, I didn’t want to combine everything for an entire season to come. It’s my choice. And it was done with total understanding“, she adds.
READ ALSO: “We definitely don’t want RTL to become an opinion radio station”: How Régis Ravanas built the schedule for the M6 group station this season
The one who arrived on the air of RTL in 2020 by first presenting “Le journal unexpected” before taking the reins of “Confidentiel” does not, however, intend to put an end to her adventure on radio. “I love radio and I’m so happy I did it for 4 years. (…) I had a new approach to the profession and I hope to return to it. I don’t know when, in what way, at what time or how. It’s just goodbye“, she assures.
