From adventure to adventure, from tension to tension. This could be summed up, with an air of Serge Lama in mind, the concept of “The Island”. The adventure game, which made its comeback on M6 on Tuesday evening, only attracted 1.29 million viewers, placing the channel behind France 3, TF1, TMC and France 2. But an adventurer is already noticed in more than one way during the broadcast of the first two episodes. His name: Julien Cohen.
Entrepreneur and enthusiast
The 57-year-old businessman is no stranger to television. Between 2017 and 2021, Julien Cohen made himself known to the general public thanks to “Affaire concluded”, the France 2 show. Before this label “Seen on TV”, the latter had launched into business very early , with his only baccalaureate in his pocket. For several years, he founded businesses, including a courier company in 1991, which was a hit.
Julien Cohen, passionate about antiques, recognizes, in the portrait devoted to him Tuesday evening on M6, that he works from “7 a.m. to 10 p.m.”. In 2013, the businessman opened his first antique store, then bought others. He thus became one of the biggest sellers at Puces de Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis).
“I have no friends”
Happy in business and father of six children, Julien Cohen does not hide his faults when presenting himself to the presenter of “The Island: L’île du bagne”, Loury Lag, the new Mike Horn. “I have no friends,” he confesses at the outset, and sets himself the goal of empathizing with his new playmates, among whom are the actor Terence Telle, the fighter of boxing and MMA Lucie Bertaud, ex-footballer Sidney Govou and content creator Daniela Capone. During the press conference presenting the program on December 3, Julien Cohen was the only one for whom “the human challenge” was more difficult than survival…
And the “I have no friends” tends to be justified by the attitude of the entrepreneur as the M6 program progresses. When disembarking on the island, Julien Cohen rushed to arrive first on the beach. An objective certainly achieved, but criticized by viewers. “Julien Cohen wants cohesion even though he left all his teammates at sea to fend for themselves while he was already on the beach! He’s going to stuff me quickly,” posted a user on X.
“Girls” and “big muscles”
From the start of episode 1 of “The Island”, the antiques dealer displays misogyny against two of his comrades, Nathalie Marquay-Pernaut and Delphine Wespiser. Julien Cohen thus considered it dangerous for two “girls” to go into the forest or use machetes. The two ex-Miss France immediately took over the new castaway.
Shortly after, the one who appears to be a leader on the beach asks the candidates to speed up their pace. “I knew our timing and it only went with big muscles,” Julien Cohen declared in front of the cameras. And we had big muscles,” referring to athletes Sidney Govou, Pierre-Ambroise Bosse and actor Terence Telle.
“The guy is the boss”
As the sun heats up, Julien Cohen blurts out, this time, “it’s a real mess”, while Lucie Bertaud tries to rally the troops to start (finally!) building the camp and lighting the fire . A commentator rather than actor side which has not escaped fans of the program on social networks. “Julien Cohen, I can’t do it anymore. The guy is acting like a boss, he doesn’t ‘jerk’ one,” notes, annoyed, an Internet user on X.
And lack of opportunities for the entrepreneur, Patrick Puydebat, with whom he could see himself being friends, had to leave the adventure after a sting. A debut far from successful for the famous businessman, who could well, once again, stand out next week in the sequel to “The Island: L’île du penal”.
