An audiovisual UFO. Twenty years after its last broadcast on TF1, “Bigdil” made its comeback on RMC Story, still with Vincent Lagaf and the alien Bill presenting. No less than 1.8 million viewers (9% audience share) went to TNT channel 23 to attend this event, placing the channel in fourth place among the most watched, just behind The time of secrets by Christophe Barratier, on France 3 (1.85 million viewers). Better still, RMC Story achieved one of the best audiences in its history, excluding football matches. 20 Minutes was in front of his screen.
Misty eyes
Thursday evening, shortly after 9:10 p.m., the credits of “Bigdil” are heard. Like the smell of a good cake at our grandparents’ house, emotion invades more than one viewer. “I just had a big shot of nostalgia,” posted a fan of the game on social networks. After the sound, the image. In a well-oiled staging, Vincent Lagaf and two goofballs, Fanny and Nadia, enter the set, plunged in darkness.
The star host of the 1990s and 2000s finds the light, which reveals a sleeping audience and a setting that has not moved a bit. Then Lagaf, dressed in a trendy blue and white jacket, pulls a tarpaulin that covered Bill’s saucer. The famous extraterrestrial (still played by Gilles Vautier) appears, then exchanges with his “friend Vincent”. A Bill more dashing – and close to his money – than ever.
It is then that the public wakes up, Vincent Lagaf launching his legendary “BEEP BEEP!” “. The voice of the former host of Le Juste Prix is intact, the emotion palpable. “Good evening everyone, welcome to the Bigdil set! […]says Lagaf, his eyes misty. It is with great, great pleasure and… A lot of emotion that I find you again after 20 years. But what joy, really… Wow. » On our sofa, our eyes also get wet. From the first minutes, the good nature of Bill and Lagaf has its effect. We find ourselves laughing heartily again, and it feels good!
A well-oiled mechanism
Time for games! The candidates follow one another, not without an anecdote linked to the former “Bigdil”, who had the heyday of TF1 between 1998 and 2004. “I’m going to be everyone’s daring here,” remarks Lagaf, when Adrien, the first candidate of this new version, tells him that he was 6 years old during the first generation Bigdil. A mother came with her 8-year-old son, specifying that she had explained the passion she had, at the same age, for watching the program in primetime access at the time. Another candidate, with a Canadian accent which amused Lagaf, had been a candidate in the early 2000s, when she was pregnant. She participated in the Moving game with two of her daughters, who have grown up well.
In addition to the Moving, the famous Blind Test or even a perched game where you have to collect as many balls as possible bring back many memories, those that those under twenty cannot know. At the end of each test, the candidate must choose between keeping their winnings (around €1,000 each time) or opening the curtain. The audience then begins to speak, shouting “the curtain, the curtain!!! “. The fortunes are varied for the candidates, which is the salt of “Bigdil”.
Adrien wins the final Dil with his group of friends, by choosing the dog, a new member of the family. The public and Lagaf really tried to influence his choice. The curtain opens on the car. The joy is collective. On the sofa, this time we surprise ourselves by raising our arms.
Lagaf, gaffes et baffe
From Strike ! in 2019 on C8, Vincent Lagaf no longer hosted a board game. Aged 65, the host slapped his detractors in the face. He has lost none of his voice and his good humor. On several occasions, the ex-TF1 star had difficulty hiding his emotion, driven by the candidates’ anecdotes and by an audience who chanted his name at the end of the show. A moment chosen by the showman to pay tribute to those who made the game and who are no longer in this world. Emotion, always.
Lagaf tried his hand most often successfully at the valves, teasing a candidate for her Canadian accent and was kindly put back in place by Fanny, the goofball, when the latter advised him to pay attention to his nails during the game of Moving. Empathetic, moving and funny, Lagaf has lost none of his talent.
“The return of Bigdil feels so good, I feel like I’m back in 1998. This is how old I feel,” reacted an Internet user. So, the effect of curiosity or nostalgia when you hold us? “Bigdil” will be back every week, on Friday evening in prime time (and no longer on Thursday evening), to the great pleasure of RMC Story and the public. Beep, beep!
