“For me, it was a huge surprise,” says Ivan Mballa. “The production had told us that our children would participate at their level but without further details and I was far from imagining that”, he laughed, casting a knowing look at his boy. Who bids: “They are very strong, they managed throughout the castings to drown the fish, not to say too much. Make us believe that we were only going to manage social networks in parallel. We didn’t find out until we were separated from our parents that we were actually going to be spending our days from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. in a viewing room and the role we were going to play.”says Joey.
“At first I thought it was a joke”
The duo had not applied for the show. “I received a contact request on social networks and I was offered to participate in this new show, describes Joey. At first I thought it was a joke, a hoax, but no. So I talked to my father about it, we discussed it and we decided to accept. » “It’s not every day that we are offered to participate in a television program, thought Ivan Mballa. And we were presented with it not as reality TV but as a life experience, which it was. “More discreet than his father, Joey claims not to like being the center of attention “but I told myself that it could allow my father to find someone good, I wish to see him happy in love”.
The editorial staff advises you
A few video interviews, then appointments in Paris, medical visit, interview with a psychologist, with notoriety specialists, nothing was left to chance. “We felt well supervised from start to finish, with kindness”, testifies the duo, whose complicity hit the mark at the casting. Father and son work together on a daily basis. Joey is the assistant manager of both nightclubs and his father’s bar. “And even outside of work, there isn’t a day when we don’t call each other”admits the son. “What’s the point of having a cell phone otherwise?” », esteem the father.
It’s not easy to be catapulted like that, into a house with strangers, knowing that we are being filmed, I was a little apprehensive.
Filming lasted fifteen days in the south of France. “My father took a little time to integrate into the adventure”, says Joey. “It’s not easy to be catapulted like that, into a house with strangers, knowing that we are being filmed, I was a little apprehensiveadmits Ivan Mballa, who does not usually have his tongue in his pocket. I said to myself: ‘What am I doing here?’ And then the presenter arrived, the activities started and it was easier”.
Repro TF1
“You’re going to have a good laugh”
The children must then choose who their parents will go on a date with. “Except once, he chose rather well,” assures Ivan Mballa. “It wasn’t easy, we had to make collective choices to try to make it best fit all the parents,” explains Joey who has discovered new facets of his father. “When he danced at karaoke night, for example. He who never dances, he started to do salsa steps, it was hilarious, ” announces the young man. For him who had never seen his father in a phase of seduction”. Not even with his mother. They separated when he was 2 years old, that was new. “I was afraid that he would put me to shame”, he jokes today.
With a few months of hindsight, none of them regret having embarked on this new experience. They retain “pretty surprises” And “meetings of magnificent participants. »
On the eve of the broadcast, the duo admits to feeling a little pressure. “People have already recognized us just with the teasers, we already receive a lot of messages. In the street, we know those who watch us because we know each other and the TF1 effect “, smiles Ivan Mballa. “To all those who asked me what to expect, I told them: you are going to have a few surprises, but above all you are going to have a good laugh”.
