Laurent Ruquier was the mystery investigator this Friday, May 5 in Mask Singer ! The presenter of TV kids on France 2 and Big Heads on RTL replaced his very dear friend Michèle Bernier at short notice. Indeed, the actress was during the filming of this episode in full performance at the theater of a play written by… Laurent Ruquier. He then had fun taking his chair for an evening – short but intense – alongside Kev Adams, Élodie Frégé and Jeff Panacloc. The essential animator of the PAF has agreed to come back to this great experience to Tele-Leisure.
“It is he who knows me the least who recognized me“
Télé-Loisirs: How did you find yourself participating in the show. Is it the production that contacted you or the reverse? Did you hesitate a lot before accepting?
Laurent Ruquier: It was the production that contacted me because Michèle Bernier was absent and they said to themselves that I could perhaps accept the role of investigator, that it would surely amuse me. And it’s true that this role amused me! I knew that it was necessary to go through the disguise box, but that it would last five minutes at the start of the show. It’s still a performance that had to be achieved… I’m not sure that I could have lasted for several weeks in the role of the Lobster! I admire those who do! But I didn’t hesitate at all because it amused me. I said yes right away. On the other hand, in the other direction, if I had been offered to be a candidate for several weeks, I would not have done so.
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“I wanted to trap Kev Adams a little bit, that’s why I was doing it”, you said before you changed. Can we say that the bet has been largely successful?
That’s what was fun! I wanted to trap them, and Kev Adams, I know him well. Élodie Frégé, very good too, even if we know each other less, Jeff Panacloc, I received him a few times on my shows. And curiously, it was he who knew me the least who recognized me because he has very strong hearing acuity. It is clear that it is one of the best to discover the candidates.
Indeed, Jeff Panacloc quickly found your identity, but like many, he did not expect to see you on TF1. It’s very surprising to see you on the front page while you’re working on France 2 and RTL.
Jeff Panacloc listens a lot The Big Heads! He is a loyal listener to the show. So that’s what helped him I think… I offered him to join us several times, but he hesitated. I’m not sure that Kev Adams or Élodie Frégé listen to us as assiduously. Afterwards, the fact that I’m not usually on TF1, that’s also what obviously amused me! That we can recognize my voice, but that we are suspicious of my coming on the front page. That’s what convinced me to do it, because it was funny and unexpected. Even the viewers who were able to recognize my voice, I saw it because I received many messages on Instagram, they said they recognized my voice, but they thought that maybe it was Marc-Antoine Le Bret or another imitator. There are many of my comrades from Big heads who were candidates, Yoann Riou, Christophe Beaugrand… And obviously, I had teased all day last Friday on the Christophe Beaugrand show, telling him that I knew full well that it was him in the Lobster. All listeners and all Big heads were convinced that it was Christophe Beaugrand under the costume. (Laughs) I had pushed vice so far!
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“What made me say ‘oui’, To tell the truth…”
Delphine Ernotte (General Manager of France Télévisions) and Nicolas de Tavernost (General Manager of M6 and RTL) were they aware of your participation in the show?
No ! Nicolas de Tavernost, I don’t have to specifically inform him, and even my contracts with France 2 do not prohibit me from participating, punctually in any case, in promotions on other shows. And that’s what I did to replace Michèle Bernier who was playing my piece, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do it on a series for example, there, I would have had to warn them. Anyway, there by definition, the less you tell anyone, the better! There was no concern about that.
Why did you choose to participate in this kind of entertainment?
What made me say “oui”, to tell the truth, that’s when I saw Francis Huster do it! And I said to myself: “If Francis does it, one of the actors who has played in quite a few of my plays, then why not me”!
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“I pretty much know who’s hiding under what costume“
After your time on the show, did you guess which celebrities were hiding behind certain costumes?
The truth… is that I hang out on Twitter! I saw names that I didn’t have at the time of filming, and yes, I saw those names and now I know more or less who is hiding under what costume. But hey, sometimes there are mistakes and surprises!
And your companion, Hugo Handswhat did he think of your time on the show?
It made him laugh! If there was anyone who amused me doing it, it was Hugo. We watched it together, we had a blast! He told me “I would have recognized you right away, if only by the walk”, but it’s easier when you know the name than when you don’t have it at the start! (Laughs.)
You explain that you are now 60 years old and that you want to try lots of new things. What are you referring to?
At some point, when we’ve done a lot of things like I do, we always try to surprise ourselves by trying new things… New projects or in the theater, there’s a lot of things I still want to do and fortunately! I’m not totally out of order either. I’m going to try to take advantage of the next ten years to have fun again. However, I have no precise idea, but when the opportunity arises, I will seize it.
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If next year the production asks you to be part of the jury for the entire season, are you ready to accept?
Alas, I think I should say no since I will continue to do TV kids which works very very well every Sunday evening on France 2. If nothing prevents that and obviously it is, we will continue to do the program on the second channel next season. SO, (Laughs)will not be possible.
