"It was heartbreaking": the tears of the hosts of "Animals for adoption" after the closure of C8

And suddenly, a large tear slides down Élodie Ageron's cheek. Three months later, talking about the closure of C8 is still painful for the two partners in crime drama on channel eight. "It was heartbreaking," confirms Sandrine Arcizet, who is better able to hide her pain, during our meeting this week in the TF1 tower.

"Nobody understands what we're feeling," laments her partner, trying to regain her composure. Of course, they're delighted that "Animaux à adopte," one of their former flagship programs, is back on air this Sunday afternoon on TMC. "We're especially happy for the show because it raises awareness among viewers about responsible adoption . It's a fight we're waging, and it's helped thousands of animals find families," they insist.

But this little taste of back-to-school TV (even if until the end of the summer TMC will only be offering reruns) doesn't heal their wounds. And the irony of their return to the small channel of the TF 1 group, designated enemy number one by Cyril Hanouna , doesn't even amuse them. "Because some of our former colleagues are still on the street, in fact. We were a real family," insists Sandrine Arcizet, who also presented "Gym Direct."

"It's a kind of mourning," says one of them, asking for time before turning the page on a love story that lasted twenty years. On C8, they've experienced almost everything since the chaotic launch on March 31, 2005. The difficult early years, the first ratings successes, the Hanouna years, the Arcom years. They both met their partners there too.

So this "unfair closure" seems to them like a romantic breakup, one that doesn't recover from in three months. They'll need time. Returning to filming in June to film the new episodes for September will be the first step. The new projects that TF1 will surely offer these queens of housewives under 50 ("Animals for adoption" had a market share of around 4% in this strategic target during their last season on C8) should help them turn the page. And fill their schedules, which have long been overloaded.

What warms their hearts are the thousands of messages they've received since C8 closed in February, as well as the announcement of their return to television. "We knew viewers appreciated us. But it's true that we also didn't expect this wave of love from the public that we're still feeling today," say those whose farewell to television left no one indifferent.

"We actually shot this sequence last, at the end of our last day of shooting. We didn't even dare make eye contact with our cameramen... It was so hard to believe that we were no longer going to work with this small team with whom we had been reporting for almost twenty years..." murmurs Élodie Ageron, her eyes misty. And that's precisely when her tears fell.