“Star Factory” – 20 years: 10 facts about the cult TV show

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The first “Star Factory” was supposed to be launched in Holland

At the beginning of the 2000s, the Dutch production company Endemol offered to release a show about how cool it is to get on TV and become a star. In Amsterdam, the idea of ​​“cultivating” artists in front of everyone was skeptical. France became 2001. Two days after the program aired in France, a show called “Operation Triumph” aired in Spain. A year later, the TV show reached Russia.

Lev Leshchenko could become the music producer of “Star Factory”

It was he who was offered the position, which was subsequently taken by Lina Arifulina. At that time, no one in our country knew how to make a reality show and what it is. Therefore, there was a big risk of “not pulling”. Whether this played a key role in Leshchenko’s refusal, however, is not known.

Former grocery store served as a home for future stars

The empty store building at 82 Dmitrovskoye Shosse, popular in the Soviet era and not in demand in recent years, was being prepared for the show in a big hurry. The builders had only a month to turn the former department store into a home for future stars. This turned out to be an impossible task – by the beginning of filming, the workers managed to hand over only the first floor. They filmed there. And the second, where the equipment was located, was completed on the go. Therefore, at first, the staff suffered greatly from the uncomfortable atmosphere and the cold.

In the frame, manufacturers watered artificial flowers

Everything in the house was fake. Rita Dakota spoke about this in the YouTube show “Zashkvarnye Stories”:

We were forced to water plastic flowers to make people think they were real. Everything there is fake, but it was presented as a reality. It was important for them that the objects looked good in the frame. For example, if you rolled over in bed, and it fell through, a voice immediately sounded: “Freeze frame. Replace bed #6”.

To prevent participants from overeating, alarms were installed on the refrigerator

Each season of Star Factory had its own rules. So, at the fourth “Factory”, restrictions on food in the evening were introduced. As Lina Arifulina later said, this was a necessary measure, as some girls began to noticeably get better. This mainly referred to Irina Dubtsova and Anastasia Kochetkova, who ate stressful situations. To control evening snacks, it was decided to install an alarm on the refrigerator. It worked when someone tried to eat at the wrong time.

The team of “manufacturers” was assembled according to the principle of Noah’s Ark

During the auditions, the casting directors were given the task of selecting the most dissimilar girls and guys, but in such a way that they would look harmonious together. And not only in a common screen saver, but also paired with each other. Playing out love relationships, of course, was not part of the paramount task of the show. But that there would be such was not ruled out.

The lovers hid in the closet

There was love on the project. It’s hard to avoid feelings for each other when you’re always together. But it was even more difficult for the manufacturers to show them – the participants lived under the round-the-clock sight of the cameras. And any kiss immediately becomes public. Then the guys came up with a way to trick video surveillance.

They realized that no one is watching when there is only one person in the room. There was a back room, where at first one person went in, watched that the camera did not move, and after some time climbed into the closet … Then, after about five minutes, the second one entered this closet. We didn’t film it,” said the producer of the first seasons, Vasilina Mikhailovskaya.

Irina Dubtsova got married at the insistence of the producers

The wedding of Irina Dubtsova and Roman Chernitsyn was one of the most memorable and touching moments of the fourth season of Star Factory. In a recent interview, Yana Churikova admitted that it was not they themselves who decided to take the relationship of lovers to a new level, but the scriptwriters of the show, who considered that such an episode would definitely spur the ratings of the project. The producers did not have to persuade the couple for a long time.

When Igor Nikolaev was my guest, he did not deny that these relations had reached a new stage in the project. But then I didn’t know about it, I thought like Alexa: “Oh, class, we got married!”. Why should I let you in on such details? I would tell the audience with a smart face: “And now there will be a plot move.” And the producers are great! – said the presenter in the program “It is necessary to discuss” with Laura Dzhugeliya.

Rita Dakota sunbathed to communicate with family and friends outside the star house

It was forbidden to use telephones at the show, but the operator of the “Factory” took pity on me. He handed me a slim cell phone, hiding it in a pack of pads. The guard carefully checked everything that was sent to us, sometimes even opened teddy bears. I hid this phone in my underwear and went to the solarium with it, – Rita recalled.

Alla Pugacheva did not take Zara to the project because of her “correctness”

Singer Zara got into the “Star Factory” only on the second attempt. At first, she auditioned for the project, where Alla Pugacheva was on the jury. And she refused her.

I was 22 years old when I decided to go to the “Star Factory”, I went through all the qualifying rounds. Then the jury was Alla Borisovna Pugacheva. She said that I was so intelligent, correct, and there they needed energetic, courageous people. And this project is not for me,” Zara said in an interview.

The aspiring singer decided not to take risks and left the last qualifying round. A year later, a new composition of the “Factory” participants was recruited, headed by producer Viktor Drobysh. He found Zara and personally invited her to go through the casting again.