Cyril Hanouna has announced the return of four veteran columnists from his former television show Touche pas à mon poste to the second season of his current talk show, Tout beau, tout 9.
The 51-year-old presenter confirmed on Monday that Benjamin Castaldi, Agathe Auproux, Eric Carrière and Jean-Luc Lemoine will join the programme to lead studio debates. The show airs on the French free-to-air channel W9.
Touche pas à mon poste was a long-running, highly popular and frequently controversial entertainment and media discussion programme. Hanouna launched Tout beau, tout 9 following regulatory challenges at his former channel, C8.
Castaldi, a veteran French television host best known for presenting the reality television series Loft Story on the M6 network, previously worked as a columnist on Touche pas à mon poste between 2016 and 2023. Lemoine, a comedian, left Hanouna's television team in 2018.
Lemoine told the NRJ radio network that the former team used to be a group of friends who did not feel as though they were in front of cameras. He added that viewers felt they could be on the studio set with them.
A familiar dynamic
Virginie Spies, a media analyst and lecturer in information and communication sciences at the University of Avignon, noted that W9's promotional material deliberately uses the words group and family.
Spies said the second season aims to inject more of the Touche pas à mon poste dynamic into Tout beau, tout 9 without giving the impression that it is a direct copy.
The audience of Tout beau, tout 9 is accustomed to following the personal lives of the show's contributors. During Monday's broadcast, Hanouna acknowledged his own relationship with Shana Loustau.
Spies said this level of personal familiarity was a key driver of loyalty for Touche pas à mon poste. She said viewers felt they were tuning in every evening to see a group they knew well, complete with arguments and reconciliations.
Regulatory interventions
While Touche pas à mon poste relied heavily on Hanouna as its central figure, Spies said the return of the former columnists shows the original programme was a collective ecosystem with Hanouna acting as the boss and conductor. She said Hanouna still needs musicians that the public recognises.
Spies suggested the return of former staff highlights the limits of renewing a format. She said that while a broadcaster can change a show's set, title, channel and introduce new faces, achieving audience loyalty often requires bringing back the people who built the original history.
The first season of Tout beau, tout 9 faced scrutiny over comments and remarks made by its contributors.
In July, the French broadcasting regulator Arcom published six decisions relating to sequences broadcast on the talk show between 15 September and 1 December 2025. These took the form of regulatory interventions rather than heavy sanctions.
Arcom is the independent agency responsible for regulating radio, television and digital communication in France, ensuring that broadcasters adhere to legal standards.
Clear boundaries
David Larramendy told the trade publication CB News that there had been unacceptable excesses during the show's first season.
Larramendy said clear boundaries had been established that must not be crossed, specifying a ban on the promotion of fake news, politicised speech and ad hominem attacks.
Spies, who authored a book on why media captivates audiences, pointed out that Hanouna is now operating within a broadcasting group that has its own established codes.
She said returning to popular personalities allows the production to make a show that is more reassuring and entertaining.
Spies said the strategy aims to recapture the success of Touche pas à mon poste without highlighting the constant controversy that eventually defined its image, describing the move as a normalisation of the programme.
She concluded that mixing the new with the old is a television strategy that has always worked. She said the move relies on a powerful dimension of nostalgia, providing viewers with the immediate recognition they value.
