Benjamin Castaldi (; born 28 March 1970) is a French television host, columnist, radio host and producer. He is the former host of '' Secret Story'' which is a spinoff of '' Loft Story'' that he hosted as well.

Biography

Family

Benjamin Castaldi was born into a family of artists, being the son of actress and writer Catherine Allégret and actor

Jean-Pierre Castaldi Jean-Pierre Castaldi (born 1 October 1944) is a French actor. He is the father of French TV presenter and radio host A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio ...

. He grew up surrounded by his grandmother, actress Simone Signoret, his grandfather, director Yves Allégret, and the adoptive father of his mother, actor and singer

Yves Montand Ivo Livi (), better known as Yves Montand (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), was an Italian-French actor and singer. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer, Ivo held stron ...

. He has a maternal half-sister, Clémentine Vaudaux and two paternal half-siblings, Giovanni and Paola. He is of Italian and

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

descent.

Studies and professional debut

In the late 1980s, Benjamin Castaldi, who then aspired to become a businessman, began studies in economics at

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de So ...

. He then applied for a position in a home meal delivery company, where he was finally hired as a

salesperson Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in ...

. He then became director of the company, which ended up filing bankruptcy. Wishing to try his luck as a music producer, he moved to the United States where he tried to relaunch the career of singer

Esther Galil Esther Galil ( he, אסתר גליל, ar, استير الجليل; born May 28, 1945) is a Morocco-born, Los Angeles-based French and Israeli singer and painter. Her song "Le jour se lève" was Number 1 in France for four weeks in September 19 ...

. After this failed, in 1993, he returned to Paris. Meanwhile, in 1992, he participated as an "anonymous" candidate in the game Que le meilleur gagne presented by Nagui on

La Cinq La Cinq () was France's first privately owned free-to-air television network. Created by politician Jérôme Seydoux and Italian media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, the network broadcast from 1985 to 1992. The contract for France's fifth terrest ...

Private life

He married on 22 September 1993 in

Saint-Mandé Saint-Mandé () is a high-end commune of the Val-de-Marne department in Île-de-France in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. It is one of the smallest communes of the Île-de-France by land area, but is ...

to Valérie Sapienza, the mother of his sons Julien (born 18 September 1996) and Simon (born 20 April 2000). They divorced in 2001. On 21 September 2002, he married the television and radio host

Flavie Flament Flavie Flament (née Lecanu, born 2 July 1974) is a French television and radio presenter. Early life She was born in Valognes, Normandy, the daughter of Jean-Paul Lecanu, a former professional football player (1970–1974) for Stade M ...

who he met in December 2000 on the show Les P'tits Princes, on

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

). Castaldi has a son with her, Enzo (born 8 February 2004). They separated in December 2006 before divorcing in July 2008. On 24 November 2011, he married journalist and television host Vanessa Broussouloux in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark. They divorced in May 2016 and on 27 August of the same year he married an interview director of the company Endemol, Aurore Aleman, met in 2015. His eldest son Julien joined The Mad Mag on NRJ12 as a columnist in 2017. On 22 November 2017, he revealed on the plateau of Touche pas à mon poste ! having had a three-day affair with the French journalist Annie Lemoine.

Motorcycle accident

On Saturday, 23 June 2012 it was reported that Benjamin Castaldi suffered and accident that caused him a collarbone fracture as well as two broken ribs. He left the hospital the following day. At the time of his accident he was hosting the French reality-series Secret Story which led to the decision that television presenter Nikos Aliagas hosted the show while everybody waited for Castaldi's return. Benjamin returned on air on Monday, 2 July, but normality was soon interrupted. It turned out that he had six broken ribs, and his collarbone had not healed properly, he was operated with urgency. The Voice of Secret Story took over the hosting of the show.

Financial Issues

In 2012, he discovered that he was ruined and claimed to be a victim of a real estate scam of the financial consulting company Apollonia. In 2017 Benjamin said he couldn't buy Christmas presents or do fun activities with his children anymore. In December 2014, he publicly declared himself a victim of a scam that involved a

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...

, a promoter and a bank. He claimed six million

euros The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . Th ...

in court for compensation of damages he suffered.

Career

* 1994–1997: ''Studio Gabriel'' with Michel Drucker /

France 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on ...

* 1997–1998: ''L'Étoffe des ados'' / La Cinquième * 1997–1998: ''Drucker'N Co'' / France 2 * 1998: ''Le rendez-vous'' / La Cinquième * 1998: ''Fous d'humour'' /

* 1998–1999: ''Vivement dimanche'' with Michel Drucker /

* 1999: ''Célébrités'' /

with Carole Rousseau and

Stéphane Bern Stéphane Bern, OBE (; born 14 November 1963) is a French-Luxembourgish journalist, radio host and television presenter. He is known as a specialist in nobility and royalty. He has been awarded honours by several nations, including the Ordre de ...

* 2000: ''Les P'tits Princes'' /

with Carole Rousseau, Sophie Thalmann, ,

Frédéric Joly Frédéric Joly is a French television host and producer. Biography He debuted his TV career in 1994, co-presenting the ''Disney Club''. Fred was then his nickname, and he hosted alongside Julie, then Delphine. Then he moved to France 2 for a b ...

and

* 2001–2002: ''Loft Story'' (seasons 1–2) / M6 * 2002: ''Popstars, spéciale L5'' / M6 * 2002–2003: ''QI, Le Grand Test'' (editions 1 – 2) / M6 with Mac Lesggy * 2002–2003: ''Absolument 80'', ''Absolument 70'', ''Absolument Été'' / M6 * 2002: ''Mémoire, Le Grand Test'' / M6 with Mac Lesggy * 2003–2006: ''

Nouvelle Star ''Nouvelle Star'' (; also known as '' À la Recherche de la Nouvelle Star'' for the first season) is a French television series based on the popular Pop Idol programme produced by FremantleMedia. It was broadcast by M6 in seasons 1–8 before ...

'' (seasons 1–4) / M6 * 2003: ''Tous les oppose'' / M6 * 2003: ''Culture générale, Le Grand Test'' / M6 : with Mac Lesggy * 2004: ''Permis de conduire, Le Grand Test'' / M6 with Mac Lesggy * 2004: ''Le Pensionnat de Chavagnes : Ils disent tout !'' / M6 with Mac Lesggy * 2005: ''Totale Impro'' / M6 * 2006:

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. During a career spanning 57 ...

, Flashback Tour 2006 in

Bercy Bercy () is a neighbourhood in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, the city's 47th administrative neighbourhood. History Some of the oldest vestiges of human occupation in Paris were found on the territory of Bercy, dating from the late Neolithic ...

* 2006: ''Les 40 couples stars qui ont marqué les Français'' /

with

* 2006–2007: ''Langues de VIP'' /

* 2007–2008: ''1 contre 100'' /

* 2007: ''Les 30 destins de stars les plus incroyables'' /

* 2007: ''Les Rois du Système D'' /

– with Églantine Éméyé * 2007: ''Incroyables Destins'' /

* 2007–2014: ''Secret Story'' (seasons 1-8) /

* 2007–2011: ''Le Grand Quiz du cerveau'' (editions 1–5) /

with Carole Rousseau * 2007–2008: ''Le Grand Music Quiz'' (editions 1–2) /

* 2008: ''9e cérémonie des NRJ Music Awards'' /

* 2008: ''Qui peut battre Benjamin Castaldi ?'' /

– with Carole Rousseau and

Denis Brogniart Denis Brogniart (; born 12 June 1967 in Dijon) is a French sport journalist and television host. He presents the show ''Koh-Lanta'' since 2002 and Formula One racing on TF1 with Marion Jollès Grosjean. Personal life Married in 2007 with Hort ...

* 2009: ''Mes parents vont t'adorer'' / NRJ 12 * 2010: ''La Ferme Célébrités en Afrique'' /

- with Jean-Pierre Foucault * 2010: ''Qui peut battre Philippe Lucas ?'' /

* 2010: ''Les Stars se dépassent pour Ela'' /

* 2011: ''La vie de Vynzkozy'' / NRJ 12 * 2012: ''

La Roue de la fortune ''La Roue de la fortune'' (''The Wheel of Fortune'') was the French version of the US game show ''Wheel of Fortune''. It was originally hosted by Michel Robbe, with other hosts being Christophe Dechavanne and Victoria Silvstedt and then by Benja ...

'' /

with Valérie Bègue * 2012: ''You Can Dance'' / NT1 * 2014: ''

Tahiti Quest Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Aust ...

'' /

Gulli Gulli (; stylised as gulli) is a French free-to-air television channel focused on kids programming for those aged 3 to 14. It was created as a result of a partnership between Lagardère Active and state-owned broadcaster France Télévisions. ...

* 2014: ''The Winner Is'' /

* 2015: ''

'' / D8 * 2015: ''L'Académie des neuf'' / NRJ 12 * 2015: ''Super Million Question'' / NRJ 12 * 2016: Equidia Life Academy / Equidia Life * 2016–present: '' Touche pas à mon poste !'' / C8 * 2016: ''Hold Up'' / C8 * 2016: ''Big Buzz Quiz'' / C8 * 2017: ''TPMP ! Castaldi vs. Delormeau : qui sera le meilleur animateur ?'' / C8 * 2017: ''TPMP ! Les paris sont lancés'' / C8 * 2017: ''Cash Island'' / C8 * 2017: ''TPMP, le jeu : C'est que de l'amour !'' / C8 * 2017: ''Paris à nous les Jeux ! Le grand concert'' / C8 : with

Hervé Mathoux Hervé is a French masculine given name of Breton origin, from the name of the 6th-century Breton Saint Hervé. The common latinization of the name is Herveus (also ''Haerveus''), an early (8th-century) latinization was ''Charivius''. Anglicized ...

and

Marie Portolano Marie Portolano (born 2 November 1985) is a French sports journalist and television presenter. She participated at the ''Canal Football Club'' from 2014 to 2018 and presented the program ''Canal Sports Club'' from 25 August 2018 to 6 March 2021. ...

* 2017: ''Family Battle'' / C8 * 2017: ''La Magie selon Guényanimée par Maxime Guény'' / C8 * 2018: ''La Télé même l'été !'' / C8 * 2018: ''TPMP ! Ouvert à tous'' / C8 * 2018: ''TPMP refait la semaine'' / C8 * 2018: ''TPMP fait son bêtisier !'' / C8 with Kelly Vedovelli * 2019: ''TPMP : les 10 plus gros clashs à la télé'' / C8 * 2019: ''TPMP : les 20 émissions préférées des Français'' / C8

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castaldi, Benjamin 1970 births Living people French television presenters French people of Italian descent People from Boulogne-Billancourt French people of Polish-Jewish descent