The Flame

The series is a French remake of the American series Burning Love. Jonathan Cohen, seduced by this format which he had been watching since his twenties, wanted to create a French version of it with what constitutes French identity.

To make his project happen, Jonathan Cohen contacted Red Hour Films, Ben Stiller's production company, without much hope at first, and the project was ultimately greenlit.

Jonathan Cohen reunited with Jérémie Galan for this project, with whom he had already collaborated on the series Serge le Mytho, as well as Florent Bernard, a former member of the Golden Moustache collective.

Unlike series such as Unreal which criticize reality television, the creators did not want to judge the genre but simply exploit its comedic potential, with Jonathan Cohen explaining that he genuinely enjoys watching reality television.

Filming took place mainly in Issy-les-Moulineaux, in the Hauts-de-Seine, where a house was entirely renovated to serve as the set for the show's villa.

The series parodies the codes of reality dating shows like Bachelor, the gentleman bachelor, faithfully reproducing their narrative structure alternating filmed scenes and confessions facing the camera.

The series premiered at the Canneséries festival on October 9, 2020, a few days before its official broadcast on Canal+, and its first episode was watched by nearly 615,000 viewers in the clear.

A follow-up entitled Le Flambeau: Les aventuriers de Chupacabra was announced by Jonathan Cohen on August 31, 2021, this time in the form of an adventure reality TV parody, with the return of certain characters from the first season.