Trois Princes à Paris

Tidjani, Yadvendra and Luc just want to find luuuurve à Paris

Il était une fois... that the French channel TF1 put on a show called "Three Princes in Paris." Unsurprisingly, it follows three princes in Paris, but here's the catch (dun dun dun!) they are each searching for their princess in the city d'amour. Throughout the intro, they showed the three princes in their traditional dress (which can be seen above). The Polynesian in particular stands out given the fact that this was filmed in the winter and Polynesia doesn't really do winter. (They also show lots of video of him climbing trees super fast and hunting pigs, but that's not important here.) The three princes (for either bureaucratic or personal reasons) must find love, presumably there will also be "tasks" to drive on the show, probably experts in the art of amour will help them too. Most important, however, is the fact that they have to do it all without revealing they they are in fact princes (so you know it will be real amour and not just because there's a camera in the girl's face... obvis).

The three princes are:

Tidjani, 28, from Benin

Yadvendra, from India and

Luc, 21 , from French Polynesia

Perhaps the most sensational part of the show so far is the Polynesian prince running around Paris in his traditional garb. I assumed that that was just for the intro, but then he got on the plane in his giant headdress and grass leg/arm things. Understandably, when he got his luggage at the airport and said "Bonjour" to everyone he saw, people stared and smiled. It's nice to see the Parisians smile. Apparently Polynesian dude has not been around technology very much as he was absolutely shocked by the limousine. I can only imagine what the plane ride was like. "J'ai toujours vécu comme un sauvage dans la brousse." (I always lived like a savage in the brush/wild.)

The three are individually taken to some fancy room after the arrive and introduced. They make awkward chitchat in their respective accents, then they are set loose on Paris. Their first task? Mastering the métro. The most interesting part of this show is hearing their reactions to Paris culture (and seeing Parisians smile... all the time. Maybe it's because of the cameras constantly filming? or more likely the absurdity of seeing three men in three different radically different types of dress). Yadvendra, the Indian prince, remarked that when he got on the métro he thought that all the Parisians must be very sad because no one talked or smiled.

Pointing at the Arc de Triomphe, Luc the Polynesian asks, "C'est quoi ce truc-là?" What's that thing? They make their way underground and over to the monument where Luc finds the tomb of the unknown soldier which has an ever-burning flame. Luc, still in his traditional clothing intended for hot Polynesia, decides to warm his hands on the flames. Of course no one in the production of this could have stopped him (due to my general distrust of reality shows, I wouldn't be surprised if they encouraged him) and the police get involved. Luckily, the event is somewhat anticlimatic despite the producers' best attempts with dramatic music.

Fortunately, this potential exploitation of traditional customs stops and the three princes are given more "French" clothing. Then they have to shop, clean and even... work! This first episode shows them on their first shopping trip for food. This is spliced with shots of Luc and his fellow villagers chasing a wild pig, catching fish and cooking over a FIRE. Then, of course, he gets a frozen pizza (du jambon, bien sûr/ham, of course). They bought their baguette at the grocery store. I was disappointed in that. For shame. Get thee to a bakery, dear princes. What would your Parisian princess say if she saw you getting your baguette from the grocery store? I did enjoy the Tidjani getting excited about the "famous" Camembert at the cheese counter. So far, Tidjani has been far and away beating the other two princes. This is probably because he actually talks to women. There's a scene in which the three are at a bar and Tidjani goes and sit with two ladies in a booth while the other two sit together, uncomfortably, at the bar.

Prochainement... The show is canceled. Sadly, we will never find out if the princes found their luuuurve. Womp womp womp. I'm sad I'll have to miss out on an episode that was apparently the awkward princes feeling awkward about Moulin Rouge and the three princes fighting about who should do the washing. Apparently they also go to someplace snowy on a mountain (i.e. not Paris. The show title lied!) I'm sure the three have found their amours now that they have been revealed for their true princely selves. They probably should have made 3 Princes in New York instead... or New Jersey. I bet America would go for that. Or just 3 Princes and a village of rejected bachelorettes... in the dark. There we go. Winner!

In case you feel like checking out the failed show:

Le site officiel de 3 princes à Paris

For streaming of 3 princes à Paris, click here.

I should say that I only started watching this because it was the first show I saw on the TF1 site and thought it'd probably be beneficial to watch a "reality" show. Didn't really think about the fact that the main people would all have accents... oops. I'm pretending like that made it harder so I can feel really good about myself for understanding everything.