# The Torch (2022)

> A French parody series in which Marc and fifteen other contestants leave a dating villa for a deserted island and compete through physical challenges and betrayals.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/125887

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 9
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Jonathan Cohen
- Network: Canal+
- Cast: Jonathan Cohen, Ramzy Bedia, Ana Girardot, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Géraldine Nakache, Leïla Bekhti, Camille Chamoux, Pierre Niney
- TMDB rating: 6.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20723358/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: sardonic, irreverent, deadpan, absurd, breezy

## What critics say

Audience reception is mixed, with viewers enjoying the parody of reality survival formats while finding its satire uneven.

## Synopsis

The Torch (2022) is a French national-television mockumentary comedy series created by Jonathan Cohen for Canal+. Its story follows Marc, played by Jonathan Cohen, who leaves a dating villa behind and joins sixteen contestants on a deserted island for a tropical survival contest. Ramzy Bedia plays Tony Tonic, Abdel, a fellow competitor, while Ana Girardot, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Pierre Niney appear among the castaways with their own rivalries. The engine of the show is the ridiculous strain of physical challenges, shifting alliances and emotional betrayals that a reality format stages for cameras, all filtered through the mock-serious framing of a tropical game show. Each of its nine half-hour episodes builds the same kind of escalating humiliation, with characters scheming to outlast each other under the watchful eye of a production that never seems to care about their welfare. The series is a single short season, a compact limited run that delivers its comedy in brisk bursts. Its tone is sardonic and irreverent, with a deadpan wit that pokes fun at the manipulative logic of television competition. Fans of The Office and Survivor will find resonance in its satirical view of reality television, its ensemble of vain contestants, and its blend of cringe and absurdity.

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- [Wrecked (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/58648)
- [Kaboul Kitchen (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/39467)
- [Represent (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/121283)
- [A Guy, a Girl (1999)](https://ember.film/tv/54952)
- [The Hook Up Plan (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/71160)
- [Último a Sair (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/68054)
- [Hero Corp (2008)](https://ember.film/tv/20057)
- [Standing Up (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/119801)

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