The end of the famous era of "three channels" on Russian television was marked by the appearance of programs of a new format, already popular in the West. Deprived of an ideological and informational orientation, they immediately gained popularity among the audience. "Field of Miracles" already had its audience, in January 1992 another game TV show appeared on the ORT channel, but already "about love" - ​​the program "Love at First Sight".

It was a licensed game bought by Russian television from the English studio Action Time. According to the rules, 3 girls and 3 young men who were not married and dreamed of meeting their "soul mate" took part in it. As part of the air time, young people who had not previously met answered various questions from the presenters at the first stage. Based on the answers, the first impression of each other was formed, the participants chose the ones they liked the most. As a result, the computer chose matching pairs. They went to a restaurant to get to know each other better.
The next day, the winners of the first stage answered questions about the partner's behavior in various situations. They scored points based on the number of correct answers. One point was equal to one shot from a gun in sectors with painted hearts. Behind each of them was either a prize (books, TV, film cameras, etc.), a romantic trip, a broken heart - it meant the end of the game.
When the first release of the program was being prepared for broadcast, its creators faced a number of certain difficulties. There was no experience of holding a show of this format, it was not known how the presenters should have behaved, there was not even a computer at the studio - the equipment of the 60-70s was used. It was decided that the entire film crew, along with the participants and presenters, would go to London to record the program. Later, the British colleagues supplied the necessary equipment.
The calling card of the new TV show was its hosts - Boris Kryuk and Alla Volkova. She was represented as such - the "incomparable" Alla. A light and feminine type was always skillfully maintained - the presenter smiled radiantly all the time, very often giggled out of place, but very often changed outfits and hairstyles, and in the first issues she generally spoke very little. Boris is an intellectual with a subtle sense of humor. But what especially bought in his manner of presenting the program was the lack of sarcasm and irony in jokes. Kryuk and Volkova skillfully supported the rumors about an office romance between them. Millions of people were looking forward to: when will they finally get married?
The program, especially in the early years of its existence, had a lot of fans, especially among the female audience of absolutely all ages. Schoolgirls with their mothers and grandmothers dropped everything and sat down in front of the blue screen. They commented on questions and discussed successful answers to them, in the first minutes they suggested a possible ideal couple, determined favorites, rooted for them with all their hearts and sincerely wished to win a romantic trip.
By the behavior of the participants, it was clear that they came here for various reasons. Someone wanted to win prizes, someone wanted to test and show themselves, someone with an interesting partner to go on an interesting trip. But to find love? This probably happened too. They said that the program even kept statistics on the number of marriages.
In 1998, during the default, like many other projects, Love at First Sight was closed. Later, they tried to revive it, but it was no longer the same: in the genre rather for “adults” and with other presenters, they spoke very frankly about everything in it.

Magront Maria Viktorovna (Akhvlediani) - Candidate of Philological Sciences, Deputy Head of the Department of Journalism and Television of the Higher School of Economics (Faculty) of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, author, director and producer of television programs and films, laureate of international festivals and competitions. Academician of the International Academy of Television and Radio (IATR), member of the Eurasian Academy of Television and Radio Broadcasting, member of the Union of Journalists of Russia, member of the International Union of Journalists. Awarded with the medal “Academician A.I. Berg” in 2015. Author of textbooks and monographs.

In the spring, a new book by Maria Magront - "TV behind the scenes" will be released. It is dedicated to the history of the creation of the legendary domestic television programs: “Come on, girls!”, “What? Where? When?”, “Love at first sight”, “Lucky chance” and others. For many, these names evoke fond memories and nostalgia. Many people know the presenters, but how were these programs created? Who are the heroes behind the scenes? What funny things happened on the sites? All this in the book of Maria Magront "TV behind the scenes."

Love at first sight. 25 years later

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the launch of the iconic Love at First Sight program. For many years this TV show has not appeared on our screens, but how can you forget the charming Alla and her co-host Boris Kryuk. It book could not pass by this touching and funny anniversary. We publish an excerpt from a wonderful book by Maria Magront, dedicated to the iconic programs of Russian television.

The book is based on exclusive interviews with the creators and producers of the programs, and some scripts are published for the first time.

In 1990, specialists from the GUVS - the Main Directorate of Foreign Relations went to the TV market in Cannes. Valentin Lazutkin received permission from Vladimir Voroshilov and Natalia Stetsenko to sell What? Where? When?". Several cassettes were recorded, and although the format was not sold to the West, it was of interest. And literally a month or two later, a producer from England, Stephen Leahy, the head of Action Time and the author of the idea of ​​Love at First Sight, came to N. I. Stetsenko, who brought two suitcases with cassettes. It was obvious to Natalia Ivanovna that no one and nothing would buy from us in the West, it was politically unprofitable for them - they buy what America offers them.

Natalia Stetsenko:“Even then they told us that if America buys and they go, then everyone else will buy. And to sell so that we can buy - that's welcome! We understood this then, and Stephen brought different programs, and when I began to watch them, there were mostly quizzes, and I was not interested in doing all this. After all, we then had a Brain-ring with great success, and “What? Where? When? ”, And suddenly I took this cassette“ Love at First Sight ”, I looked, it was something completely different, another plane, unfamiliar to us. And I decided to do it, it turned out to be a completely new format in England, and they told us that we would be the first or second to do it.

A group of television specialists from Holland and the then Soviet Union were met in London. The hospitable hosts first introduced the Soviet TV crew to the capital of Great Britain, and then moved to Nottinghamshire, England, since the production was located in the city of Nottingham, where the Igra-TV company filmed the pilot version of Love at First Sight. The quality of the equipment was amazing, and the joint work turned out to be useful and interesting. But Natalia Ivanovna did not begin to trace the program in everything. With the British, everything is written through endless “stop” commands, the work of the director and cameramen is scheduled for cameras - camera No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, just take the editor and press the buttons. Natalia Stetsenko told her people that our company is working live, and if someone dares to announce “Stop!” in the studio, they will be fired tomorrow. All broadcasts, regardless of whether they are recorded or live, are filmed by the Igra-TV television company live.

In fact, the show costs money, and in the West it is well understood. And since the Soviet side did not have money to shoot the "pilot", the British financed the whole process.

Natalia Stetsenko:“So they gave us 100 pounds as employees, I bought this cross there for 10 pounds and have not taken it off since then.”

At that time, the British had such an interest in the Soviet Union, in Russia, that three young heroes of the program flew on one plane, and three heroines on another plane, lived in different hotels, accompanied by different editors. The hosts of the program were Alla Volkova and Boris Kryuk. Alla spoke good English, Boris spoke it a little. Every lunch and dinner, the English gathered the whole group, and during the dinner, Stephen clapped his hands several times, and everyone moved from their seats to others. So everyone got to know each other.

Natalia Stetsenko:“I’m not talking about the fact that we didn’t understand at first, they showed how their know-how schedule was not only for shooting, but for the whole day, so that boys and girls would not meet on the set. And they had it planned down to the minute - who enters which dressing room when, who enters the studio, who meets whom at the subway, then they filmed like that. Shooting technology is rigidly prescribed by the minute, i.e. we had to do everything exactly to the minute.”

The only thing the Russian team stumbled over was computers, because we didn’t have any computers at all in our country, and answers to questions had to be written on computers, and these large computers were brought to us from England. A special computer engineer, Chris Goss, arrived and needed to be accommodated in a hotel, and then there was also a problem with this. Then there was a problem with radio microphones, in our country no one knew what it was, and those that we had, so that the participants could communicate with each other, jammed them - the Ostankino Tower, in general, it was a nightmare. When Natalia Ivanovna Stetsenko told Stephen Leahy about this, he replied that they had chosen the most technologically sophisticated, most advanced transmission.

Natalia Stetsenko:“And this program gave us a lot, although then everyone scolded us! How much Boris went through then, how much Alla went through! But it was a revolutionary game, youth poured in! Our office was littered with letters, just like at ChGK, they wrote from all over the country and the popularity was crazy!”

The Russian side bought a hat and music from the British, but they refused the set of questions, taking only two or three from them, because some of the questions in the English version were absurd and unacceptable for us. Natalia Ivanovna also admits that only in England she realized that we are very gloomy people, we are busy and can neither smile nor relax.

Natalia Stetsenko: “Of course, we were very worried, Andrei Kozlov was then a novice director, who at that time had not yet filmed a single program on his own, Boris Kryuk, who filmed the Brain Ring, but had never hosted a single program, and I remember that I came to the hotel, where I had a huge bed in my room, which I was afraid to approach, turned back the bedspread, and lay down on the edge. The stress is monstrous!”

Alla Volkova, host of the program recalls the situation at the end of November 1990 in Nottingham. “There was an unusually warm, friendly and sunny atmosphere in the studio. And the director on the set before I went on the “stage” said: “Smile and do not forget that you are not talking to the camera, but are referring to your beloved friend, neighbor. You will come to visit them every week!”

Soviet TV people walked tense and gloomy, while the British had a completely different principle, they entered the studio and they had a rule - no matter who entered: the administrator, assistant, producer or owner of the channel, to the music of Love at First Sight, everyone began to dance. Everyone did it!

Natalia Stetsenko:“And when we came in, they kept asking: “Are you in trouble?” We didn't know what to answer. And we learned to relax and smile.”

Photos from the archive of TC "IGRA-TV".

Many still remember and love the very first pair of presenters - Alla Volkova and Boris Kryuk (later Pavel Kostitsyn and Katya Vinogradova were at Inter, and now Andrey Domansky and Vasilisa Frolova). Boris and Alla looked so harmonious that from time to time there were persistent rumors that they had become husband and wife.

After the show, Volkova really got married (and for the third time), but not at all to Boris, but to Igor Ivannikov, the former soloist of the Doctor Watson group, with whom she is happily married today.

In 2000, when the program was closed, Alla disappeared from television screens, but did not stop her creative activity on TV, taking the place of program director at the Igra-TV television company ("What? Where? When?", "Brain Ring", "Cultural revolution", etc.), where he still works under the leadership of ... Boris Kryuk.

Volkova has two adult sons, Julius and Arthur, and a grandson and granddaughter. Lives in a country house in the Moscow region. She loves to bake pies, ride a bike, dogs (she has several) and weave baubles from natural stones.

We managed to talk with Alla about "Love at first sight" and not only.

"It was all improvisation"

- Alla, remember your reaction to the proposal to become the host of the Love at First Sight program?

I remember that I was pleasantly surprised and, as a responsible person, rushed to the libraries to read Freud. Believe it or not, I even went to psychology courses for two years, which were taught by my friend, the rector of the university, Olga Potemkina! Before all this, I was an "expert", in 1979 I came to the youth editorial office for the program "What? Where? When?". The decision - who to take the host of the program - was made by two people: Vladimir Voroshilov and Natalia Stetsenko (Voroshilov's wife, mother of Boris Kryuk, TV editor. - Auth.).

- It was the first entertainment show, there was no experience in conducting such programs yet. What was required of you?

They didn't demand anything from us, it was a complete improvisation. The British helped us for several years. We didn't have computers! When they saw equipment from 1970 or even 1967 at our television center, they grabbed their heads. And they were very surprised when the result was a perfect picture. They brought us computers that were not on our TV at that time, and their computer engineer Chris Goss did all the screensavers, flying hearts, archery for us.

- What was our feature?

Leading. Boris is intelligence, mind, wonderful humor. And Alla-leader is lightness, outfits, hairstyles. They even dyed me blonde. Yes, I myself added to my image of frivolity.

- Did you feel comfortable in the image of a blonde?

I am a completely different person! But we have a lot of different characters in us. And at different moments a person manifests himself in different ways. We had a good stylist Alexander Shevchuk. So when he changed my appearance, everyone just applauded him! Each time our group looked at me with surprise, because each time he painted a new face for me! For this I am very grateful to him, because they recognize me only by my voice (laughs). He also chose the costumes.

"I'm glad that there was no yellow press then"

- Did you feel like a star?

We were recognized. But it was the post-Soviet space. You can not compare the concept of a star then and now. Now it stands for a glamorous lifestyle. And then we didn’t even know the word! For us, work and creativity came first.

- Probably, you were constantly "married" with Boris Kryuk. How did you get away with it?

The thing is, it didn't really bother us. If we had an affair, we would get married. Moreover, it is so convenient - for ten years to produce a program and be together (laughs). If we didn’t get married, then there was no romance.

Actually, I love Boris very much, I have such a sisterly love for him. And the fruit of this love is this program. Boris has always treated me, and still treats me very tenderly. But he has a completely different type of women in his head that he marries (laughs).

I am terribly glad that my program went out for so long and that then, in fact, there was no tabloid press that would come up with all sorts of fables. It’s just that my children and my mother, who was still alive then, would not have endured all this horror and nightmare when they discuss who and what, where and with whom.

- Friends did not ask for the project "by pull"?

No. As in the case of "What? Where? When?" not a single one of my acquaintances, not a single relative sent a single question of his own and did not receive money.

- What do you think, is there a need for a modern viewer in such projects now?

I think that this program is for all time.

"This is life, and everyone steps on their own rake"

- Now in Ukraine, on the Inter channel, the updated project Love at First Sight has just started. But this is no longer a youth show - its characters are mostly those who are about 30 or over 30 ...

More experienced heroes - this is a very correct approach. After all, they have something to say! We also had different heroes. And there were young people. There were even children, they had very funny statements. One little girl 5 years old to the question "What is happiness"? answered: "It is a room full of gold." Like this!

- How do you feel about the fact that now communication between men and women has moved to a virtual level?

They need to meet sometime! The fact is that they thus expand the circle of communication. You can't sit in a cafe and talk to 9 applicants! And here you can get to know everyone and reject someone (laughs). This is life, and everyone steps on their own rake.

- Do you believe in love at first sight?

Probably, it happens - just at first sight. With him, everyone decides whether he is a person or not.

From the history of the TV show

Colleagues did not recognize the program

Stephen Leahy (the author of the program, at that time the director of the Action Time company, from which they bought the license for the show. - Auth.) brought a whole bag of different programs, formats that his company produced, - recalls Alla Volkova. - Vladimir Voroshilov and Natalia Stetsenko chose "Love at First Sight" because it struck them. They didn't want to buy some new quiz or something like "What? Where? When?".

As for the audience, they were divided. Some thought it was a revolutionary show and drew parallels with the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall. And someone thought that this was an immodest program and it was impossible to discuss some things related to the relationship of men and women.

By the way, all the programs of our television company - "What? Where? When?", "Brain Ring", "Cultural Revolution", "Life is Beautiful" - have been awarded the TEFI award more than once. And "Love at First Sight", although it was published for almost 10 years (from 1991 to 2000), does not have any award. Colleagues did not recognize her. It was considered too frivolous a show for our people.

The management was also ambivalent about this program ... We were staged at twelve o'clock in the morning. But the ratings still skyrocketed.

I remember one of the critics wrote that we send potential brides and grooms on a romantic trip in couples in cabins. In fact, there was nothing like that! The participants won a romantic trip, at the end of the year we collected them and sent them all by one ship. Naturally, no one lived with each other. Boys were placed with boys, girls with girls. We did not set as our goal a wedding-marriage. Although some couples did get married, and then we invited them to the studio.

Unfortunately, few of today's youth can remember one of the most talented and beautiful TV presenters of the 90s of the last century. But Alla Volkova was just that. It is worth noting that during her popularity, the attitude towards television was completely different than today. The absence of satellite channels and digital analogues created an information deficit.

That is why the light entertainment program “Love at First Sight”, the first host of which was the heroine of our article, was very popular among viewers.

The mysterious host of the program

At a time when there was no Internet as such, and the yellow press did not publish various gossip and speculation about the stars as freely as it does today, the life of actors and presenters who addressed the viewer from the blue screens was really a secret.

There is little information about this TV presenter in the public domain today. It is known that Alla was born in 1955. She is an English teacher by training. Alla Volkova has always been interested in the general public, and information about the personal life of the host has never been advertised.

And since people always need to discuss something, and even more so, the general atmosphere on the set of "Love at First Sight" seemed very romantic, the rumor immediately attributed the host an affair with her colleague on the air.

Fictional romance between two hosts

Along with the young people who came to the program to find their soul mate, the audience arbitrarily came up with another pair of Boris Kryuk and Alla Volkova. This duet was even credited with a wedding. Apparently, people liked to think that a couple of young, talented people in love with each other helps the participants of their TV show find their beloved ones. And only many years later, in one of her interviews, Alla Volkova, a TV presenter, denied such gossip, firmly stating that there had never been any romance between him and Boris.

How did Volkova get on Love at First Sight?

But a rather interesting fact is that Alla was able to get on the program beloved by thousands of viewers as a host largely thanks to Boris Kryuk's mother, Natalia Stetsenko. At that time, Alla Volkova already had some relation to television. In 1979, she worked in the youth edition of the program called “What? Where? When?". At this time, the television company "Game TV" decides to release on the domestic screen an analogue of the English entertainment show under the original name Love at first sight. Thus, the program “Love at First Sight” appeared on the post-Soviet air.

The decision on who will act as presenters was made by Vladimir Voroshilov (far from being the last person in the Igra TV company) and his wife, Natalya Stetsenko (Boris Kryuk's mother). It was she who offered to take on the role of co-host to her son a girl from the editorial office, which turned out to be Alla Volkova.

Preparing for filming

When Alla Volkova began to prepare for broadcasts, it turned out that in the post-Soviet space there was practically no experience in conducting such programs and what exactly was required of the presenters was not entirely clear. For this reason, the shooting of the first program took place in London, where foreign colleagues shared their experience with the presenters of the newly made program.

It is worth noting that the British specialists supported the creators of the Russian version of the program for the next few years, since domestic television was not quite ready to shoot a show of this level. It is worth recalling that "Love at First Sight" first aired in 1991. By that time, as Alla Volkova herself now recalls, the local television center did not even have a computer, and the equipment that was used in the work was produced in 1960-1970. The TV team was supplied with everything necessary by foreign colleagues.

Rules of the legendary game

For the post-Soviet period, the idea and format of the program were very unusual and quite interesting. At the first stage, 6 people took part in the show: three guys and three girls. The presenters began to ask the players various interesting and sometimes tricky questions. At the same time, the participants could not see each other. They could form their idea of ​​other players solely on the basis of the answers they heard.

Next, they were asked to decide on their sympathy and click on the button to select a specific participant. Only after the choice was made, the guys and girls could see each other. If the blind choice of the participants was mutual, then a kind of pair formation took place. And this pair could continue further participation in the game. After filming, young people who chose each other went to a restaurant in order to chat and get to know each other better. On the second day of filming, the couple returned, and the hosts asked them to answer questions again, which this time were not of a general nature, but concerned each chosen one in the pair. For example, the guy had to answer how the girl would behave in a given situation.

For each correct answer, the couple received as a reward the opportunity to fire one shot on the computer. There was a large screen with hearts in the studio, under which various prizes (gifts for the newlyweds) were hidden. The most important prize was considered a romantic trip, and the more shots a couple earned with their correct answers, the more likely the chances of winning the main prize increased.

The intrigue and some tension on the air were brought by the fact that in one of the sectors the “Broken Heart” was hiding. If a couple hit it, the game ended immediately for them.

Distributed images and roles

When the program was in the process of being developed, there were practically no requirements for hosts, since no one had the slightest idea how exactly a romantic variety show should be hosted. Everything that Boris and Alla did on the set was exclusively improvisation.

Volkova and Hook created the impression of a very harmonious pair of presenters. Their on-screen images complemented each other perfectly. Boris has always been distinguished by intelligence and subtle humor, while it is worth noting that his jokes never had anything to do with sarcasm or irony. He was the epitome of intelligence and resourcefulness. Alla Volkova was supposed to have a lighter, more feminine type. She always knew how to attract the eyes of viewers to herself, each broadcast appearing in new outfits and changing hairstyles.

Over time, the stylists made her blonde, but at the same time, it is worth noting that Alla Volkova is the host, who never looked vulgar or stupid. When the girl was preparing for the release of the program, knowing that the program would be mainly devoted to relations between men and women, she read a lot of specialized literature, studied Freud's works, and even went to psychology courses.

For the competent creation of a high-quality on-air image, Alla Volkova herself in today's interviews often thanks the stylist of the program Alexander Shevchuk. It was from his submission that fashionable, beautiful and very elegant outfits were selected for the presenter. Also, it was Shevchuk who always chose a new hairstyle and makeup for Volkova. Moreover, he knew how to change the images of Alla so masterfully and radically that sometimes colleagues on the site could recognize Volkova only by her voice.

Closing the transfer

This program aired for almost 8 years, which is a very long time for an entertainment show. When the program closed, the reasons for this began to grow into legends. In fact, everything was banal. The last actual shooting took place in 1998, at that time there was a crisis in the yard. The cost of the transmission cost its creator a fairly large amount, and this was largely due to expensive scenery and the use of computer technology.

Over time, "Love at first sight" began to appear on the screens less and less. In one of his interviews, Boris Kryuk, recalling those times, said that the closure of the program was quite logical and happened by mutual agreement of all parties involved in the creation of the show.

Volkova's personal life

This presenter has never put her personal life on display. But apparently, she was boring with Alla, since from various publications it becomes clear that she had only three official marriages.

It is known that the musician Igor Ivannikov became her last husband. It is also known that the TV presenter has two adult sons from a previous marriage.

Where is Alla Volkova now?

After the closure of Love at First Sight, Alla Volkova (whose biography was never advertised in detail) did not cease to interest loyal viewers. Unlike her colleague Boris, she did not appear on the new program, and many thought that she had ceased to have anything to do with television at all. But in fact, for many years, Volkova has been quite successfully continuing her cooperation with the Igra TV television company and the production center of the same name. She is program director and editor-in-chief of programs such as Cultural Revolution and What? Where? When?".