PARIS -- France may have been late to catch on to what many here considered to be "trash" reality TV but it made up for lost time by rapidly embracing the new genre of programming.

The runaway success of France's first reality show "Loft Story" gave private web M6 the boost it needed to grow up and start being noticed, with its profits up 34.3% in the first half of 2001 as other webs' profits fell back.

M6 drew record auds, with a weekly prime time average of 6.9 million viewers, for the show in which five single girls and six single guys were shut in together in a large apartment with its own pool, gym and garden.

Participants, aged between 18 and 35, were filmed by 29 cameras day and night and were gradually eliminated by the voting public until one male and one female remained.

After a total of 70 days confinement, the winning couple had to face a final challenge: spending six weeks together in a dream house, without being filmed, in order to win it.

Much of the action took place on the internet or cable channel TPS, which both broadcast a full 24 hours which were then summarised at prime time on M6.

Early on in the series, a late night steamy swimming pool scene ensured the popularity of the 24-hour viewing options and fuelled the public debate.

A marketing campaign was cancelled because the press took over the work and did it well enough to have everyone in the country talking about the show, even if they hadn't even seen it.

Highbrow cinema magazine "Cahiers du Cinema" gave it its intellectual blessing with a place on its list of the top ten pics of 2001.

M6 channel topper Nicolas de Tavernost told analysts in Paris that the success of "Loft Story" was the result of a conscious effort on M6's part to "be the first" in reality TV in France.

From the outset, a reality TV war broke out between rivals TF1 and M6 with both sides furiously sending complaints to France's broadcasting authority, the CSA.

As "Loft Story" sped up the ratings, TF1 Prexy Patrick Le Lay accused his M6 counterpart of breaking a secret agreement aimed at "preventing garbage television in France."

But several months later he had changed his tune as TF1 aired a "Survivor" rip off set on a Thai island, "Koh Lanta Adventurers," and announced a $300 million deal with reality TV expert Endemol.

M6 hit back by accusing TF1 of plagiarism for its talent-spotting show, "Star Academy," pointing out numerous similarities with "Loft Story".

In "Star Academy," a group of guys and girls wanting to make it in show business were shut up together in a castle, practising their singing and dancing, under the scrutiny of ever-present cameras.

The programming format was indeed the same, with a daily résumé of events, a non-stop camera presence that was relayed by internet and satellite, a private confession room and a psychologist on hand.

But TF1 underlined that the elimination process was different, carried out by music teachers instead of the public, and that the musical element was the key, with the winner leaving with a recording contract.

"Star Academy" was not an immediate hit, but it bounced back over the Christmas holiday period with 44% of the audience share, suggesting that French auds aren't yet fed up with the reality formula.

This year, TF1 will test the theory with the new format "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" and M6 has finished auditions for a second "Loft Story."

The stars of the first series are still clinging on to their new found celebrity status by starring in TV dramas, hosting radio programs, making records and taking their clothes off.

That has been enough to tempt two hundred thousand wannabe loft dwellers to take part in French TV's largest ever casting for the second series in January and February.

In a risky move, typical of M6, the twelve week run is due to kick off April 11, ready to compete for viewers with the upcoming Soccer World Cup and the French presidential and legislative elections.