Emily In Paris star Lucas Bravo has revealed show bosses initially rejected him as they thought he was “too green” for the role.

The French actor stars as Emily’s (Lily Collins’) on-off love interest Gabriel in the Netflix hit, and has developed a huge fan base and heartthrob status thanks to the part. But during a chat on the Podcrushed podcast he shared that it almost didn’t happen.

Bravo, 36, said he had been going through rounds of auditions and was feeling “confident” when he was told he just didn’t have enough experience for the series.

He said: “The journey was actually funny. It was a month and five auditions. By the last one I started being confident. It was out of 200 people, it was only two of us. They called me one morning and they were like, ‘So sorry you are too green. Paramount doesn’t think you can handle five months of shooting for your first project, it’s too big for you’.”

The actor said he “kind of understood” what they were saying. “But at the same time I was like, ‘If you don’t give me a shot I will never have experience.'”

Bravo went off to a shepherd’s hut to forget about it all, but was interrupted by a hiker wanting to use his phone to call his daughter. He explained that there was no reception there, but loaned his phone to the man who said he would walk until he got a signal.

He went on: “So he left with my phone and he eventually came back, and he said, ‘When I got service your phone was…’ And I had like 30 missed calls and messages and so on!”

The star returned to Paris and before he knew it he was in a room with producers and writers as well as star Collins, who plays Emily. However, he had no idea that he was back in the frame to play chef Gabriel, thinking he was trying out to play someone Emily might date in the show.

He was given Gabriel’s scenes to read, which he joked that he thought was “a bit harsh” after he had been rejected from the role. He and Collins then did a chemistry read, and he confessed: “I was so confused. I didn’t know what I was doing here.”

People from Paramount later flew to France to meet him in person and he was offered the part of Gabriel in the show, which is now in its fourth season. “They called me the next day and they said ‘Ok, it’s you and you are starting in two days’,” he said.