Koh-Lanta is a French reality television series based on Survivor. The series premiered on August 4, 2001, is produced by Adventure Line Productions and broadcast on TF1.
The first season was hosted by Hubert Auriol. Since the second season, Koh-Lanta has been hosted by Denis Brogniart. Following the show's debut in 2001, Koh-Lanta has been a huge success in France, regularly finishing first in its timeslot.
The series airs on Fridays at 9:00pm, with the exception of six seasons (Les Aventuriers, which aired on Saturdays and Sundays at 7:00pm, and Le Retour des Héros, La Légende, Le Totem Maudit, Le Feu Sacré, and Les Chasseurs d'Immunité which all aired on Tuesdays at 9:00pm). The first seasons aired during the summer, but since 2009, the series has usually aired during fall and spring.
History[]
- Main article: Survivor (franchise)
Format Variations[]
16–24 contestants (13–18 contestants in special seasons) must survive on an uninhabited island for 39–43 days (20–32 days in special seasons). They have to find food to accompany the meagre ration of rice supplied to them at the beginning of the adventure. They should build a shelter to protect themselves from external conditions (weather, insects...) and keep alight the fire they were able to start or which they won in the first round.
Each contestant brings a backpack with some clothes. Any product related to hygiene or food is prohibited, except for medical reasons.
Unlike most versions of Survivor, there have been three seasons where the final vote resulted in a tie. As a result, both finalists were declared winners in Bocas del Toro and Palawan, and two of the three finalists won Le Totem Maudit.
The name of the show, Koh-Lanta, is the name of the island where the first season was filmed.
The franchise uses mechanics similar to the American series but has introduced different twists.
Tribes[]
- Main article: Tribe
Tribe Switch[]
- Main article: Tribe Switch
Challenges[]
- Main article: Challenge
Reward Challenges[]
- Main article: Reward Challenge
Immunity Challenges[]
- Main article: Immunity Challenge
Sudden-Death Challenges[]
In some seasons, certain challenges are eliminatory. The adventurer who loses and finishes last is directly eliminated from the adventure.
Tribal Council[]
- Main article: Tribal Council
Merge[]
- Main article: Merge
Hidden Immunity Idol[]
- Main article: Hidden Immunity Idol
Unlike in the American version of Survivor, the tribal Immunity Idol is kept in use after the merge and is awarded to winners of individual Immunity Challenges instead of a necklace.
Koh-Lanta uses necklaces, known as "colliers d'immunité" (Immunity Necklaces) in French, as Hidden Immunity Idols. They were introduced in Raja Ampat, and can be earned in a variety of ways, just like in the U.S. franchise.
Ambassadors[]
- Main article: Ambassadors
In almost all seasons, immediately before the merge, one person from each tribe becomes an ambassador. In modern seasons, the ambassadors meet privately and are tasked with eliminating a castaway from the game. If the ambassadors can't come to an agreement on who to eliminate, one of the ambassadors is eliminated via a rock draw.
The role of the ambassadors, and the way they are chosen, has varied several times throughout the history of the show. In every season up until Caramoan except Nicoya, they had to cast an extra vote against someone for the first post-merge Tribal Council. Ever since Le Retour des Héros, the ambassadors have voted to eliminate a castaway.
Tied Destinies[]
- Main article: Tied Destinies (twist)
In most seasons since Malaisie, at some point after the merge (final 8, final 10 or final 12), the castaways are randomly divided into pairs, and their fate in the game becomes tied for the duration of the episode. All castaways compete in the Reward and Immunity Challenges in pairs, and two people are eliminated at Tribal Council, as the person who receives the most votes also causes their partner's elimination.
Replacement[]
In Koh-Lanta, if a castaway is medically evacuated, the person who was most recently voted out returns into the game (aside in Le Combat des Héros). In the first seasons, this was also the case when a castaway voluntarily left, but since Raja Ampat, quitters are no longer replaced, unless somebody quits before the first Tribal Council. However, in Le Feu Sacré, quitters are replaced again.
If a person is removed and cannot be replaced by a previously eliminated player, a new castaway may enter the game.
Black Vote[]
In this twist, before leaving, the person voted off at Tribal Council is asked to cast a last vote against somebody from their tribe. This vote is called the Black Vote and is counted at the next Tribal Council attended by the targeted person. In case of a revote, the Black Vote no longer counts. This twist, like the Immunity Necklaces, was introduced in Raja Ampat.
In L'Île au Trésor, Sandrine Bouzekri cast her Black Vote against Jean-Luc Duboscq after being voted out of the Naga tribe. The following cycle, Jean-Luc became a member of the rival Sambor tribe. He would attend the following two Tribal Councils with his new tribe, the first of which he had individual immunity and the second of which he was voted out. In spite of this, Sandrine's Black Vote only took effect the following episode after the tribes merged. With the mechanic changing the following season, it is unclear whether production made a mistake or if an amendment was made making it so that a Black Vote would be counted at the next Tribal Council of the tribe of the castor rather than at the next Tribal Council attended by the targeted person.
The Black Vote mechanic was changed in Cambodge; it is now used only after the merge, and the person voted out gives a remaining castaway an Extra Vote at the next Tribal Council.
Finale[]
The format of the finale episode differs greatly from the American version of Survivor. When there are four or five people left in the game, a special challenge takes place to determine the final three, with the person finishing last (or two who finish in last when there are five players left) being directly eliminated from the game (with the exception of Panama, where the loser had an extra vote cast against them at the next Tribal Council). However, in Le Totem Maudit, the challenge allows three castaways to move on, but the remaining two compete in a second orienteering challenge, with the winner joining the other three, and the loser being eliminated.
In the first two seasons, the challenge that occurred was the Fallen Comrades challenge. Since Bocas del Toro, it is an orienteering race, where the first three people to find their object become the final three.
The final three castaways then compete in the Final Immunity Challenge, which has always remained the same since Nicoya: it is the Perch challenge, with the surface the castaways are standing on being progressively reduced in size (in Les Aventuriers, the challenge was Hands on a Hard Idol).
The last standing castaway earns their spot in the Final Two and, unlike in the American version of Survivor, must choose their Final Tribal Council opponent immediately after the challenge. The only exception to this rule was in Le Totem Maudit, where four castaways competed in the challenge, except that the castaway who won the second orienteering challenge had to compete in a much more difficult version of the challenge than the challenge the three others take part in. The winner of the Perch earned their spot in the very first Final Three of the show. They would then choose their first opponent for the Final Tribal Council. The opponent would then pick the third opponent among the last two, with the castaway not chosen being eliminated.
Controversies[]
2013[]
Production of the 2013 season was interrupted and cancelled for the thirteenth season. On March 22, 2013, TF1 announced that a contestant had died during the first day of filming for the season being filmed Cambodia. The teams were repatriated and filming was cancelled. Gérald Babin, a 25-year-old man who suffered violent cramps from the start of the first challenge suffered a heart attack. He was resuscitated but his heart stopped again on arrival at Sihanoukville hospital, where he eventually died.[1][2]
On April 1, 2013, Thierry Costa, a doctor who worked on Koh-Lanta for 4 years, committed suicide in the wake of the controversy. In his suicide note, he stated that his name had been "tarnished in the media", which led to his death.[3]
No contestant from this cancelled season was retained in the cast of subsequent seasons.[4][5]
2018[]
During filming of the 2018 regular season in Fiji, allegations of sexual assault from a male castaway to a female castaway prompted shooting to be suspended.[6]
It is alleged that Candide Renard, the daughter of football manager Hervé Renard, was harassed by a fellow castaway. Between the 4th and 5th days of filming, Candide was sleeping away from the camp with the man and two other castaways. When the man in question allegedly harassed her, she called the production team and both were relocated away from camp in separate locations.[7]
However, the man's version of events contradicts Candide's account. He said that a castaway fell ill, and another called production for medical assistance. At that point, Candide went back to the shelter alongside the rest of the tribe. Whilst Candide alleges this is where the assault took place, another castaway said he never witnessed the alleged assault.[8][9]
As a result of the accusation, filming of the season was halted and cancelled. The man was arrested upon his return to France, but was released after 10 hours of questioning. He denied the accusation.
It later emerged that the male castaway had been arrested twice in the past for violent behaviour, in 2008 and 2012, and served a total of 18 months in prison. In response to this, Benjamin Castaldi, host of Loft Story and former host of Secret Story (the French adaptations of reality TV show Big Brother) said he was surprised that TF1 did not perform a background check on the castaways before casting them on the show.[10]
Some contestants from this cancelled season have been included in the cast of subsequent seasons:
- Sam Haliti and Pholien Systermans from L'Île des Héros.[11]
- Aurélien Tesson[12] and Hervé Comté[13] from Les Armes Secrètes.
- Fouzi Ould Bouamama [14] from Le Totem Maudit.
Seasons[]
^1 Two replacement castaways entered the game due to a high number of evacuations that could not be replaced by the previously eliminated castaways.
^2 A replacement castaway entered the game after an evacuation or quit occurred before the first Tribal Council.
^3 Due to accusations of cheating, the intended winner, Claude Dartois, had his victory revoked.
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/french-survivor-season-canceled-death-430640
- ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/french-survivor-death-authorities-open-587621
- ↑ https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/01/thierry-costa-suicide-french-survivor-doctor_n_2993370.html
- ↑ https://tvmag.lefigaro.fr/programme-tv/koh-lanta-ces-oublies-de-la-saison-13-annulee-qui-s-illustrent-ailleurs_f167fa0a-1344-11e9-aaae-c83fe80d860c
- ↑ https://tvmag.lefigaro.fr/programme-tv/elian-casini-koh-lanta-le-temps-passant-c-est-l-incomprehension-qui-predomine_b8788a7a-56ff-11ea-a3e1-13c84824f7bc
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Alpfr/status/994930080257261568
- ↑ https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/05/246313/was-herve-renards-daughter-sexually-assaulted
- ↑ https://www.telestar.fr/tele-realite/koh-lanta/nouvelle-edition/eddy-guyot-koh-lanta-pourquoi-je-suis-innocent-351453
- ↑ https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/05/246313/was-herve-renards-daughter-sexually-assaulted
- ↑ https://www.francesoir.fr/societe-faits-divers/affaire-candide-renard-eddy-guyot-le-profil-violent-du-candidat-de-koh-lanta
- ↑ https://tvmag.lefigaro.fr/programme-tv/alexia-laroche-joubert-nous-voulions-des-heros-qui-n-avaient-jamais-gagne-koh-lanta_8eb6bb88-53c3-11ea-b696-60b802b9a2f3
- ↑ https://tvmag.lefigaro.fr/programme-tv/aurelien-koh-lanta-un-plaisir-immense-de-me-voir-offrir-une-deuxieme-chance_c60bfe22-827a-11eb-84fa-ffc0e6724a5b
- ↑ https://www.programme-tv.net/news/tele-realite/272098-koh-lanta-2021-voici-le-nom-des-deux-candidats-presents-dans-les-armes-secretes-qui-avaient-participe-a-la-saison-annulee/
- ↑ https://www.voici.fr/news-people/fouzi-koh-lanta-2022-ce-secret-quil-a-prefere-ne-pas-reveler-aux-autres-aventuriers-730100
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20040820234815/http://www.toutelatele.com/realtv/kohlanta2_audiences.html
- ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/french-survivor-season-canceled-death-430640
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Alpfr/status/994930080257261568
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