Koh-Lanta
GenreReality competition
Created byCharlie Parsons
Presented by
Theme music composer
  • Philippe Pelet
  • Olivier Perrot-Poitou
Country of originFrance
No. of seasons22 + 7 special editions
Production
Executive producerAlexia Laroche-Joubert
ProducerJulien Magne
Production companyAdventure Line Productions
Original release
NetworkTF1
ReleaseAugust 4, 2001 (2001-08-04) –
Present (Present)
Related
International versions

Koh-Lanta is a French reality game show based on the popular international Survivor format. The series premiered on August 4, 2001. The show is broadcast on TF1 and there have been 22 regular seasons and 7 special seasons. The show has been hosted by Denis Brogniart since the second season. The title of the show Thai "Ko Lanta" (roughly translated as "the island of a million eyes") - not only is this a reference to the televised nature of the competition (with millions of viewers watching the show) but the title is also the name of filming location of the first season (Ko Lanta Yai, Thailand).

Following the basic premise of other international versions of the Survivor format, it features a group of contestants who are marooned in an isolated location, where they must provide food, water, fire, and shelter for themselves. The contestants compete in challenges for rewards and immunity from elimination. The contestants are progressively eliminated from the game as they are voted out by their fellow contestants until only one remains and is declared the winner and awarded the grand prize of €100,000. Since its debut in 2001, Koh-Lanta has been a huge success in France, regularly finishing first in its timeslot.

Format and rules

The show follows the same general format as the other editions of the show. The players are split between two "tribes", are taken to a remote isolated location and are forced to live off the land with meagre supplies for approximately 6 weeks (3 weeks in special seasons). Frequent physical and mental challenges are used to pit the teams against each other for rewards, such as food or luxuries, or for "immunity", forcing the other tribe to attend "Tribal Council", where they must vote off one of their players.

Once about half the players are remaining, the tribes are merged into a single tribe, and competitions are on an individual basis; winning immunity prevents that player from being voted out. Most players that are voted out at this stage form the "Tribal Council Jury". Once down to two people, a final Tribal Council is held where the remaining players plead their case to the jury as to why they should win the game. The jury then decides who between the two should be considered the winner and be awarded the grand prize of €100,000, with the runner-up being awarded €10,000.

Differences in format

Unlike most versions of Survivor, dual winners are possible in some seasons where the jury vote resulted in a tie (as occurred in Koh-Lanta: Bocas del Toro, Koh-Lanta: Palawan and Koh-Lanta: The Cursed Totem). In this case both contestants are considered the winners and each receive €55,000. This differs from most editions of the show as other editions will either never have a jury with an even number of participants or have tie-breaker mechanisms in place (such as Israeli Survivor where the tie will break in favor of the winner of a public vote[1] or in Dutch/Belgian's Expeditie Robinson where a group of former players form a "grand jury" and vote to break the tie).

Another difference in rules between Koh-Lanta and other editions is how the unexpected eliminations are handled. On Koh-Lanta, when a player is eliminated from the game outside of "Tribal Council" (either by being removed for medical reasons, or quitting prior to Raja Ampat), the player is replaced by the most recently eliminated player (or, if no such player is available, by a completely new contestant), who will take their place and the game continues as planned. In other editions, an unexpected elimination is handled by adjusting the events of the game to accommodate the absence of a player (often the upcoming Tribal Council will be cancelled but this will not always be the case).

Seasons

List of Koh-Lanta seasons
No. Season Season premiere Season finale Location Days Initial tribes Winner Runner-up Final vote
1 The Adventurers of Koh-Lanta August 4, 2001 September 22, 2001 Ko Lanta Yai, Thailand 43 Two predetermined tribes of eight. Gilles Nicolet Guénaëlle Biras 4-3
2 Koh-Lanta: Nicoya June 28, 2002 September 13, 2002 Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica 40 Amel Fatnassi Nicolas Roy 5-2
3 Koh-Lanta: Bocas del Toro June 6, 2003 August 29, 2003 Bocas del Toro, Panama Two tribes of eight, picked by the oldest contestants. Isabelle Seguin & Delphine Bano 3-3
4 Koh-Lanta: Panama July 2, 2004 August 31, 2004 Pearl Islands, Panama Two tribes of eight, divided by gender Philippe Bordier Linda Alario 7-0
5 Koh-Lanta: Pacific July 1, 2005 September 6, 2005 Isle of Pines, New Caledonia Two tribes of eight, based on age. Clémence Castel Francis Bordas 7-0
6 Koh-Lanta: Vanuatu July 21, 2006 September 5, 2006 Efate, Vanuatu François-David Cardonnel Émilie Frahi 5-3
7 Koh-Lanta: Palawan June 29, 2007 September 11, 2007 Palawan, Philippines Two tribes of eight, picked by winners of the initial challenge. Jade Handi & Kevin Cuoco 3-3
8 Koh-Lanta: Caramoan July 4, 2008 September 20, 2008 Caramoan, Philippines 39 Christelle Gauzet Frédéric "Fred" Favier 6-1
9 Koh-Lanta: Palau August 28, 2009 October 30, 2009 Koror, Palau Two tribes of eight, picked by the oldest and youngest player. Two players eliminated at the first challenge. Christina Chevry Patrick Merle 5-2
10 Koh-Lanta: Vietnam September 17, 2010 December 17, 2010 Con Dao, Vietnam 40 Two tribes of nine, divided by gender. Philippe Duron Claude Dartois 6-1
11 Koh-Lanta: Raja Ampat September 9, 2011 December 16, 2011 Raja Ampat, Indonesia 41 Two predetermined tribes of ten. Gérard Urdampilleta Teheiura Teahui 7-2
12 Koh-Lanta: Malaysia November 2, 2012 February 1, 2013 Seribuat, Malaysia 42 Two tribes of eight, picked by winners of initial challenge. Four non-picked players exiled until after the next reward challenge. Ugo Lartiche Brice Martinet 10-1
13 Koh-Lanta 13 Did Not Air Koh Rong, Cambodia Cancelled - Production Halted
14 Koh-Lanta: Johor April 24, 2015 July 24, 2015 Sibu Island, Malaysia 40 Two tribes of ten, picked by finder of hidden message and second player of his choice. Marc Rambaud Chantal Ménard 9-2
15 Koh-Lanta: Thailand February 12, 2016 May 27, 2016 Ko Yao, Thailand Two tribes of nine, picked by the youngest contestants. Two other players exiled until after the first Tribal Council. Wendy Gervois Pascal Salviani 6-5
16 Koh-Lanta: Island of Tresure August 26, 2016 December 9, 2016 Koh Rong, Cambodia 42 Two tribes of ten, picked by the winner of an initial challenge and second player of his choice. Benoît Assadi Jesta Hillmann 10-0
17 Koh-Lanta: Cambodia March 10, 2017 June 16, 2017 40 Three predetermined tribes of six. One additional player added to each tribe on day four. Frédéric Blancher Clémentine Jullien 6-2
18 Koh-Lanta: Fiji September 1, 2017 December 15, 2017 Yasawa Islands, Fiji 41 Two tribes of ten, based on age. André Deleplace Tiffany Gounin 8-1
19 Koh-Lanta 19 Did Not Air Kadavu Group, Fiji Cancelled - Production Halted
20 Koh-Lanta: Chiefs at War 15 March 2019 21 June 2019 39 Three tribes of seven picked by the three new chiefs who won the pole challenge at the beginning Maud Bamps Cindy Poumeyrol 7-6
21 Koh-Lanta: The Four Lands 28 August 2020 4 December 2020 40 Four tribes of six, divided by geography of player's hometown (North, South, East, West) Alexandra Pornet Brice Petit 7-5
22 Koh-Lanta: The Secret Weapons 12 March 2021 4 June 2021 Taha'a, French Polynesia 35 Two tribes picked by the two winning pairs of the initial challenge. One additional player later joins one tribe on day five. Maxine Eouzan Lucie Bertaud 9-4
23 Koh-Lanta: The Cursed Totem 22 February 2022 21 June 2022 El Nido, Palawan, Philippines 39 Three tribes randomly drawn. Later swapped into two tribes. Bastien San Pedro & François Descamp Géraldine Nicolle 4-4-3
24 Koh-Lanta: The Sacred Fire 21 February 2023 13 June 2023 Caramoan, Philippines 40 Two tribes of ten randomly drawn based on where they stood on marooning. Frédéric Khouvilay Tania Čakarević 7-2
25 TBD Winter 2024 Spring 2024 Philippines TBD
List of Koh-Lanta special seasons
No. Season Season premiere Season finale Location Days Initial tribes Winner Runner-up Final vote
1 Koh-Lanta: Return of the Heroes January 13, 2009 February 13, 2009 Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brazil 21 Two tribes of six former players, based on a draw. Two players eliminated in initial challenge. Romuald Lafite Jade Handi 5-2
2 Koh-Lanta: Clash of the Heroes March 26, 2010 May 21, 2010 Poum, New Caledonia 20 Two tribes of six, former players against famous sportspeople. One additional player added to each tribe on day 4. Grégoire Delachaux Freddy Boucher 6-2
3 Koh-Lanta: Revenge of the Heroes April 8, 2012 June 1, 2012 Koh Rong, Cambodia 23 Two predetermined tribes of eight former players. Bertrand Bolle Claude Dartois 9-1
4 Koh-Lanta: The New Edition September 12, 2014 November 21, 2014 Sibu Island, Malaysia Two tribes of six former players. Tribes formed after first Tribal Council by two latecomers. Laurent Maistret Martin Bazin 7-0
5 Koh-Lanta: The Combat of Heroes 16 March 2018 25 May 2018 Yasawa Islands, Fiji 32 Two predetermined tribes of nine former players. Clémence Castel Pascal Salviani 5-4
6 Koh-Lanta: Island of Heroes 21 February 2020 5 June 2020 Kadavu Group, Fiji Two tribes of seven new players. Five returning players compete in challenges to each join one of the two tribes (only four of them will join the tribes) Naoil Tita Inès Loucif 7-2
7 Koh-Lanta: The Legend 24 August 2021 14 December 2021 Taha'a, French Polynesia 36 Two tribes of ten former players separated by gender. One additional player added to one tribe day 2. Claude Dartois Laurent Maistret 9-4

Controversy

Season 5 controversy

A wedge-tailed shearwater.

During the broadcast of the second episode (July 8, 2005 in France and July 10, 2005 in New Caledonia),[2] participants had to kill and cook wedge-tailed shearwaters, a species of fully protected bird in New Caledonia. This caused that several spectators demanded explanations to the TF1 channel. TF1 responded that according to the LPO (in English, League for the Protection of Birds), wedge-tailed shearwater are not a protected species. LPO asked the CSA (broadcasting regulator in France) to take up the case, and the latter also decided to initiate legal action against TF1 and the producer of the Adventure Line Productions program.

The petition against the production company was accepted, therefore TF1 was ordered to pay the LPO €1,000 in damages and €2,000 for procedural expenses, while the TF1 channel lawsuit against the LPO was rejected.[3]

Season 13 cancellation

Production for the 2013 season was cancelled following the death of a contestant, Gérald Babin, during the first day of filming in Cambodia on 22 March 2013.[4] The program's on-site doctor, Thierry Costa, committed suicide following the controversy.[5] Production later resumed for Koh-Lanta: The New Edition.

The death of Babin marked the second death of a contestant on any edition of Survivor worldwide. The first (and so far only other) death occurred on the 4th season of Bulgarian Survivor (titled Survivor BG: Philippines) when contestant Noncho Vodenicharov died, however unlike Koh-Lanta the production of the series continued.

Season 19 cancellation

On 11 May 2018, TF1 and the production company Adventure Line Productions (ALP) announced the cancellation of the season following an alleged sexual assault.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hisardot Israeli "Survivor" (in Hebrew). 7 August 2009.
  2. ↑ "Koh Lanta saison 5 Sur TF1" (in French). Archived from the original on 15 September 2009.
  3. ↑ "Koh-Lanta et les animaux : La LPO attaque la chaîne TF1". news-de-stars.com (in French). Archived from the original on 2 May 2013.
  4. ↑ "French 'Survivor' Season Canceled After Death of Contestant". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  5. ↑ "French 'Survivor' Doctor Thierry Costa's Suicide Linked To Contestant Gérald Babin's Death". huffingtonpost.com. 1 April 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  6. ↑ "Koh-Lanta : l'annulation liée à une accusation d'"agression sexuelle"" (in French). Retrieved 11 May 2018.
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