"My place, I did not steal it from anyone", defends Ahmad from "Koh Lanta"

• Originally from Lyon, Ahmad is one of the 14 candidates taking part in the 21st season of "Koh-Lanta", the second episode of which is broadcast this Friday evening on TF1.
• The adventurer had left a lasting impression on his swimming difficulties.
• He managed not to be eliminated by his team after the defeat.

This Friday evening the second episode of Koh-Lanta on TF1 is eagerly awaited, it must be said that the first is already cult and is not about to be forgotten. Between Inès, whose swimsuit deemed too small, led to hundreds of sexist reactions, Joseph, the first candidate to be eliminated who in a stroke of blood extinguished the fire of his team and Ahmad, who, faced with his difficulties in sea, condemned his team to defeat ... The rest can only hold surprises.

Ahmad, thirty, from Lyon and business manager, returned for 20 Minutes to his Koh-Lanta experience.

How did you come up with the idea of ​​participating in Koh-Lanta ?

It was my dream when I was little. I have been watching the show since I was young and I always wanted to participate so I applied several times. This year has been a good one, it's a kid's dream come true!

Discover the portrait of Ahmad, 30, entrepreneur in the restaurant business! 🙋♂️
"I really count on my brain, my head to move forward!" 👇
📺J-11 before the start of #KohLanta The Isle of Heroes, February 21 at 9:05 p.m. on TF1! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/TTRJYZln81

In the first episode, we saw you panicking in the water. How did you approach the sea trials before the start of the adventure?

I have always had gaps in the water, difficulties. It is linked to a trauma: when I was little I almost drowned. Since then, I obviously put my feet back in the water but each time I had my foot or there was an edge not very far to which I could hang on.

I had not at all anticipated the fact that I was going to panic at this point at sea. You should know that it has absolutely nothing to do with swimming in the pool and that, I did not know because I was never really confronted with the sea. Especially since during the test, it was very rough and the current was strong. But I don't think anyone expected it to be like this.

However, you had passed swimming tests during the selection…

Yes. Koh-Lanta is extremely selective. They take around twenty candidates (14 this year) from 30,000 applicants. I did not steal my place from anyone. I did tests like everyone else, swimming tests, apnea tests, and I succeeded. I surely did not get good marks but nothing preliminary, otherwise the production would not have taken me. If I am there it is because they judged me competent enough, or in any case that the minimum was there.

After between theory - the area of ​​pool tests - and reality - arriving and launching into a rough ocean, with huge waves ... I simply panicked. It is not necessarily rational, we are very well supervised: I saw the divers within 15 meters who were ready to intervene. I was the only one who was afraid.

But I tried, I went after what I wanted to do: on the show you see me running, I got there first in the water! And above all, when Denis explains the test, I see myself looking at the sea. So I am already starting to apprehend a little, I see that it is agitated, I was afraid before I even went there. I went there anyway, I tried, but I failed. It was beyond my capacity.

Some have criticized you and others like Denis Brogniart support you. What would you like to answer to each other?

I received a lot of criticism on social networks. And of course I read them. I understand some reactions and I put myself in the place of people watching the program. I can understand the frustration of some, especially those who miss the casting, to see someone who struggles in the water being caught. Now they don't know everything.

You do Koh Lanta and you can't swim? The calculations are not good Ahmad # KohLanta pic.twitter.com/TvHjouvTv1

But it is a phew him, what a genius, a little more water and he drowned Ahmad #KohLanta pic.twitter.com/RIpu9AZuHy

I also had a lot of support, especially from Denis Brogniart whom I thank. Other people focused on the positive, they said to me "It's good, you went to the end of what you could do. You have tried, it is not easy to face your fears and trauma. "

My dear Estelle, Ahmad can swim. But it gets complicated in a sea formed with the stress of the ordeal. I'm not going to teach you that. The strength of #KohLanta is the diversity of profiles. that's what you like too! Where Ahmad is strong is that he saved his place https://t.co/cxMDUqvffp

Insults, racist jokes etc. it's a little heavy but I do with it. This is the game, before participating we know that we will expose ourselves and that we have to expect this kind of thing.

When your team lost the event, you said "Come on, so we know who's leaving tomorrow". You really didn't believe it anymore at that time?

When I say that I no longer believe it. During the test, I lose the team and quite humiliating in addition. And I clearly felt that I was going to leave. My departure, at that time, I am ready to assume it.

At that time, Koh-Lanta started two days ago. And it's not a sports show, it's a social game. As candidates, on an isolated island, we have to interact with each other. The games only take place once a day and it lasts an hour. It's one of the components of the show, but it's not just that at all!

You are with people, you interact with them, you bond, you make alliances, you argue, you find common interests ... And before the test, I already had a fairly comfortable place. So there are things that happened before and after the test. The goal is to survive others. This is what Denis Brogniart, the master of the game for twenty years, repeats at the start of his resignation. And I don't understand why people can't assimilate it. Knowing how to swim, sin or make fire is not essential, and it is not the goal of Koh-Lanta. These are just ways to manage to survive others. Beyond human experience, what is needed is to eliminate each other.

You reduce Kohlanta to its sporting dimension alone. It is above all a social game where the candidates live H24 in extreme conditions. In these circumstances group cohesion is an essential element.
PS: it's not my fault, there were waves 🤣🤣

Joseph's behavior made you forget about your abandonment during the immunity test. What lost him?

In fact Joseph has a very good background, but he showed us a slightly self-absorbed and exuberant attitude. He put himself forward a lot, especially to make the fire and it tended to annoy us, he spoke loudly, stood out… It was a little too much . In a game where you have to rub shoulders 24 hours a day in very difficult conditions, it's complicated to bear… Did it deserve an elimination? I do not know. But when my place is played, it was obvious that I was going to use that to convince the others to eliminate him rather than me.

According to Joseph, your talent is to be sympathetic, "someone you want to be friends with." Is that your strong point?

If I had been rude, my teammates would have eliminated me. I managed to persuade them to keep me, which means that it is one of my strengths. I think I was sympathetic enough and found the right arguments to keep me rather than Joseph. I didn't put the knife under the person's throat, huh ( laughs ).

Relax friends, yes I lost the event, yes I swim very badly. But despite the huge target on my back I found the solution to get out of it. Isn't that having merit? 🤣🤣 # peace #kohlanta #survivor # tf1

Without revealing anything from the rest of the show, what was the most difficult to live with?

Clearly, and beyond my fear in the water, the most difficult for me was the very long time. Koh-Lanta is not only adventure, it is also endless days and the notion of time being lost.

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