Denis Brogniart, master of “Koh-Lanta” for almost 20 years -
© Laurent Vu / ALP / TF1
After having brightened up our first two confinements, TF1 intends to save our Friday night curfew with the return of
Koh-Lanta
from Friday March 12.
Great novelty of this first season of the year, the appearance of “secret weapons” could well shake up all the certainties of the candidates.
What is it about ?
What is the profile of adventurers?
How did the production prepare for the shoot despite the coronavirus?
20 Minutes
tells you everything.
Only three months after the end of the
4 Earths
, he is back.
Alone, facing the sea, still wearing a khaki shirt, Denis Brogniart repeats this sentence for the launch of the twentieth “classic” season of
Koh-Lanta
: “in the end, there will only be one”.
From Friday March 12, TF1 will be offering the new edition of its adventure game entitled "Les Armes Secrètes", which promises to be rich in twists and turns and strategies of all kinds.
Forget the clash of regions, it's a return to fundamentals for
Koh-Lanta
with, from the start, a classic clash between reds and yellows.
What will spice up the season are “the secret weapons” for which the candidates will have to fight.
Like the immunity necklaces that have become essential for adventure, these small objects can change the fate of the castaways.
The black bracelet will void the immunity collar
Once these weapons are found, their owners will have the opportunity to surprise their comrades and stoke the tension of the council.
Among the powers introduced by this new rule, “vote hijacking” will, for example, make it possible to deprive someone of their ballot and to take their vote.
The "quits or doubles", it will be the occasion for its holder or its holder to save itself by causing someone to duel in the council.
But the most terrible is undoubtedly the black bracelet which nullifies the power of an immunity collar played on the council after the votes and after the counts.
"It works from the first day to the last with very strong impacts and quite incredible reversals of situation", warns Julien Magne, the producer of the show.
Bringing these secret weapons into the game is part of the production's desire to surprise audiences every season, but especially the contestants.
"Among the adventurers, there are people who know the adventure like the back of their hand, so it shouldn't be the repetition of what they have already seen on TV," says Julien Magne.
Small detail that could be important, these amulets can be stacked and players can give them to one or one of their comrades.
“Their research and the ultimate find can be particularly complicated and perilous,” warns the producer.
We have been surprised several times by the way in which they seized these weapons and how they played them.
"
Candidates failed due to Covid-19
The preparation for the shooting, which took place in October and November, was a real headache for the production because of the sanitary rules.
"It was a crazy gamble since we are the only country in the world to have produced
Koh-Lanta
, even the Americans have not gone there", rejoices Alexia Laroche-Joubert.
Ten days before departure, the future adventurers carried out a first PCR test before the production asked them to go into isolation and hardly have any contact with the outside.
A week later, they were tested again.
"If by chance there was a [positive] case, he could not embark," notes Alexia Laroche-Joubert.
Once in Papeete, the candidates were again put in solitary confinement for four days in a hotel.
After this time, they took a final nasopharyngeal sample.
If the result was negative, they finally got their admission ticket for the adventure.
These precautions made it possible to rule out certain suitors who tested positive before departure.
“The health bubble meant that from the moment we started filming, there were no cases, either among the candidates or among the technicians,” breathes Denis Brogniart.
"We wanted to go and seek confrontation"
For those who have been able to put their bag on one of the enchanting islands of French Polynesia (which we are told in fact that it looked more like "hell in paradise"), the adventure starts on the hats of wheels with a first test upon arrival.
A baptism of fire which certainly did not frighten a large part of the candidates with a very sporting profile.
Within the cast, we will find this year a survival instructor, sports coaches, a climbing instructor or a former high-level athlete.
“We wanted to play the confrontation, to seek the confrontation, justifies Julien Magne.
That doesn't mean a cast that is physically better than the previous ones, but we did indeed want to get that feeling of competition, that desire to do battle.
The production also wanted to find personalities capable of facing the hostility of the motus, these Polynesian islets on which the candidates have taken up residence.
Denis Brogniart, himself, bids by affirming that “rarely have we seen such a homogeneous set in terms of performances, which generates particularly intense and indecisive yellow / red duels for a very very long time.
And I'm not even talking to you about what will happen next when we are on individual events, ”he teases.
Decidedly, every year, he finds the words to make us (already) addicted.
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