Koh-Lanta is
celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
On this occasion, every Monday, for six weeks,
20 Minutes
publishes the testimonies of former candidates.
This week, Moussa looks back on his three participations in the adventure game in 2003, 2012 and 2020.
“Every time I came back I was like 'Never again!'
and, strangely, when the island calls you back, it's like in the
Lost
series
, you always answer there and you go back there, ”he explains.
"With
Koh-Lanta
, I was able to live my dreams instead of dreaming my life", poetizes Moussa, echoing the famous quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: "Make your life a dream, and a dream a reality. "If there is a nightmarish dimension in his description of the TF1 adventure game that he compares to" a hell ", the Essonnian, who celebrated his 41th birthday this summer, insists more on the way in which the show helped make him the man he is today. In season 3, in 2003, he lost in the home straight, falling into the water after two and a half hours of effort during the pole test, won by Isabelle. The latter had preferred to choose Delphine during the final duel: they both won this edition, tied… Back in 2012 for the special season
The Heroes' Revenge
, Moussa was eliminated at halfway.
Eight years later, on
Heroes' Island
, he left the game after orientation and placed fourth.
If he does not appear in the cast of the anniversary season, we will soon find him for another adventure ... on the floor of the new season of
Dance with the stars
.
What has “Koh-Lanta” changed for you?
Koh-Lanta
brought me a lot of wisdom and taught me a lot about myself.
The show is part of my story.
When I first participated in 2003, I was a kid.
Today, I am a father and a responsible adult.
It was a kind of therapy for me, a quest for oneself.
It is so hard.
I've been in three seasons, and every time I come back, I say to myself, “Never again!
»And, strangely, when the island calls you back, it's like in the
Lost
series
, you always answer there and you go back.
What did it reveal about you that you didn't know?
The challenge, the competition. At the time, I liked sports, but I had just started. It is indirectly thanks to this that I gained confidence in myself. I was twice world champion of sanda [a Chinese martial art], maybe that helped me. It also taught me to live in community with people from different social backgrounds from mine. And then, in 2003, I had just lost a brother. Really, it did me good to get some fresh air, to make a clean sweep, to start from scratch. In
Koh-Lanta
, you come with nothing except two poor t-shirts and you have to learn all the basics of survival, community life… With
Koh-Lanta
, I was able to live my dreams instead of dream my life.
What is the question that people who recognize you in the street ask you most often on "Koh-Lanta"?
Do you eat ?
Do you sleep in a hotel when the cameras are not rolling?
The answer is no.
You signed up to go to hell, you go and then that's it.
It makes sense that people are asking these questions at home.
They don't realize when they're on their couch how our body feels on an adventure like this, going forty days with little to no food.
It's hard,
Koh-Lanta
, it's suffering.
But the people are generally benevolent.
There are many who dream of doing
Koh-Lanta
.
For them, we are heroes, we have lived a crazy adventure.
Perhaps they are indirectly aware that the conditions are harsh.
What is the question that you are never asked and that you would have liked to answer?
That of suffering, precisely.
The one you experience after an ordeal, after a hard day in the camp, in the rain ... As much as the islands are paradisiacal, but when it rains, you are really in hell: you don't sleep all night, you have to watch fire… I would have liked to have been asked more questions about these extreme conditions.
This is the aspect that made us all grow up, I think.
What is your strongest memory?
There are several of them.
I have lots of flashes that come to me.
In my head, it's a mess, because when I'm looking, I come across a moment and I think back to another good moment… The meeting with Teheiura with whom I had two adventures between 2012 and 2020. In 2003, when I met Tony and Moundir.
If you had to keep only one vivid memory, it would be linked to the events where you can contact your family or read your mail.
Have you kept in touch with the candidates of your first season.
It took place when social networks did not exist ...
It's hard to keep in touch.
We don't get along with everyone, it would be hypocritical to say otherwise.
I have more or less maintained the link with the people I like.
Even if we see each other once a year, or we haven't seen each other for ten years, like, for example, Tony, whom I had not met for fifteen years, we immediately hug each other. when we meet again because we shared an adventure of madmen, that we respect each other.
Thanks to this adventure - or because of it - we are forever linked.
Do you continue to follow the new seasons of "Koh-Lanta"?
Yes, I watch but not all the time.
It depends on the season.
If the season is great and I missed an episode, I will follow in replay so as not to be lost.
If I get attached to certain adventurers and personalities, I want to follow them.
It makes me happy to talk about it with other
Koh-Lanta
alumni
, to make predictions.
I'm a fan of the program but I have a different perspective than the majority of viewers, I focus more on the technical, tactical part.
Next Monday: Chantal, finalist of “Koh-Lanta Johor” in 2015 and candidate for the special season “The Fight of the Heroes” in 2018.
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