The new edition of this game, shot this time in the Philippines, wants to return to "fundamentals" with anonymous candidates.

Last year, for its 20th anniversary, this show, which brings together Robinson apprentices overcoming hardships on a desert island with the bare minimum, brought together former emblematic participants.

A scandalous season, some "heroes" having breached the program's code of honor by obtaining food "outside the game".

The final ended without a winner and with a poor audience performance, beaten by a France 3 TV movie.

This time, said Denis Brogniart, the host of the game, during an online press conference on Friday, the 24 candidates "showed great fair play from the first to the last day".

After the cheating revealed last November, where one of the star candidates, Teheiura, had confessed to having notably obtained a steak and fries from the outside – something strictly prohibited by the regulations – additional measures have been taken.

Instead of being guarded by one person, each candidate camp was watched over by two guards, one of whom was equipped with a boat to be able to stop arrivals by sea.

"When we learned the rest (the other cheating, editor's note), we were almost at the end of our filming," said Julien Magne, a manager of Adventure Line Production (ALP), the company producing the show.

No new monitoring measure has therefore been decided, but the question should probably arise again during the next edition.

Start without rice

As in the previous season, where the ambiguity of the game starving the candidates by demanding sporting achievements had also been criticized, the adventurers did not have any rice at the start.

“There has been a lot of season without rice from the start and, when the candidates manage to get out of it, they are very proud”, observed Mr. Brogniart, sweeping away any possible reproaches.

Despite its setbacks, Koh-Lanta "should get over it," said Virginie Spies, lecturer at the University of Avignon and reality TV specialist, interviewed by AFP.

"They have known worse than that", she pointed out, recalling the death of a candidate in 2013 from a heart attack on the first day of the adventure and the suicide a few days later of the doctor of the game not supporting to be involved in the care provided.

She notes, however, that "the viewers of this very family-friendly show had a real feeling of betrayal after the lies of the candidates".

Spies said scheduling the show on Tuesdays, rather than Fridays as was the case in previous seasons, could weigh on ratings.

"It's a risk," she said.

A fear swept away by Rémi Faure, director of non-fiction programs at TF1: "90% of children do not have school in France on Wednesday mornings. (...) We also have a huge audience share with 15-24 years. And they are more available on Tuesdays because they go out on Fridays".

And to recall that, for 20 years, it was "the program that had the most audience for all channels combined. It has been two years in particular that this soap opera has taken on a different dimension, with this season during confinement which brought together families and made 7 million viewers".

© 2022 AFP