YouTube The cast of "Koh-Lanta: La Légende" (2021).
Although American fans of “Survivor” may be most invested in the U.S. version of the show (the 41st season of which just finished airing), as well as, perhaps, the show’s popular Australian franchise, there was another foreign season which has recently attracted some attention.
On Tuesday, TF1 – a French television channel – aired the finale of the French version of “Survivor,” which was shot in French Polynesia, called “Koh-Lanta: La Légende.” “Koh-Lanta” is the name of the show (named after the filming location for the show’s first season, back in 2001), and “La Légende” translates to “The Legend,” a reference to the all-star theme of the season. However, the result of the season was rendered null and void after multiple contestants were discovered to have engaged in cheating during the filming of the show.
Here’s what you need to know:
A ‘Small Group’ of Contestants Were Alleged To Have Illicitly Obtained Food
Per Télé 7, the finale began with three contestants remaining: Ugo Lartiche, Claude Dartois, and Laurent Maistret. Laurent won the final immunity challenge and chose to vote off Ugo. The final 2 were then questioned by the jury, who cast their votes for a winner. As other seasons of “Koh-Lanta” have done in the past, “La Légende” was expected to announce its winner via a live reading of the votes in France. However, things didn’t quite go as planned this time.
Instead of reading the votes back in Paris, Adventure Line Productions, the company which produces the show, announced that there would be no official winner; instead, the €100,000 prize would be donated to the Arc Foundation in remembrance of Bertrand Kamal, a 30-year-old contestant who competed on the show’s 21st season, which aired from August to December 2020. Kamal died of pancreatic cancer in September 2020.
The publicity release by ALP revealed that after filming had completed, production had discovered that a “small group of contestants” had been breaching the show’s “code of honor.” Though the contestants were not named, Claude and Laurent – the two finalists – were very likely complicit, as both their titles and prize money were stripped. Specifically, the culpable contestants had snuck off and managed to obtain food “outside the framework of the game,” implying they had obtained food through some other resource, such as a hotel or resort.
ALP went on to say they were “very disappointed” in the particular all-star contestants for “breaking the trust” they had in them.
For those interested, Télé 7 revealed that had the incident not taken place, Claude would have won in a 9-4 vote.
There Have Been Other Scandals In French ‘Survivor’
This is not the first incident of wrongdoing alleged in “Koh-Lanta,” nor is it the first time a season was canceled entirely. In 2013, one 25-year-old contestant of the show’s 16th season, Gérald Babin, had a heart attack and died during the the first challenge, according to Reality Blurred. Production was then suspended and the remaining contestants were flown back to Paris. Shortly thereafter, Thierry Costa, the show’s doctor, commit suicide in Cambodia due to the substantial media coverage surrounding the event, according to HuffPost.
Production for season 19, filmed in 2018, was also canceled entirely after five days of filming after allegations of sexual assault by one of the contestants against another. Few other details were released.
Although no U.S. season of “Survivor” has been canceled entirely, and allegations of cheating have been rare, there are some exceptions. In 2010, after season 21, “Nicaragua,” had finished airing, it was alleged by contestant Jane Bright that third-place finisher Sash Lenahan had offered to help her pay off her mortgage if she helped him win, implying that he would split the winnings with her in some fashion. Splitting prize money is a longstanding and flagrant violation of the “Survivor” rulebook. Sash ended up getting zero votes as a finalist, and he was never punished for the alleged incident, which remains unconfirmed.
In addition, Richard Hatch, the winner of the original “Survivor” season, alleged in a Reddit AMA that Kelly Wiglesworth, his co-finalist, was given food by production in order to help her win challenges. These allegations are also unconfirmed.
American “Survivor” airs 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS. Be sure to catch season 42 when it premieres March 9, 2022.