Sam plays in the yellow team, is introverted and hyperactive. Pholien wears the red scarf, is athletic and hypersocial. A priori, they have nothing in common. A priori only, because these two candidates of "Koh-Lanta", whose second episode of season 24 is broadcast this Friday evening on TF 1, have already had a common experience: they both participated in May 2018 in the edition shot in Fiji and canceled after an alleged sexual assault between two shipwrecked members of the blue team, on the night of the 4th to 5th day.
On the one hand, the allegations of Candide Renard (the daughter of football coach Hervé Renard), who will file a complaint once in France, leading to the opening of a judicial investigation by the Nancy prosecutor's office. On the other, Eddy G., who has always denied everything.
"At the time, production just told us about a serious accident," recalls Pholien, whose base camp was on a neighboring island. After having started the program with the "hardest" post test, this 29-year-old Belgian physiotherapist then stayed two days on "stand-by" with his red teammates, but still "in conditions of survival, as if filming was going to resume. " "We had a lot of questions and few answers," he adds. The sentence ends up falling: Denis Brogniart and the producer Julien Magne announce a general repatriation. "We didn't really know the why or how," continues Pholien. It was like a falling dream. In a few days, it was an emotional roller coaster. "
A shock for the two candidates
At the time, Sam was in the yellow team on a third site. "It was a huge frustration, a feeling of unfinished business," says this 20-year-old Alsatian, more used to remaining silent. Twenty-one months after the events, he only remembers very few details, until he forgot that he had already fired in record time: "It's my amnesiac side. He repeats that "it was not a real adventure" and says to himself "not comfortable with that". Then finally confides: "It hurt me very much. "
Back from Fiji, Sam and Pholien will learn from the press about the story behind the case. "It was a real shock," says the eldest candidate. Everything was complicated, increased tenfold. Fortunately, the production (Editor's note: Adventure Line Productions) has set up a 24-hour psychological follow-up. It feels good to be able to talk about it, to be supported. Since the choice of the teams, they both assure that they were not in contact with Eddy and Candide. "Neither heard by the courts," says Pholien. The latter also did not seek to hear from those with whom he had shared the few days of filming with him, "for fear of reducing my chances of being taken over".
"The dream was not over yet"
Like Sam, he already has only one idea in mind: to return to the game. "Even if there was only one chance in a million, I would have applied a second time," said Pholien. But the production stops their hope: none of the canceled edition will be taken on the next "Koh-Lanta", the one won by Maud in June 2019. "They were afraid that it would turn into a witch hunt", believes the Belgian candidate, who nevertheless "stressed that someone else was leaving for (his) place", until the day of the broadcast, when he "scrutinized all candidates".
The next time will be good. "I told myself that the dream was not over," savored Sam, a fan of "Koh-Lanta" since he was 6 years old. Like two years earlier, he runs in the forest and takes 3-4 kilos to "stock up". For fire and traps? He has that in him, since he has assimilated the techniques of Grégoire, who won the “Shock of heroes” in 2010, and devoured the books of adventurer Mike Horn.
On the strategy side, he also kept the same: stay in his bubble. “I could have learned from my first participation, but it is in my nature not to speak to say nothing, summarizes the youngest of the season. And I'm not doing Trafalgar shots. It may be a defect. But for me, all of that is the dark side of the program. "
"Eat, eat and eat again"
On the side of Pholien, the second "yes" of the production was also a deliverance: "The second time, it's even stronger. Koh-Lanta is like an adrenaline rush. I told myself that I must have a lucky star. So I went back to eating, eating and eating again. "
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His diet: Liège-style meatballs, made from pork and veal, drizzled with syrup and accompanied by fries, for lunch and dinner. Up to gaining 6 kg and “no longer recognizing yourself on the screen”. Except that this time, he leaves "a hundred times more stressed". His fear: that a candidate would reveal his previous experience, "which is not necessarily an advantage". Feeling strengthened when he saw Sam disembark, whose face "told him something". "We wondered if he was really he and I was really me," laughs this former swimming champion.
In the end, Sam doesn't regret anything. Same for Pholien: “I met Teheiura (Editor's note: candidate who participated four times in the program, but never won it) . If one day you can compare me to him… ”