The trial of the lazy in “Koh-Lanta, the legend”: a real feat but a questionable record – Le Figaro

“In this fourth episode of“ Koh-Lanta, the legend ”, you will understand why we have called this grandiose adventure in French Polynesia: the legend. Quite simply because adventurers are legendary. ” In a one-minute teaser unveiled a few hours before the broadcast of the new episode of the all-stars edition of the 20 years on TF1, Denis Brogniart had made the mouths of fans of “Koh Lanta” by promising a historic record on the lazy test. A test where the candidates must stay as long as possible hung under a horizontal log using only their arms and legs. “Until now, the record has been held by Claude since 2012 in“ The Revenge of the Heroes ”in Cambodia. He had won at the time in front of Teheiura by taking 3 hours and 11 minutes. […] I have the honor to announce that the record will be broken and shattered. ”

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Under an alternation of sun and rain, six candidates of “Koh-Lanta, the legend” achieved the feat of resisting physically and mentally for more than 3:11. Jade Handi stopped her effort after 3:14. After 3:20, Denis Brogniart accentuated the difficulty of the event by asking them to take one of their legs off the log, causing the falls of Alexandra Pornet (3:26) and Laurent Maistret (3:43). Then after 3:45, the host asked to take off an arm, overcoming the resistance of Sam Haliti, Teheiura Teahui and the winner, Claude Dartois, in 3:47. Arms and legs reddened by friction with the log and muscles paralyzed by hours of resistance, each candidate came out visibly marked by the efforts made. If the feat is real and impressive, the record is much more questionable.

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Like other recurring events of “Koh-Lanta” – poles for example – the principle of lazy people has been the same since its implementation in season 4 but the operation has varied, especially when the resistance time of the candidates has exceeded 100 minutes. In 2004 in Panama, the production had installed the gantry in the sea, in an area where the rising tide could naturally put an end to the test. The log was not long enough to allow all candidates to get into the sloth position. Sophie won after 1h32 because the water had ended up touching the bottom of the sweatshirt which hung behind Amélie’s back. Until season 10 in 2010, and Claude Dartois’ first record against Wafa in 1:45, Denis Brogniart had never intervened to accentuate the difficulty of the event.

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In 2010, in the all-star edition “Koh-Lanta, the shock of heroes”, after 2h30, the host asked Frédérique Jossinet and to Grégoire Delachaux to release an arm, causing the fall of the latter and the end of the test. In 2012, in “Koh-Lanta, the revenge of the heroes”, he did not intervene until after 3 hours by asking Claude and Teheiura to release an arm, the Tahitian falling after 3:11.

In 2020 in “Koh-Lanta, the island of heroes”, it was only after 1h45 that Denis Brogniart had asked the candidates to freeze their position and not to change it. Phoelien (2h22) then Claude (2h29) had bowed to Sam. Without taking into account the weather conditions, the motivation of the candidates, the adversity and the stakes of the adventure when the test is proposed, accentuating the difficulty of the lazy test in a different way from one season to another (after 1:45 in 2020, 2:30 in 2010, 3 hours in 2012 and 3:20 then 3:45 in 2021) impacts performance and makes them incomparable. This would amount to comparing the times achieved by athletes over a 110-meter hurdles with 10 obstacles one year, then 9 the following year and 8 the year after.

The winners of the sloth test in “Koh-Lanta”
– Season 4 (2004): Sophie in 1h32 (because of the rising tide)
– Season 5 (2005): Mohamed in more than 36 minutes
– Season 6 (2006): Gaëlle in more than an hour
– Season 7 (2007): Jade in more than an hour (Kévin had voluntarily given up after the fall of Grégoire, his direct competitor)
– Season 8 (2008): Carole in 1h10
– “The return of the heroes” in 2009: Tony in 22 minutes (Jade had voluntarily let him win)
– Season 10 (2010): Claude in 1h45
– “The Clash of Heroes” (2010): Frédérique Jossinet in more than 2h30 (additional difficulty after 2h30, release an arm)
– “Revenge of the Heroes” (2012): Claude in 3h11 (additional difficulty after 3h00, release an arm)
– Season 14 (2015): Chantal in 53 minutes
– Season 17 (2017): Sébastien in 1h31
– “The fight of the heroes” (2018): Dylan in 1h10
– “Island of Heroes” (2020): Sat in 2:29 (additional difficulty after 1:45, freeze your position)
– “The legend” (2021): Claude in 3:47 (additional difficulty after 3:20, release one leg, then after 3:45, release an arm)