"Koh-Lanta": a somewhat sluggish finale which saw the East win once again thanks to Gaëlle

And the winner is Gaëlle! The adventurer from the East won "Koh-Lanta: Revenge of the Four Lands" this Tuesday, June 24 on TF1. The members of the final jury preferred her to Maël. But before the final vote, Claire and Jérôme des Landes, eliminated in the orientation round, joined the voters: Jessica, Louise, Joana, Naïs, Pierre-Marie, Maxime, Noémie, and Céline. Then came Jérôme the Catalan, third in the pole competition, who was not chosen by Gaëlle to be a finalist alongside her.

Before this duo arrived, the last council was an opportunity to revisit Jérôme du Sud and Claire's powerless necklace. Denis Brogniart reiterated that it was "the biggest bluff in the history of Koh-Lanta." Even though it was only the second time for the adventurers, as a viewer, we have the impression that this is the fifteenth time he's repeated it, so much has it been emphasized by the production throughout this season. A strategy that we ultimately found disappointing after having waited so long for it.

As in 2020, during "Koh-Lanta: The Four Lands," a woman from the East and a man from the West found themselves in the final. Gaëlle succeeded Alexandra and Maël succeeded Brice. Always the outspoken woman, Joana questioned the winner of the poles' explanations for her choice of finalist. The mother from Ain mentioned her complicity with the Breton but also her merit: "I especially think that Jérôme the Catalan was scary because many people could have voted for him," retorted Joana. "The real reason is that Jérôme the Catalan would have pulverized the scores," Pierre-Marie chimed in, mentioning the ballots for the future vote. A line of reasoning that was also ours. The third of the poles calmed things down by pointing out that he too would have chosen based on his emotions.

The two finalists took turns addressing their classmates. "I've gained friends, I don't regret anything," assured Maël, adding: "I hope we'll see each other again for drinks!" Gaëlle spoke of her "descent into hell" since reunification. "It forced me to open up to others," she admitted, also assuring her desire to show her daughters that "anything is possible." Unlike her Breton classmate, who didn't mention the prize money, she insisted that she was a single mother and would really need the €100,000.

As is tradition, the evening continued almost live from a studio in the Paris region on TF1. The 24 adventurers of this "Revenge of the 4 Lands" were gathered, all dressed up. Jérôme the Catalan received a particularly warm ovation, and it must be admitted that he would have made a very good winner. Numerous visual summaries allowed us to immerse ourselves in the 40 days of adventure. It was also an opportunity to once again pay tribute to Bertrand-Kamal, a candidate on "Koh-Lanta: The 4 Lands" in 2020 who died of pancreatic cancer in September of that year. A new appeal for donations was launched for the fund in his name for research into this disease.

A little later, the new spotlight on the "biggest bluff in the history of Koh-Lanta ," described by Denis Brogniart as the "heist of the century," frankly made us roll our eyes. Let's just say that the production team is sticking to its guns, and that was to be expected.

At the end of the suspense, the final count designated Gaëlle as the big winner of this season with 7 votes (Céline, Louise, Maxime, Jessica, Naïs, Claire, Jérôme le Catalan) against 4 for Maël (Jérôme des Landes, Pierre-Marie, Noémie and Joana). A vote that was fairly divided, as one might expect.

Gaëlle's victory on the poles, her only individual event, was decisive in the choice of many members of the final jury. Regarding the award, Gaëlle confirmed, "We're going to build a beautiful house for all three of us," once again mentioning her two daughters. As in "Koh-Lanta: The Four Lands," it was an adventurer from the same department of Ain who won. East: 2, rest of the regions: 0.