“Koh-Lanta”: on the posts, Gaëlle was unbeatable

After 40 days of adventure and 17 shows, the season "Koh-Lanta: Revenge of the 4 Lands" reaches its conclusion this Tuesday, June 24 on TF1. The first part of the evening was devoted to the pole test, the ultimate challenge seeing Gaëlle de l'Est, Jérôme du Sud and Maël de l'Ouest face off. With the same rule: whoever stays balanced the longest will be able to choose between the other two who will appear alongside them in front of the final jury.

Before heading to the challenge site, host Denis Brogniart visited the final three adventurers at their camp. Gaëlle took the opportunity to talk about her daughters and declare that "Koh-Lanta" "makes her want to be bolder." She also announced her desire to relaunch her business as a life coach. The host always has the right words to bring tears to the eyes of the contestants, and the 34-year-old single mother was no exception when she spoke about her late father's house, which she is currently restoring. If she wins, she would use the €100,000 prize to complete the work.

Maël, for his part, highlighted his pride in being Breton. He also admitted to having grown up—"I'm going to leave as a man, I've acquired wisdom"—and to having realized that Léa, his lover, was truly the woman of his life. If he received the winner's prize, he would take the opportunity to pay for a month-long trip to Polynesia for his parents, who are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary. The 27-year-old pastry chef also plans to make a donation to the Rêves de Clown association, which helps children in hospitals. More unusually, he wants to organize the largest musical chairs game in France with an association he and his friends belong to.

Jérôme was finally looking forward to joining his family. He spoke of his wife, who is in remission from cancer, but also of his father, whom he lost to an illness: "I saw my father suffer, I saw my wife suffer, I don't have the right to say that I'm suffering." The sum promised to the winner would allow him, in particular, to "make a donation to the oncology department of the clinic that treated his wife." And also to offer her "a real wedding" and the dress that goes with it, because they were married in a small group.

It was in 32-degree heat that the trio arrived in front of the posts. Each climbed barefoot onto their own, which was initially a rectangle measuring 20 cm by 15 cm. Wind blew through the candidates' clothes. Everyone seemed quite comfortable; we even saw Jérôme yawn before he was the first to get a fright by wobbling a little. The rain also made an appearance during the game.

After 30 minutes, Jérôme and Gaëlle said they were comfortable, while Maël was a little more in trouble, admitting to Denis Brogniart that he didn't feel "crazy." Jérôme started to sing a few notes in Catalan but fell silent after faltering again.

After an hour, the challenge became more difficult, as the post's surface was reduced to a 15cm square. This delicate moment was handled well by everyone. Gaëlle also started singing. At 1 hour and 45 minutes into the game, they were only positioned on a 15cm x 10cm rectangle. This proved fatal for Jérôme, who immediately fell.

Two and a half hours of testing were over when it came time to move on to the final reduction of the surface area of ​​the posts, ending up with a 10cm square. Maël barely lasted a second before falling into the water. "Anyway, from the first quarter of an hour, I was struggling," he admitted.

All smiles and in tears, Gaëlle dedicated her victory to her two daughters. The adventurer was the one who showed the fewest signs of weakness on the poles. This victory, her first individual victory, therefore came as no surprise. After a moment of reflection, she named Maël as the other finalist, emphasizing the affection between them and the merit of the second place he had just achieved. Jérôme was a good sport as he left them.

The duo then had to present themselves to the final jury, composed of the eleven adventurers who had been eliminated since the reunification (Frédéric and Adrien were not part of it because they left the final jury's residence for medical reasons). During a final council meeting, they will have to decide between the finalists by voting to designate the winner of this edition. A vote that took place in the Philippines. The counting will then take place on set from the Paris region and almost live on TF1.