Koh-Lanta: Le Retour des Héros

Koh-Lanta: Le Retour des Héros
Season Information
Version	France
Season No.	9
Filming Location	Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brazil
Season Run	January 13, 2009 - February 13, 2009
No. of Episodes	9
No. of Days	21
No. of Castaways	14
Winner	Romuald Lafite
Runner(s)-Up	Jade Handi
Tribes	Jacaré Tupan Merged Tribe
Prize for Winner	€100,000
Viewership (in Millions)	8.288
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Caramoan
Next	Palau

Koh-Lanta: Le Retour des Héros is the first special season of Koh-Lanta and the ninth season overall. It was broadcast on TF1 from January 13 to February 13, 2009.

Romuald Lafite defeated Jade Handi in a 5-2 jury vote to become the Sole Survivor.

Twists/Changes

• Shortened Game: Compared to all previous seasons which ran for between 39-43 days, this season ran for only 21 days.
• Fewer Contestants: All previous seasons featured 16 castaways to begin with. This season started with only 14 castaways.
• Returning Players: All the castaways had competed on a previous season.
• Sudden Death Challenge: On Day 1, a challenge occurred where the last two mixed-gendered pairs to finish its first portion would subsequently compete in a footrace to stay in the game. The last man and woman to finish this footrace would be automatically eliminated.
• New Tribe Member: At the first Reward Challenge on Day 4, the winning tribe would be given the opportunity to chose one of the eliminated castaways at the Day 1 challenge to join their tribe. By a 3-2 vote, Jean-Bernard Hauton-Arnaud returned to the game and joined Tupan.
• Ambassadors Elimination: At this season's summit, instead of agreeing on a castaway to receive an extra vote at the first post-merge Tribal Council, the ambassadors must unanimously agree to eliminate one castaway from the game. If they fail to come to a consensus, one of the ambassadors would be eliminated in a rock draw.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation		Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Amel Fatnassi 34, Paris Nicoya			Eliminated Day 1	0
	Jean-Luc Fiorina 58, Toulon Les Aventuriers	Tupan		1st Voted Out Day 3	3
	Moundir Zoughari 35, Paris Bocas del Toro	Jacaré		2nd Voted Out Day 5	4
	Christelle Gauzet 28, Bordeaux Caramoan	Jacaré		3rd Voted Out Day 7	4
	Philippe Bordier 42, Puy-de-Dôme Panama	Jacaré		Eliminated Day 9	1
	Clémence Castel 24, Toulouse Pacifique	Jacaré	Merged Tribe	4th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 10	5
	Émilie Frahi 27, Bouches-du-Rhône Vanuatu	Jacaré		5th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 12	9
	François-David Cardonnel 24, Bouches-du-Rhône Vanuatu	Jacaré		6th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 14	4
	Tony Sanchez 64, Pyrénées-Atlantiques Bocas del Toro	Tupan		7th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 16	6
	Catherine Ehret-Mader 40, Isère Panama	Tupan		8th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 18	8
	Jean-Bernard Hauton-Arnaud 41, Marseilles Caramoan	Tupan		Eliminated Day 1 Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 19	2
	Filomène Mendonca 37, Boulogne-Billancourt Palawan	Tupan		9th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 20	4
	Jade Handi 26, Haute-Garonne Palawan	Tupan		Runner-Up	0
	Romuald Lafite 31, Calvados Panama	Tupan		Sole Survivor	2

Season Summary

Episode	Air date	Challenges		Eliminated (Vote)	Finish
		Reward	Immunity
1	January 13, 2009	None	Jade, Moundir	Amel Jean-Bernard (No Vote)1	Eliminated Day 1
			Jacaré	Jean-Luc (3-2-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3
2	January 20, 2009	Tupan	Tupan	Moundir (4-1-1)	2nd Voted Out Day 5
3		Tupan	Tupan	Christelle (4-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 7
4	January 27, 2009	Jacaré	François-David	Philippe (No Vote)2	Eliminated Day 9
				Clémence (5-1-1-1-1)	4th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 10
5	February 3, 2009	Émilie, François-David	François-David	Émilie (6-2)	5th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 12
6		Jade [Filomène]	Jade	François-David (4-1-1-1)	6th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 14
7	February 10, 2009	Romuald, Tony	Jade	Tony (3-1-1-1)	7th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 16
8		Filomène	Jean-Bernard	Catherine (4-1)	8th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 18
9	February 13, 2009	None	Filomène	Jean-Bernard (No Vote)3	Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 19
			Jade
			Romuald
			Jade	Filomène (1-0)	9th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 20
		Jury Vote		Jade (5-2)	Runner-Up
				Romuald (5-2)	Sole Survivor
Notes: ^1 Amel and Jean-Bernard were eliminated on Day 1 for losing the first challenge. ^2 At the ambassadors meeting, Catherine and Philippe could not decide on a castaway to eliminate. Because of this, they drew rocks, and Philippe was eliminated as a result. ^3 At the final four, the remaining castaways competed in an elimination challenge. Jean-Bernard came in last and was eliminated.

Voting History

		Pre-Tribes		Original Tribes				Merged Tribe
Episode		1			2	3	4		5	6	7	8	9
Voted Out		Amel Jean-Bernard		Jean-Luc	Moundir	Christelle	Philippe	Clémence	Émilie	François-David	Tony	Catherine	Jean-Bernard	Filomène	Jade	Romuald
Vote		No vote1		3-2-1	4-1-1	4-1	No vote2	5-1-1-1-1	6-2	4-1-1-1	3-1-1-1	4-1	No vote3	1-04	5-2
►	Romuald	—		Catherine	—	—	—	Clémence	Émilie	François-David	Catherine	Catherine	—	None	Jury Vote
►	Jade	—		Jean-Luc	—	—	—	Clémence	Émilie	Jean-Bernard	Tony	Catherine	—	Filomène
►	Filomène	—		Jean-Luc	—	—	—	Clémence	Émilie	François-David	Tony	Catherine	—	None		Romuald
►	Jean-Bernard	Eliminated			—	—	—	Clémence	Émilie	Catherine	Filomène	Catherine	Eliminated			Romuald
►	Catherine	—		Jean-Luc	—	—	—	Émilie	Émilie	François-David	Tony	Romuald			Jade
►	Tony	—		Filomène	—	—	—	Clémence	Émilie	François-David	Jean-Bernard				Jade
►	François-David	—		—	Moundir	Christelle	—	Romuald	Tony	Tony						Romuald
►	Émilie	—		—	Moundir	Christelle	—	Jean-Bernard	Tony							Romuald
►	Clémence	—		—	Moundir	Christelle	—	Catherine								Romuald
	Philippe	—		—	Moundir	Christelle	Eliminated
	Christelle	—		—	Émilie	Émilie
	Moundir	—		—	Philippe
	Jean-Luc	—		Filomène
	Amel	Eliminated
Notes: ^1 Amel and Jean-Bernard were eliminated on Day 1 for losing the first challenge. ^2 At the ambassadors meeting, Catherine and Philippe could not decide on a castaway to eliminate. Because of this, they drew rocks, and Philippe was eliminated as a result. ^3 At the final four, the remaining castaways competed in an elimination challenge. Jean-Bernard came in last and was eliminated. ^4 Filomène and Romuald did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Jade voted.

Trivia

• Many former Koh-Lanta castaways were present for the live reunion and final tally. They were seen celebrating onstage following Romuald's victory.
• Le Retour des Héros is the fourth consecutive season of Koh-Lanta whose final five all belonged to the same starting tribe, following Vanuatu, Palawan and Caramoan.
• This is the most-watched season of Koh-Lanta, averaging 8,288,000 viewers per episode (33.75% of French television viewers) and peaking at 9,169,000 viewers during the finale (39.3% of French television viewers).
• This season featured at least one castaway from every previous season of Koh-Lanta. The highest number of returnees (3 in total) are from Panama.