Fort Boyard: who owns the famous Fort?

Since its launch on the air of France 2 in 1990, Fort Boyard fascinates viewers of the public channel every summer. Scheduled on Saturday evening in prime time, the emblematic game of France 2 is presented since 2003 by Olivier Minne, who took over from Jean-Pierre Castladi. The latter had himself replaced 3 years earlier the very first host in the program’s history: Patrice Laffont. While Olivier Minne is now alone at the helm of Fort Boyardmany co-hosts have succeeded in the program in the past, such as for example Sophie DavantCendrine Dominguez, or even Anne-Gaëlle Ricco.

For the record, the famous Fort which hosts the show every year is a fortification located on a shoal originally formed from a sandbank. Built to protect the harbour, the mouth of the Charente, the port and especially the large arsenal of Rochefort from the assaults of the English navy, it was turned into a prison just a few years after its completion. In 1980, Philippe de Dieuleveult, the famous animator-adventurer of The Treasure Huntcomes close to drowning while trying to reach the Fort in rough seas. He remains stuck there for 3 hours before being rescued by helicopter. This episode later inspired Jacques Antoine, the creator of treasure hunt, to imagine a new program called Fort Boyard.

Fort Boyard: “A wealthy Swiss had toyed with the idea of ​​turning it into a hotel in the 1960s”

Since 1989, the Fort belongs to the Departmental Council of Charente-Maritime. “Adventure Line Productions rents it for the year and is the only one authorized to use it. No visit is possible. Outside of filming, there is no water or electricity! A wealthy Swiss had toyed with the idea of ​​turning it into a hotel in the 1960s, but he was soon dissuaded. Jacques Antoine, the creator of the game having noticed it in the film The Adventurers by Robert Enrico with Alain Delon and Lino Ventura -, bought it in 1988, and immediately sold it to the Departmental Council of Charente-Maritime for a symbolic euro, in exchange for a lease for filming“, indicated the executive producer of Fort BoyardAntoine Weber, in the columns of TV Star Monday, July 18, 2022.

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