“To win directly is really a double-edged sword”

Embark on the adventure Koh Lanta is never trivial. But however prepared you are physically and mentally, the first few days are always complicated, even violent. Clémence Castel has experienced this. “We don’t know what’s going to happen to us, we arrive in an environment we don’t know, with people we’ve never seen. It’s a total disappointment. Often there is a shipwreck, a cash event, the camp, it’s primitive, really, it’s real survival. Everything is complicated, and to that, we add the human.”

And indeed, if Koh Lanta is an adventure game in which many physical tests take place, the relational aspect is essential. And it starts in the first minutes of the game. For some reserved candidates, it’s a complicated passage.

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For Clémence, the place of Leader is dangerous in Koh-Lanta

“Right away, you try to find your place, depending on your character, it’s more or less easy. Me, who is discreet by nature, it’s complicated, it takes more time. Others, bigger mouths, take the lead, it’s in their character. And for me, it’s risky. To impose yourself immediately can be a double-edged sword. Either the team is receptive and everyone is going in the same direction and it can only be positive, because there is real momentum. Conversely, if there are other characters in the team who go against the natural leader, it can create tension, be harmful to the team and the leader can find himself in the hot seat very quickly. The leading position is not obvious and can be dangerous at first.”

During each of his adventures (except the last), Clémence therefore adopted the same strategy early in the game, which she says paid off. Perform and observe, then only after unite. “Before leaving beating drums in the strategies, already, it is necessary to ensure on the plays. Then I am more for the observation at the beginning. See how the team is built, see who does what on the camp, who is strong in the trials and try to analyze. It was my strength on the Koh Lanta that I won, to create strong alliances with people I could really trust and who didn’t betray me. I took the time, I didn’t rush after three days to give my confidence and make alliances. So for me the optimal strategy is to observe at the start, then put your pawns as you go..”

First eliminated, the nightmare of the adventurers of Koh-Lanta

And in fact, if watching more than 20 seasons of Koh Lanta taught us something, which is that you have to be very careful when embarking on strategies. While they can be effective, they can also torpedo an overambitious candidate in days or even hours. Not too much is needed at the beginning of the adventure, for the double winner in title of Koh Lanta. The risk otherwise is to be the first or the first eliminated from Koh Lanta. And it’s an unenviable position

“We’re not going to lie to each other, being eliminated from the start is what all adventurers who do Koh Lanta dread. In max three days, we have no time to show what we have in the belly. It can be played on nothing at all, and we can’t do anything about it, it must be horrible. The first eliminated is always a combo of the affinity and the weak link in the trials. You should never think of the first piece of advice, you should think of what’s next, what’s next, team victories, the atmosphere in the camp, synergy. But not everything is played out in the first episode. What makes the charm of Koh Lanta, anything can happen. We can make a catastrophic start and explode afterwards, look at Ugo. Even if we have the feeling of not being in our place at the start, that does not mean that we are not going to have a good run, it is precisely there that we must hang on. “