{"id":31537,"date":"2019-08-20T05:27:08","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T03:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=31537"},"modified":"2019-08-20T03:46:35","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T01:46:35","slug":"french-culture-fort-boyard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-culture-fort-boyard\/","title":{"rendered":"French Culture – Fort Boyard"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my favorite TV shows when I lived in France was Fort Boyard<\/em>. Part Survivor<\/em> and part Fear Factor<\/em> (but better!), Fort Boyard<\/em> is a French reality program \/ game show that features a team of contestants (since the early ’90’s mostly made up of famous people from sports, pop culture, etc.) competing to raise money for charity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Le vrai Fort Boyard<\/strong> \/ The real Boyard Fort<\/em><\/p>\n

Fort Boyard (l’\u00e9mission de t\u00e9l\u00e9<\/b> \/ the TV show<\/em>) is filmed in a real fort … the fortified Fort Boyard<\/a> located of the west coast of France. Built under Napoleon Bonaparte in the first half of the 1800’s, Fort Boyard has served as a garrison, a prison, and since 1990 as a filming location.<\/p>\n

Fort Boyard,<\/strong> l’\u00e9mission <\/b>\/ Boyard, the TV show<\/em><\/p>\n

There are a few main components to the show.<\/p>\n

First, contestants must work together through a series of \u00e9preuves physiques<\/strong> (physical challenges<\/em>) to recover a number of cl\u00e9s<\/strong> (keys<\/em>) that will open the salle du tr\u00e9sor<\/strong> (the treasure room<\/em>). Contestants who don’t complete their \u00e9preuve<\/strong> in time find themselves imprisoned!<\/p>\n

After the hunt for keys, contestants must complete another series of \u00e9preuves<\/strong>, this time to gather des indices<\/strong> (clues<\/em>)\u00a0 that will help them release the tr\u00e9sor<\/strong> (treasure<\/em>). These later\u00a0\u00e9preuves\u00a0<\/strong>often require people to eat disgusting things or tackle some fear.<\/p>\n

During a duel of wits against the “Ma\u00eetre du Temps<\/strong>” (the Master of Time<\/em>), contests can earn clues that they missed and\/or additional time in the salle du tr\u00e9sor<\/strong> …<\/p>\n

And finally the salle du tr\u00e9sor<\/strong> … where contestants must decode the secret word from the indices<\/strong> they have found and collect as many “Boyards” (mystical coins) as they can before they get locked in.<\/p>\n

This short (6 minute) highlights clip<\/a> will let you experience all the adventure en r\u00e9sum\u00e9<\/strong> (summarized<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Fort Boyard, Parole de Chat<\/strong> \/ Cat Talk<\/em><\/p>\n

One of my favorite YouTube channels featured Fort Boyard in a recent post. Parole de Chat<\/a> (Cat Talk) features videos of\u00a0des chats<\/strong> (cats)<\/em> doing cat-things … but dubbed by a very funny Frenchman. Many of the videos feature English subtitles which make them a great way to practice your French skills while having a serious laugh. The video below perfectly captures they interaction of contestants on Fort Boyard … if the contestants where house cats!<\/p>\n