Lola was voted off "Koh-Lanta: All Stars" at the end of episode 4, which aired Tuesday night on French broadcaster TF1 and is also available to stream on TF1+, after her own teammates turned against her in a surprise council vote.
The episode, part of the anniversary season of the long-running French survival show filmed in Panama, also brought a major shake-up: adventurers who had been competing in mixed pairs drawn from different seasons of the show were reorganised into two full teams, led by the two survivors of a knockout challenge on the so-called "banished island."
Battle on the Banished Island
Jacques and Charlotte, eliminated at council at the end of episode 3, joined the other pair sent to the banished island, Maxime and Joana, along with returning veterans Moussa and Naoil. The six had to face off in an arena challenge in which only the top two finishers would return to the main camp, while the other four would be sent home to France.
Moussa told the cameras he was roaring inside even if he did not show it, and Naoil said she had her fangs out and was ready for war. Maxime said he wanted to get out of the hole he was in, get back into the game and smash everything.
To win their way back, the six had to build a structure out of 25 identical pieces balanced on a see-saw plank, itself held steady by a bucket of water with a hole in the bottom. Maxime, a communications officer for a fishing federation, took to the patience-and-precision challenge immediately, stacking pieces and topping up the bucket at regular intervals to keep the structure balanced while his rivals grew frustrated. He won comfortably, then dove headfirst into the water bucket and shook out his dreadlocks in celebration.
New Red and Yellow Teams
Back at the main camp, host Denis Brogniart told the twelve remaining adventurers that the system of linked pairs was over. The game would now continue with two teams, red and yellow, captained by the two adventurers who had just fought their way back from the banished island: Maxime, in what was described as one of the most spectacular comebacks in the show's history, and Belgian contestant Charlotte, who had finished second in the balancing challenge. Moussa, Naoil, Joana and Jacques were all eliminated from contention in one stroke.
Maxime said he would need to stay cool facing "a pack of teeth-chattering hyenas," and joked that he and Charlotte would have to move fast even though he was "more of a warthog than an antelope." Charlotte, for her part, said she was eager to see Dorian again, having not forgiven what she called his "crocodile tears" at the previous council. Both captains also received an immunity necklace valid for the next council.
Maxime named his red team Sebako, recruiting Freddy "without a shadow of a doubt," along with Tania, Clémentine, Dorian, Ugo, whom he called "the famous phoenix," and Laure, who had proved herself by winning the previous immunity challenge alongside Vincent. Charlotte's yellow team, Taboga, was made up of Christina, Nicolas, Yassin, Lola, Camille and Vincent.
First Team Challenges
The two new teams immediately competed for a comfort reward in the show's traditional torch challenge, carrying a 90-kilogram fire-carrying stand along an obstacle course before climbing together onto a platform to light their team's vase. Taboga took an early lead, but it slipped away as the minutes passed. Vincent then struggled to climb onto the platform despite Yassin's encouragement, weighing his team down and allowing Maxime and Dorian to light the Sebako vase first for the red team's opening win.
Maxime said his team had gone from rock bottom to building "the fantastic seven" and that anything could happen. He recalled that during his first appearance on "Koh-Lanta," he had captained a yellow team that lost five challenges in a row before being voted out by the "ambassadors." He said he had been "Captain Blunder" and was now becoming "Captain America and the Golden Adventurers," returning in "Terminator mode" but wary of falling from his pedestal again.
In the following immunity challenge, each team, connected by rope, took turns destroying one of seven targets, with the option to swap shooters at any time. At Sebako, Laure, Tania and then Clémentine took the lead in destroying their targets, while at Taboga, Charlotte struggled badly to break hers. Lola and Nicolas kept their side's hopes alive with a run of winning shots, but Camille's persistent clumsiness cost the reds their chances, allowing Ugo, Freddy and Dorian to let captain Maxime finish off the last target for a second straight win. Camille said afterwards that she was ashamed and wanted to bury herself underground.
On the yellow camp, where Vincent lit "the fuego" for the first time in his life, it was quiet Christina's name that kept coming up among her teammates. Camille and Vincent worried about her closeness with Freddy and feared their pairing would cause friction once the teams merged. Learning she was being targeted, Christina, the winner of "Koh-Lanta: Palau," became emotional, saying that if she left that night, her world would collapse.
Lola Voted Out at Council
Moved by her distress, Yassin decided to save her instead by proposing to vote out Lola, her former partner, with whom Christina had won two challenges in episode 2. Yassin said that behind her angelic look, Lola was a great strategist who did not reveal all her alliances and needed to be cut down before she went further. Vincent, impressed by the boldness of the plan, agreed to it.
At council, the result came as a total surprise. Charlotte gave her immunity necklace to Camille even though no one had voted against her. Instead, Lola received four votes against three for Christina.
Lola said she had not expected the result at all, realising that Vincent, whom she had defended from the start, had allied with Yassin against her. She said it felt like getting a knife in the back, speaking with sobs in her voice. She will now join the banished island, where the show's format leaves open the possibility of a return.
