We're very sad to report that Season 16 of Koh-Lanta, France's answer to popular reality TV series Survivor, has been cancelled following the death of a contestant on the first day of filming in Cambodia.
Deadline reports that 25 year-old Gérald Babin fell ill following a 'shipwreck' challenge on March 21st, with some reports suggesting that he suffered multiple cardiac arrests. The decision was made to pull the series after the tragedy, and it's understood that all remaining contestants returned to Paris yesterday.
Koh-Lanta is hugely popular in France, regularly pulling in an average of 7.4 million viewers. The 16th Season was due to air later this year. French broadcaster TF1 and Adventure Line Productions released a joint statement about the incident: "The teams from ALP, TF1 and (host) Denis Brogniart are devastated and join in the profound sadness of Gérald’s family. All of their thoughts are with his parents, his sister, his girlfriend and all those close to him".
RIP