Special Programmes

This year on the 31st July, Fort Boyard celebrated its 15th anniversary and 1000th ever episode with all countries together. Luckily while I was on holiday, I was in France the night of the landmark. To celebrate this, France 2 broadcast two very exciting programmes.

• 8:50 - 10:20 : Fort Boyard fête sa 1000e !
  For the first time ever, in this programme a team of children came to attack the Fort. They played for the association, Les Petits Princes. And surprisingly, they won the massive total of €18,320, one of the highest scores since its beginning.
• 10:20 - 00:20 : Fort Boyard : Les plus grands moments
  When France 2 realised they had to do something else for the 15th anniversary, they remembered the 10th anniversary celebration, where a special programme was broadcast with clips and interviews with previous players. The special programme this time they commissioned, featured all the presenters (except Marie Talon and surprise, surprise, Jean-Pierre Castaldi) presenting a selection of the best moments.

The presenters enjoy a song with Passe-Partout on the stairs.

The presenters discuss their favorite games...

New Games

Fort Boyard gets around 6-10 new games each year. Only a few games on the Fort have existed since 1990. These include the Transparent Tube and the Stirrups. I really hate the Stirrups and hope there out for next year. This year, a new style of games was introduced. The team outside can actually influence what happens in the cell.

New Keygames
The red Clepsydres are out and the interactive games are in. In the interactive games, as mentioned before, the team outside can actually affect the player inside the cell.

• Wagon : Haven't saw this game but from what I've heard  the contestant has to stand on a sort of small truck that's on an incline. The key is on the ceiling and it's up to the rest of the team to pull the truck up the slope by pulling on a rope outside the room.
• Fuses : Again haven't seen this played but from what I gather, the player must connect to fuses to release the key- using elastic bands.
• Pivot : Haven't saw it. I think the key is attached to the ceiling by several chains. The player has to sit in a chair which is directed by a blindfolded member of the team outside the door.
• Knot : Don't know. Apparently the player walks into the cell, reaches for the key and falls into a trapdoor. The player needs to work to escape. This is one of them automatic lock-ins.
• Netball : Apparently the player has to push a ball along an inclined net in order to get the ball into a gutter to release the key.

New Adventures
Obviously the theme this year for adventures was probably heights.

• Ladder : Apparently the player must climb a eight-metre ladder while its team holds the ladder vertical with ropes.
• Branch : Here I think the player finds itself on a scale and its team pull down on the other scale while the player walks across the other scale to the clue. This adventure takes place on first floor.
• Skis : I think the player must make their way along two wires wearing skis.
• Hammock : I think the player must make its way along a giant hammock across the interior of the Fort. The clue is just half way across.
• Planks : The player must traverse two long wires going out from the Fort with a few boards. Sounds similar to a one-man version of the "Caterpillar".

Format

The show now starts with a fantastic opening title sequence (new for 2003) and the traditional theme tune is replaced by a more gothic and electric theme. The titles features mainly lots of different things around the Fort, appearing to be "sliding" over each other. To be honest, these are good but I preferred the titles of 2001-2002.

The start now features host Olivier Minne (new for 2003) saying this is Fort Boyard etc. and introduces a team biography (similar to the one in the UK version of 2003). After this the team, Olivier and Sarah (new co-host for 2003) at the "round central" (the hole cut out in the yard of the Fort). Olivier explains the rules, what they need to do and starts to clock, instructing La Boule to strike the gong. La Boule will then sound the gong again at the end of the 45 minutes the team have to collect seven keys.

The Keys
The first section of the game is collecting the keys. The team needs to collect seven keys to open the Treasure Room door. The keys can be obtained by completing challenges set in the cells of the Fort. The challenges are of physical, skill and sometimes logic. Each challenge has a time limit where the player must complete in the challenge in the allotted time or they become imprisoned. Although in some cells, you can be locked in in other ways. Like in the cell of the Burglary, if you touch the floor, you're a prisoner. The time for a cell is shown by a Clepsydre, a egg timer with the sand replaced by a blue liquid. Passe-Partout (Jacques on other versions) opens the doors to cells, leads the team around the Fort with Sarah, and imprison players themselves. While someone is doing a challenge in a cell, the others with Sarah wait outside, shouting encouragement and how they're doing for time. Two times during this section, a player is sent up to see the old Père Fouras. The first time, Fouras asks the player a riddle and if they get it right, they win the key. If they get it wrong,  the keys goes back in the cupboard. The second time a player goes up to see Fouras, he asks them a riddle again. Again if they get it right, they win a key. But this time if they get it wrong, the key goes out the window onto a large net. A player then waiting at the bottom of the net will have to climb it, to retrieve the key. The team must have seven keys by the time La Boule strikes the gong meaning the end of this section. If the team do not have enough keys, a player is exchanged for one key. The player is sacrificed to the prison, this year a hanging cage from the ceiling of the Council.

The Night
After all seven keys are collected, the team are sent to the dormitory where they will stay for the night. However the door to their dorm is locked and to access it, they must find a note left somewhere which tells them to find a certain word in a certain book. By typing this into the typewriter, the door unlocks (the lights go out briefly at this point as well for some reason). In the living quarters are beds and a table with plates covered with serving domes. Under one of them isn't food but a nasty creature. Also in the holding rooms are some wheels and pulleys. What the contestants don't know is that these affect the prisoners, pulling on them causes the cages to spin round, for the lights in the prison to go on and off, turn the torches on and off and so on.

Passe-Muraille calls the team at around midnight. A locked box containing the magic crystal is in the centre of the Fort. When Olivier leaves the contestants to work out how to open it, eventually one of the Master of the Darkness steps out of one of the rooms clenching a map. The map tells the contestants where they can find the key. Sadly, the key is normally attached to a giant heavy object, like an anchor, a piece of fencing or a large rope. It's up to the team to work out how to get the key to the box.

With magic crystal in hand they can go and try to release the prisoners. The prisoners are bought in using the all new exciting rail system. The original council duels of the past have been added to by frightening challenges where a player has to do things with a box of nasty critters which reveals information to finding a combination which will open a box which contains a key which releases the prisoner. For example, a contestants might be asked to put their head in a box of rats. They stick their head in whilst bending over so that when they sit down the bottom of the box reveals a three stage sum, the correct answer to which is the combination. Or one person might have a duel with a Master of the Darkness. The duels are challenges like first one to drop a burning piece of paper, first one to sink the cup, last one to nail a nail right into a block of wood... Once again, if the team have no prisoners, La Boule looks mildly disappointed but the team play for time in the treasure room (two scary type challenges and two normal challenges).

After they have played in the council, they can then go back to their dorm and wait for the morning...

The Adventures
The next morning the team have the opportunity to attempt adventures to win a clueword which will lead them to the codeword, to release the gold. The codeword is a word that fits before or after each clueword. For example, if the clues the team had were: red, cell, hound and donor, the codeword would be BLOOD as is red blood, blood cell, blood hound and blood donor. The adventures are set on, around and sometimes below the Fort. They test fears such as heights, water, darkness... The team have 20 minutes to collect as many clues as possible. Each adventure has an allotted time, and when the time runs out for an adventure, the clue explodes, no prisoners. One adventure will be going up to the tower and answering correctly one of the riddles of Fouras.

The Treasure Room
With about one minute to go, the team head down to the Treasure Room. Since 2003, team are only allowed to find out their cluewords at the Treasure Room, unlike previous years where the team could think about it between adventures. The team must work hard here and find out the codeword as fast as possible. If they are not sure of it, they can make a sacrifice. This involved putting one person's hand into a statue of a tiger's head which gives out a clue. The player is now attached to the tiger head and cannot help in the Treasure Room now. From the final gong, a new timer of three minutes is started. The tigers are put away and the door begins to rise. If the team know the codeword, they enter the Treasure Room as fast as they can and spell the codeword on the large lettered floor tiles (if there is not enough people, cannonballs are substituted as people). Félindra is instructed to turn the tiger's head and start the mechanism. After a ten second pause, if they are right the gold will tumble into the large metal dome plinth where the team must take as much as they can.

Although if they are still pondering as to what the codeword is, they waste time. At about 30 seconds to go the door begins to close. People inside are instructed to exit and people outside are advised not to go back in. When the door is completely shut and all gold poured into the bucket, Passe-Partout and Passe-Temps weight the gold. A good score in France is around € 15 000, although many teams get less being the lowest ever was € 700. The team find out how much they won on the scales. The gold is gathered into a bag, Sarah says goodbye and Olivier shouting from the yard of the Fort, something along the lines of "Forever higher, forever strong, forever the Fort !".

The credits start with a nice little "next week" feature showing little clips from the next episode (new for 2003).

Teams

Saturday 19 June 2004, 8.50pm
Association «Autour des Williams»
Sheraz, Chanteuse
Alain Bouzigues, actor
Boris Diaw, Basketteur
Noémie Elbaz, actress
Arie Elmaleh, actor
Alexandre Pesle, actor
Money won : 8,920 €

Saturday 26 June 2004, 8.50pm
Association «UNICEF»
Juliette Arnaud, presenter
José Touré, footballer and producer
Amara Simba, footballer
Patrick Puydebat, actor
Christine Anglio, actress
Corinne Puget, actress
Money won : 7,270 €

Saturday 3 July 2004, 8.50pm
Association «Neurofibromatoses et Recklinghausen»
Marc Lievremont, rugbyman
Celine Geraud, judoman
Elsa Fayer, presenter
Cyril Hanouna, presenter
Nathalie Simon, presenter
Eric Guigne, member of the association
Money won : 4,610 €

Saturday 10 July 2004, 8.50pm
Association «Les Ailes Brisées»
Natacha Amal, actress
Rémi Artuisio, pilot
Nicolas Baud, pilot
Anne-Laure Michel, pilot
Jamy Gourmoud, journalist
Frédéric Courant, jounalist
Money won : 14,220 €

Saturday 17 July 2004, 8.50pm
Association «Smith Magenis 17 France»
Brian Joubert, ice-skater
Fabrice Tiozzo, boxer
Laurence Fischer, karateman
Thomas Salsmann, actor
Jérémy Ganneval, presenter
Leslie Bevillard, actress
Money won : 12,550 €

Saturday 24 July 2004, 8.50pm
Association «Naevus 2000»
Corinne Comant, Miss France 2003
Alexandre Thibault, actor
Hugues Richard, hiker
Philippe Chaussat, member of the association
Didier Auriol, pilot
Mathilde Vitry, actress
Money won : 12,050 €

Saturday 31 July 2004, 8.50pm
Association «Les petits princes»
Yannis Takerboudtch, footballer
Emma-Claire Bernard, snowboarder
Loïc Aprederisse, basketballer
Clément Daguin, rugbyman
Iris Cambray, jet-skier
Chloé Baber, tenniswoman
Money won : 18,320 €

Saturday 7 August 2004, 8.50pm
Association «Enfants de coeur»
Jean-Christophe Rolland, member of the association
Claire Litvine, singer
Coralie Gellé, singer
Lydy Louisy-Joseph, singer
Alexandra Canto, singer
Marjorie Parascandola, singer
Money won : 7,950 €

Saturday 14 August 2004, 8.50pm
Association «Oeuvre des pupilles orphelins de Sapeurs-Pompiers»
Maud Jurez, dancer in Moulin Rouge
Aurore Houet, dancer in Moulin Rouge
Louise Rowlingson, dancer in Moulin Rouge
Cyril Gues, member of the association
Olivier Lanteri, member of the association
Olivier Avon, member of the association
Money won : 15,030 €

Saturday 21 August 2004, 8.50pm
Association «Dessine moi un mouton»
Shirley Bousquet, actress
Jean-Luc Lemoine, actor
Arnaud Gidoin, actor
Olivier Kapo, footballer
Eglantine Eméyé, presenter
Nathalie Marquay, actress
Money won : 11,610 €