Koh-Lanta (France)

Why the 2018 Koh-Lanta season was cancelled on day five

Filming of a Koh-Lanta season in Fiji stopped on day five in 2018 and it never aired. Candide Renard reported that a fellow contestant sexually assaulted her as she slept. Eddy Guyot, who denies it, was placed under formal investigation in 2022. No trial has been held.

Charged, unresolved The dates, the formal investigation and the November 2025 DNA analysis come from Le Monde's review of the case file and a preserved capture of that report. Eddy Guyot has not been tried. Mis en examen is a French investigative status, not a conviction and not an English-law indictment.

Koh-Lanta (France) Charged, unresolved

What the record shows

  • Confirmed Filming of a Koh-Lanta season in Fiji was halted on day five in 2018 after Candide Renard reported to production that a fellow contestant had sexually assaulted her while she slept in a shelter shared by several players. The season was cancelled and has never been broadcast.
  • Charged, unresolved Eddy Guyot was placed under formal judicial investigation, mis en examen, for sexual assault in 2022, before an investigating judge at the Nancy judicial court, and the Nancy Court of Appeal upheld that status in March 2024. He denies the allegation. No trial has taken place and no court has reached a verdict.
  • Confirmed A genetic analysis completed on 24 November 2025 found male epithelial cells inside the leggings Renard wore that night. Le Monde, which reviewed the case file, reported that they were traced not to Guyot but to a third contestant, whom French outlets identify only by a first name and an initial.
  • Disputed Renard maintains her accusation. Le Monde reported that she told investigators on 12 January 2026: "I know it was Eddy Guyot who assaulted me."
  • Disputed Guyot's lawyer called the DNA finding decisive for the defence. The third contestant, who is not accused of anything, denies any contact with Renard and attributes the trace to involuntary transfer. Neither account has been tested at a trial.
  • Confirmed On 23 March 2026 the investigating judge refused further investigative requests, holding that the third-party DNA "does not in any way remove charges against Eddy Guyot." The judge still has to decide whether to refer the case to trial.
  • Unverified Whether the case has since been sent to trial or dismissed is not established. The judicial investigation closed on 14 January 2026, and no referral order, non-lieu, trial judgment or appeal was located in the sources reviewed for this page through 26 July 2026.

What stopped the shoot

In 2018 a season of Koh-Lanta was filming in Fiji. On day five it stopped. Candide Renard, one of the contestants, reported to production that a fellow contestant had sexually assaulted her while she slept in a shelter the players shared. Production ended the shoot, the season was cancelled, and it has never been broadcast.

That is the answer to the question most people are actually asking when they search for a cancelled Koh-Lanta season and find no episodes. There is no lost cut sitting on a shelf waiting for a broadcast window. The filming stopped five days in, and what has run since is a criminal investigation in France that is still not finished.

Mis en examen is not a conviction, and not an indictment

Eddy Guyot, the contestant Renard named, was placed under formal judicial investigation in 2022. The French term is mis en examen, and it does not translate cleanly. It means an investigating magistrate has found serious or corroborating indications that a person may have taken part in an offence, and has formally brought that person into the investigation. It is a status that carries rights, including the right to request further inquiries. It can end in a referral to trial or in a dismissal, a non-lieu, without any trial at all.

Guyot denies the allegation and has denied it throughout. In March 2024 the Nancy Court of Appeal upheld his mis en examen status. That decision kept the investigation running against him. It did not decide whether he did anything, because that is not what such a ruling does.

The DNA result, and why it did not end the case

The case turned technical in late 2025. A genetic analysis completed on 24 November 2025 examined the leggings Renard was wearing that night and found male epithelial cells inside them. Le Monde, whose reporter reviewed the file, reported that the profile was not Guyot's. It was traced to another contestant from the same shoot, a man French outlets identify only by a first name and an initial. He is not accused of anything, he denies any contact with Renard, and he says the trace got there by involuntary transfer.

Two readings of that result went straight into the record. Guyot's lawyer treated it as decisive. Renard did not move: Le Monde reported that on 12 January 2026 she told investigators, "I know it was Eddy Guyot who assaulted me." Both are positions taken by parties to a live investigation, and neither has been weighed by a court.

What the investigating judge ruled in March 2026

On 23 March 2026 the investigating judge refused requests for further investigative work and addressed the DNA finding directly, writing that it "does not in any way remove charges against Eddy Guyot." The French word in that sentence, charges, means the body of evidence weighing against a person under investigation. It is not a list of counts in an American-style charging document, and it is not a finding of guilt.

So the DNA result is not an exoneration, and this page does not present it as one, because the judge who has the file expressly rejected that reading. It is also not proof of anything against the third contestant. It is one disputed piece of a file that a judge has yet to rule on.

Where the case actually stands

The judicial investigation closed on 14 January 2026. Guyot remains mis en examen. There has been no trial, no conviction and no acquittal. After the March 2026 refusal of further inquiries, the decision left to the investigating judge is whether to refer him for trial or dismiss the case, and in the latest report located for this page, from April 2026, that decision was still pending.

Nothing later was found. No referral order, no non-lieu, no trial judgment and no appeal appeared in searches of French press and public decision indexes through 26 July 2026. Investigative-stage orders in France are frequently not published under the parties' names, so silence here means the record was not located, not that nothing has happened.

This is the French edition, not the CBS series

Koh-Lanta is the French edition of the format. It shares no cast, no production and no network with the American Survivor, and no US network finding, statement or proceeding exists in this matter. English-language summaries sometimes file the story under Survivor, which is how it reaches people searching for a cancelled CBS season that does not exist.

This page covers the 2018 Fiji shoot and no other season. Renard is named because she has spoken publicly and is named throughout the French reporting. The third contestant is not named here, French outlets withhold his surname, and nothing on this page should be read as an accusation against him.

Questions people ask

Why was the 2018 Koh-Lanta season cancelled?
Filming in Fiji was halted on day five after contestant Candide Renard reported to production that a fellow contestant had sexually assaulted her while she slept in a shared shelter. The season was cancelled and never aired.
What does mis en examen mean?
It means a French investigating magistrate has formally brought a person into a criminal investigation because there are serious or corroborating indications of involvement. It is not a conviction and not an English-law indictment, and it can end in a dismissal without any trial.
Did the DNA analysis clear Eddy Guyot?
No. The analysis completed on 24 November 2025 traced male cells in Renard's leggings to a third contestant rather than to Guyot, and his lawyer called that decisive. On 23 March 2026 the investigating judge held that the finding does not remove the evidence weighing against Guyot.
Has anyone been convicted in the Koh-Lanta case?
No. Eddy Guyot remains under formal investigation and denies the allegation. There has been no trial, no conviction and no acquittal, and the decision on whether to refer the case to trial was still pending in the latest located report.
Will the cancelled Koh-Lanta season ever be broadcast?
It has never aired and no source reviewed for this page indicates that it will. Only five days of filming took place before production stopped.
Is this connected to the American Survivor?
No. Koh-Lanta is the French edition of the format, with a separate cast, production and broadcaster. No US network finding, statement or proceeding exists in this case.

Sources

Checked on 2026-07-26. If something here is wrong or out of date, we want to know: get in touch.