Koh-Lanta (France)

13 ballots, no winner: why Teheiura left Koh-Lanta in 2021

At the 14 December 2021 Koh-Lanta: La Légende finale, TF1 left the 13 jury ballots uncounted and named no winner, saying the rules had not been respected. The 100,000 euro prize went to a cancer foundation. Teheiura Teahui had been removed on 9 November after admitting he asked passing fishermen for food.

Admitted Teheiura's admission was broadcast by TF1 and reported with his own wording. No criminal or civil proceeding exists and none is suggested here. Reports that other contestants also ate the food were not verified for this page, and no other contestant is named.

Koh-Lanta (France) Admitted

What the record shows

  • Admitted In the episode broadcast on TF1 on 9 November 2021, host Denis Brogniart put it to Teheiura Teahui that "vous avez demandé de la nourriture à des pêcheurs" passing offshore. Teheiura admitted it on air, said "J'ai mangé deux fois," described a steak with chips and cooked vegetables, and said "Je subirai la sanction qu'il faudra."
  • Confirmed Production removed him from the game in that same episode. He went directly to the final jury, with no route back into the competition.
  • Confirmed Production found out by hearing contestants discuss it. There was no video of the exchange with the fishermen.
  • Confirmed At the finale broadcast on 14 December 2021, Brogniart announced that the 13 final jury ballots would not be opened, because "les règles n'ont pas été respectées." No winner was declared. Viewers were still shown the jurors' individual choices.
  • Confirmed The 100,000 euro prize was donated instead to the foundation set up in memory of Bertrand-Kamal Diarra, a 2020 contestant who died of pancreatic cancer.
  • Confirmed There was no legal proceeding of any kind. Every consequence here was a production decision by TF1: the removal on 9 November and the annulled vote on 14 December.
  • Unverified Later French reporting said other adventurers also ate the food and that production chose to sanction only the person who asked for it. Those accounts were not verified for this page, no source was opened that names them reliably, and no other contestant is named here.

What Teheiura admitted, on air

The 9 November 2021 episode of Koh-Lanta: La Légende did not build to a reveal. Denis Brogniart simply put the accusation to Teheiura Teahui in front of the other adventurers: on several occasions, he said, Teheiura had asked for food from fishermen passing offshore.

Teheiura did not contest it. He said he had eaten twice, and he described what he ate, a steak with chips and cooked vegetables. He added that he would take whatever sanction was required. That admission is why this page can state the conduct as fact rather than as an allegation. It came from him, on camera, in the broadcast.

How production found out

There is no footage of the exchange with the fishermen. Production learned about it by hearing contestants talk about it among themselves, and the confrontation followed from that.

This matters for how the story gets retold. Nobody caught anything on tape, and no investigation produced a document. What exists is a rule breach that the participant confirmed when he was asked about it directly.

Removed to the jury, not sent home

The sanction was immediate. Teheiura was taken out of the game in that same episode and moved straight to the final jury. He kept a vote at the end and lost any path back into the competition.

Europe 1's headline described the episode as the biggest instance of cheating in the show's history, which is that outlet's characterisation rather than a finding. The narrower and more useful description is the one the broadcast supports: he broke the food rule, he said so, and TF1 pulled him out of the game.

Why there was no winner

The finale aired on 14 December 2021, and it ended without a champion. Brogniart announced that the 13 final jury ballots would not be opened at all, on the stated basis that the rules had not been respected. No name was read out. No title was awarded.

Viewers were not left entirely in the dark: the jurors' individual choices were still shown. But the count that decides the season never happened, so the season has no winner in its record, and searches for one keep returning nothing because there is nothing to return.

Where the 100,000 euros went

The prize was not withheld and it was not rolled over. TF1 gave the 100,000 euros to the foundation created in memory of Bertrand-Kamal Diarra, who appeared on the 2020 season and died of pancreatic cancer.

That decision is the part of this story that travelled furthest, and it is the reason the season is remembered as something other than a disciplinary footnote.

What this page does not say

No court, prosecutor or regulator was ever involved. There was no charge, no proceeding and no finding by anyone outside the production. Annulling the vote was TF1's own decision, taken by the broadcaster, and it should not be described as something one contestant did to the others.

Further French reporting said other adventurers ate the food as well, and that production sanctioned only the person who requested it. That was not verified here, so no other contestant is named on this page and nothing above should be read as an accusation against anyone else in the cast.

This is the French edition, not the CBS series

Koh-Lanta is the French version of the format, made for TF1 with a French cast and a French production company. It shares no cast, no crew and no network with the American Survivor, and CBS has never had any role in this matter.

English-language summaries sometimes file it as a Survivor cheating scandal, which is how people searching for a CBS season with no winner end up here. No season of the American series has ever ended without a declared winner.

Questions people ask

Why was Teheiura removed from Koh-Lanta?
On the episode broadcast 9 November 2021, Denis Brogniart put it to him that he had asked fishermen passing offshore for food. Teheiura admitted it on air, saying he had eaten twice, and production removed him from the game and sent him to the final jury.
Why did Koh-Lanta: La Légende have no winner?
At the 14 December 2021 finale, Brogniart announced that the 13 final jury ballots would not be opened, because the rules had not been respected. No winner was declared, though the jurors' individual choices were still shown to viewers.
What happened to the 100,000 euro prize?
TF1 donated it to the foundation set up in memory of Bertrand-Kamal Diarra, a contestant from the 2020 season who died of pancreatic cancer. No adventurer received the prize money.
Was there video of Teheiura taking the food?
No. Production learned of it by hearing contestants discuss it among themselves, and there was no footage of the exchange with the fishermen. The confrontation on air, and Teheiura's own admission, are what the record rests on.
Did Teheiura face any legal consequences?
No. There was no criminal or civil proceeding of any kind. The only consequences were production decisions by TF1: his removal from the game and the annulment of the final vote.
Did other contestants eat the food too?
Later French reporting said others did and that production sanctioned only the person who requested it. That was not verified for this page and no other contestant is named here.
Has an American Survivor season ever ended with no winner?
No. This happened on Koh-Lanta, the French edition made for TF1, which shares no cast, production or network with the CBS series.

Sources

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