Koh Lanta

Format and rules

The show follows the same general format as the other editions of the show. The players are split between two "tribes", are taken to a remote isolated location and are forced to live off the land with meagre supplies for approximately 6 weeks (3 weeks in special seasons). Frequent physical and mental challenges are used to pit the teams against each other for rewards, such as food or luxuries, or for "immunity", forcing the other tribe to attend "Tribal Council", where they must vote off one of their players.

Once about half the players are remaining, the tribes are merged into a single tribe, and competitions are on an individual basis; winning immunity prevents that player from being voted out. Most players that are voted out at this stage form the "Tribal Council Jury". Once down to two people, a final Tribal Council is held where the remaining players plead their case to the jury as to why they should win the game. The jury then decides who between the two should be considered the winner and be awarded the grand prize of €100,000, with the runner-up being awarded €10,000.

Differences in format

Unlike most versions of Survivor, dual winners are possible in some seasons where the jury vote resulted in a tie (as occurred in Koh-Lanta: Bocas del Toro and Koh-Lanta: Palawan). In this case both contestants are considered the winners and each receive €55,000. This differs from most editions of the show as other editions will either never have a jury with an even number of participants or have tie-breaker mechanisms in place (such as Israeli Survivor where the tie will break in favor of the winner of a public vote or in Dutch/Belgian's Expeditie Robinson where a group of former players form a "grand jury" and vote to break the tie).

Another difference in rules between Koh-Lanta and other editions is how the unexpected eliminations are handled. On Koh-Lanta, when a player is eliminated from the game outside of "Tribal Council" (either by being removed for medical reasons, or quitting prior to Raja Ampat) the player replaced by the most recently eliminated player (or when there is no such player is available, a completely new contestant) who will take their place and the game continues as planned. In other editions, an unexpected elimination is handled by adjusting the events of the game to accommodate the absence of a player (often the upcoming Tribal Council will be cancelled but this will not always be the case).

Season 13 cancellation

Production was stopped and the series cancelled for the 2013 season following the death of a contestant, Gérald Babin, during the first day of filming in Cambodia on 22 March 2013. The program's on-site doctor, Thierry Costa, committed suicide following the controversy. In his suicide note, he stated that his name has been "smeared in the media", leading to his ultimate death. Production later resumed for Koh-Lanta: The New Edition.

The death of Babin marked the second death of a contestant on any edition of Survivor worldwide. The first (and so far only other) death occurred on the 4th season of Bulgarian Survivor (titled Survivor BG: Philippines)) when contestant Noncho Vodenicharov died, however unlike Koh-Lanta the production of the series continued.