Eliminated following having drawn the black ball during the council of the yellow team due to double equality in the votes (a particularly rare fact of the game, editor’s note), Benjamin quits Koh-Lanta, The cursed totem facing Stephanie. The young accountant looks back on these last hours in the adventure, during which his disagreement with Alexandra came to light…
“Alexandra’s ego got on my nerves very quickly”
Télé-Loisirs: Quickly in this episode, you evoke your tensions, now difficult to bear, with Alexandra …
Benjamin : My wife always tells me that the best way to make me do something is to forbid it… And Alexandra, that was it! From the moment I am given a list of orders, it’s the best way to dissuade me from doing them. I hate being forced, coerced into doing something. Alexandra, his ego and his way of leading got on my nerves very quickly. However, on the camp, we didn’t worry too much, we ignored each other a little but apart from that, we didn’t spend the days insulting each other. Far from there ! We told each other regarding our lives, overall we even opened up to each other… but we didn’t particularly like each other. And in this episode there, it burst in the eyes of everyone.
His assertive character was obvious in the blues, it was less obvious in the yellows…
She stepped back a little, already because she was no longer the team leader, it was Anne Sophie. And then among the yellows there were more characters who would have told her to stop if she had gone too far. For example, if she had told Bastien not to do enough on the camp, everyone would have come to his defense, because very few people can boast of being as active as him, Colin or Setha on the camp.
The yellows lose the immunity test when they have been ahead of the reds all along… for you, is it Alexandra’s fault (who was responsible for the last relay, editor’s note)?
Yes, 100%. We were first all the way until she started doing the puzzle. I myself had repeated to him before the start of the game that it was not going to do it and that I felt like doing it, this puzzle. My fault was not imposing myself enough once morest the others in this event and I accept my mistake. But in Episode 2, when I won immunity, I agreed to take responsibility if I caused the team to lose. There, Alexandra made the tribe lose and beyond that, she missed the test!
“Alexandra has lost legitimacy…”
For you, she did not take her responsibilities following the defeat?
She wasn’t going to say following the ordeal: ‘I sucked the most so I’m going to the council tonight’. It’s normal for her to defend herself… On the other hand, she has lost legitimacy. She came in Koh-Lanta for the sporting aspect of things and she failed badly, it doesn’t give a damn.
How did you feel in the new yellow team?
At the blues, at the start of the adventure, I really didn’t feel comfortable, especially because I wanted to go to the violets where there was Jean Charles and Anne-Sophie. Jean-Charles, as soon as he told me regarding his job on the boat, I saw stars in his eyes, as well as his kindness, which I felt. He’s a good guy. After at the blues I felt better. And among the yellows, at the level of the recomposition of the team, I was good, and I really liked certain people, even if they made me leave, like Anne-Sophie for example.
You explain that you came to Koh-Lanta to do strategy. However, before the evening council, we do not see you setting up any alliance to save yourself…
Indeed, that is what happened. At no time did I go to others to try to change the votes. I said to myself that if from the start of the game I had to go in there, it wasn’t worth it. And especially that I was going to save myself there but be eliminated from the next board.
“I have no regrets”
But did you feel that you were threatened? You went to the council completely resigned?
I knew I was in danger but I was betting on a ‘make or break’. I had sniffed out the possibility of a tie…so going to the black ball draw was a very serious probability, one I had in mind.
How did you experience this very special advice, in three phases?
On my face, it must be seen: you don’t see me panicking, I am rather smiling and serene. I expected this setup. Afterwards, when luck and fate come together… you can’t predict.
Going out on a draw, for a strategist like you, is it difficult to live with?
Frankly, going out on a black ball is one of the best outings I might hope for. I didn’t want to leave following three days with perfect unanimity once morest me, for example. The thing I didn’t expect was that the team trusted me more than I trusted myself, and I realized that too late. That’s what surprised me the most. This Koh-Lanta gave me confidence in myself. I didn’t feel like I was living half an adventure and I have no regrets.
“We saw each other once more with Alexandra”
Since the end of filming, have you had the opportunity to speak to Alexandra once more?
Yes ! It’s just a game, we laughed a lot regarding it together. We even saw each other once more, we had a drink together. I did not come in Koh-Lanta to see 23 Benjamin! I wanted to discover other profiles.
And have you made any friends?
Setha, she’s my best adventure friend. But I liked a lot of people: like FouziWhere Lili [la toute première éliminée, ndlr]whom I had time to meet on the boat at the start of the game… She left much too early and she deserves our full consideration.