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Intervilles

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Intervilles
GenreGame show
Created byGuy Lux
Claude Savarit
Presented byVarious
Country of originFrance
Original languageFrench
No. of series24
No. of episodes344
Production
Running time120 minutes
Production companyMistral Productions
Original release
NetworkRTF (1962–1964)
ORTF (1964–1973)
TF1 (1986–1991, 1995-1999)
France 2 (2004–2005, 2013)
France 3 (1985, 2006–2009)
Gulli (2014–2016)
Release17 July 1962 (1962-07-17) –
26 August 2009 (2009-08-26)
Related
Jeux sans frontières
It's a Knockout

Intervilles [ɛ̃.tɛʁ.vil] is a French comedy game show first broadcast in 1962. The show was based on a previous Italian programme. It featured teams representing towns in France competing in a series of games, some of which involved live cows and bulls (referred to as the vachettes). The show was aired from July 17, 1962, on RTF, then on ORTF from 1964 to 1973. After 12 years of absence, it reappeared on July 10, 1985, on FR3, then from July 4, 1986, to September 6, 1999, on TF1 despite allegations of cheating in 1997. France 2 aired the show from July 5, 2004, then France 3 from June 23, 2006, to August 26, 2009.[1]

A special programme was broadcast on France 2 on June 29, 2013, to mark the show's 50th anniversary, and an international version was broadcast on Gulli from 2014 to 2016.[2] In 2019, it was announced that the programme would be revived, albeit without including the vachettes. Nagui finally announced in October 2023 that the show was no longer a priority, given the cost of living and the financial difficulties of different cities. However, the revival of the show is still a possibility in the future.

Background

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Filming in Toulouse, July 1986 with its mayor Dominique Baudis (left), the presenter Léon Zitrone and two candidates.
Filming at the Futuroscope theme park (2007)

Intervilles was created as an adaption of the Italian programme Campanile sera [it], which pitted two teams representing separate towns against each other in a series of games and obstacle courses.[3] When the 1962 Tour de France was not broadcast on French television due to a dispute over allowing commercial advertising on the Tour, Intervilles was created to fill the time.[3] The original rule brought in by the creator Guy Lux was that towns could only participate if they had 20,000 inhabitants or less to avoid big cities because of a belief they lacked local pride.[3] The first episode was between Saint-Amand-les-Eaux and Armentières in Dax in an open-air arena in front of 6,000 spectators.[3] Reportedly it became so popular that the President of France, Charles de Gaulle would rearrange his official schedule to watch it.[4] The programme inspired the British programme It's a Knockout.[5]

In the 1990s, Olivier Chiabodo [fr] said the games were rigged to keep up suspense by soaping up surfaces for the team in the lead.[6] This was after Chiabodo had been fired from the programme by TF1 after having been accused of cheating by Le Canard enchaîné newspaper.[7] Chiabodo was accused of helping Puy du Fou win in 1996 and 1997 by indicating quiz answers to them using his hands.[8] The mayor of Mont-de-Marsan which opposed Puy du Fou in the 1997 final made the allegation of cheating by stating: "Nous ne sommes pas venus ici en culottes de chou nous faire brouter le cul par des lapins" ("We did not come here in cabbage breeches to have our arses eaten by rabbits").[9] Puy du Foy sued for defamation and the losers of the previous year Pont-Saint-Esprit also sued Chiabodo, alleging that he tried to put their contestants off by making negative comments towards them.[10][11] Chiabodo sued Le Canard enchaîné for 400,000 francs but was only awarded a token 1 franc in damages.[7]

In 2013, a special anniversary programme was broadcast on France 2 to celebrate 50 years of the programme. The episode included a repeat of the original final between teams representing Dax and Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. This was done in the hopes of a revival to be broadcast the next year.[2]

Vachettes

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Intervilles became well known for its use of horned cows and young bulls in the games, referred to as the "vachettes" (cowhides). The bulls were not originally a part of the programme, but when Lux visited Buglose in South West France, he was persuaded to include bulls after seeing the popularity of cattle shows.[3] He asked local breeder Joseph Labat to provide the bulls, an agreement that continued through three generations of the Labat family.[3] The bulls were adolescents and entered the ring with rubber balls on their horns for safety.[4] The vachette was let loose to disrupt the competitors and would often attack them by goring them.[12][13][14] The vachettes were not trained in any way and were allowed to behave naturally. Individual cows were selected for the programme based upon their temperament.[15]

In the 2000s, a cow called Rosa became a popular star of the programme. She appeared in every episode from her debut in 2004 to the series' end in 2009 and appeared in the 2013 anniversary special.[16] With a black head and white body, she had a reputation for being very aggressive towards contestants but having intelligence to knock down sets when needed.[17][18] She was later given her own game called "Rosa Strike".[18] Even after the programme finished, fans of the programme would visit the Labat's farm to see Rosa. When she died in 2020, it made national news in France.[18]

In 2019, it was announced by France Télévisions that Intervilles would be revived but that it would not include the vachettes. There was a negative reaction to this from towns in southern France, where bullfighting is common. They accused the network of having been cowed by animal rights activists and moving towards "Anglo-Saxon customs".[19] The former host Nagui supported the move saying he did not like seeing how the animals were treated when he was the host. In response to that statement, Teddy Labat countered by saying that the animals were treated well and pointed out that Nagui took no interest in their well-being behind the scenes during filming.[20] Fifty towns and cities agreed to take part in a boycott of the revival until the cows were returned.[21] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, filming for the revival was delayed.[22]

Hosts

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Regular series

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Year Channel Hosts
1962 Guy Lux Simone Garnier [fr] Roger Couderc [fr] Léon Zitrone — —
1963 Claude Savarit
1964
1970
1971
1973
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991 Denise Fabre Philippe Risoli Patrick Roy and Pascal Brunner [fr] Évelyne Leclercq [fr]
Year Channel Primary hosts Secondary hosts Referees 
1995 Jean-Pierre Foucault Fabrice Nathalie Simon [fr] — Olivier Chiabodo [fr] —
1996
1997 Thierry Roland
1998 Julien Courbet Delphine Anaïs [fr] Laurent Mariotte [fr] Robert Wurtz
1999 Fabrice Nathalie Simon [fr] Olivier Grandjean [fr]
2004 Nagui Juliette Arnaud [fr] — — — Robert Wurtz (until Tours-Saintes 2007) Olivier Alleman [fr] (assistant)
2005 Patrice Laffont Nathalie Simon [fr] Philippe Corti [fr]
2006 Tex Julien Lepers Vanessa Dolmen [fr]
2007 Olivier Alleman [fr] (from Tours-Saintes 2007 onwards) —
2008 Alessandro di Sarno Sandra Murugiah (assistant)
2009 Nelson Monfort Philippe Candeloro — — Michel Ménétrier (assistant)
2013 Olivier Minne Nathalie Simon [fr] — Big Ali Tex
TBA Nagui Bruno Guillon TBA

International series

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Year Channel Hosts Referees
2014 Cécile de Ménibus Joan Faggianelli Olivier Grandjean [fr]
2015
2016

Other spin-off versions

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Lux also created and hosted the following spin-offs:

  • Jeux sans frontières, a Europe-wide competition with summer and winter editions
  • Interneige [fr], a winter version of Jeux sans frontières held in ski resorts (1964–1968, 1976–1981 and 1987)
  • Intercontinents, an international competition (1987–1988)
  • Interglace [fr], a winter version of Intervilles (1987, 1989 and 1995)
  • Interchallenges (1988)
  • Intervilles Juniors (later Inter-Juniors), a version for children (2007–2009)

There was another international version, Intervilles International (also known as The Biggest Game Show in the World) aired from 2005 to 2016 in which several teams compete, each of which represents its country. The referee was Olivier Grandjean for all twelve seasons, originally filmed in France, before moving to Budapest, Hungary for the tenth season in 2014 and Hainan Island, China the following year. This version has been broadcast in the majority of participating countries.

International adaptations

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Intervilles has been adapted in several countries. These versions, separate from the European and international shows, include:[23]

References

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  1. ^ "Le-touquet-saint-quentin". Inatheque. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  2. ^ a b "Intervilles. 50 ans après, le retour des vachettes" (in French). Ouest France. 2013-06-29. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "JSfnet.fr " Story : les grandes dates " 1962 > La naissance d' " Intervilles "". Jeux sans frontières (in French). 2009-05-14. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  4. ^ a b Lichfield, John (1997-09-22). "France's favourite game show host not amused by allegations of funny business". The Independent. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  5. ^ Domeneghetti, Roger (2019-09-15). "How 'It's A Knockout' helped to unite Europe". The New European. Archived from the original on 2021-07-28. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  6. ^ Sage, Adam (2017-09-25). "We cheated endlessly says Olivier Chiabodo, host of French It's a Knockout – World". The Times. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  7. ^ a b Palou, Anthony (2020-07-10). ""Intervilles" : En voiture, Simone !". La Figaro (in French). Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  8. ^ "VIDEO. Le scandale d'"Intervilles" ou Chiabodo Gate en cinq actes". 20 Minutes (in French). 2017-09-25. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  9. ^ "Télévision : les Landes et "Intervilles", toute une histoire… de vachettes!". Sud Ouest (in French). Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  10. ^ "Lawsuits fly in French game show scandal". The Province. Vancouver. 1997-09-26. Retrieved 2021-07-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Did game-show referee cheat?". Dereset News. 1997-09-25. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  12. ^ Dejevsky, Mary (2011-10-23). "The knockout spirit of a French summer". The Independent. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  13. ^ ""Intervilles" 2013 sur France 2 : la première bonne surprise télé de l'été". Le Plus (in French). 2013-06-30. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  14. ^ "Nathalie Simon sur tous les fronts". Le Parisien (in French). 2008-08-11. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  15. ^ "Intervilles sans vachettes : l'émission "se prive de son meilleur moment"". Europe 1 (in French). 2020-01-28. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  16. ^ "Intervilles. Rosa, la vachette star de l'émission, est morte" (in French). Ouest France. 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  17. ^ "Landes : Rosa, la vachette star d'Intervilles est morte". France Bleu (in French). 2020-07-15. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  18. ^ a b c Briand-Locu, Marie (2020-07-16). ""Intervilles" : la vachette Rosa, star du jeu, est morte". Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  19. ^ Sage, Adam (2020-01-24). "French It's a Knockout revival 'cowed to animal rights activists'". The Times. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  20. ^ ""Intervilles" : Nagui était "le moins intéressé au bien-être" des vachettes selon un collaborateur" (in French). Paris Match. 2020-02-06. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  21. ^ Média, Prisma (2020-01-24). "Fin des vachettes dans Intervilles : 50 villes appellent au boycott de l'émission". Voici (in French). Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  22. ^ "Le retour d'Intervilles ? "C'est en mode en pause", confie Olivier Minne". Europe 1 (in French). 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2021-08-01.
  23. ^ "History: Other Flavours".
  24. ^ "Jeux sans frontières | JSfnet.fr » Le Mag : l'actu des Jeux » « Intervilles » : la Chine en redemande ! 52 nouvelles émissions en préparation".
  25. ^ "Gameshow Kult". April 20, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-04-20.
  26. ^ KG, imfernsehen GmbH & Co (July 5, 2003). "Deutschland Champions" – via www.fernsehserien.de.
  27. ^ "Jeux sans frontières | JSfnet.fr » Le Mag : l'actu des Jeux » Intervilles s'exporte en Côte d'Ivoire".
  28. ^ "Town Challenge - UKGameshows". www.ukgameshows.com.
  29. ^ McCarthy, James Martin (May 14, 2023). "Ten locally produced TV programmes we miss". Belfast Live.
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