It won’t be for this time for Clémence. Eliminated with Esteban during the episode of linked destinies broadcast last week on TF1, the candidate from Saintes (Charente-Maritime) bowed definitively this Tuesday evening. Following the latest advice from Koh-Lanta, the sacred firea second chance had been offered to him, by facing Esteban during a duel.
But the candidate, however very combative, was unable to seize it, destabilized by the betrayal of her former allies Frédéric and Quentin, but also by the prospect of ending deprivation once and for all. Clémence answered questions from 2O Minutes.
During this face-to-face, we have the feeling that you have given up a little. What was your state of mind at that time?
This moment of transition between elimination and the second chance was very difficult for me to manage. I switched immediately when we learned that we were eliminated. A few minutes later I said to myself that I had succeeded in my adventure, that I had won totems, proved my worth. And that I was going to be able to eat! I just thought about that. I had a lot of trouble getting back into it, telling myself that I had to fight again, to perhaps be betrayed again, to still be deprived of everything… I know that during this ordeal I was not at my maximum in terms of concentration and it could have failed me. Emotions took over, something I had managed to manage until the linked destinies.
Looking back, do you regret missing out on this second chance?
Of course ! Not the fact of having lost but of knowing that I was not 100%. It was this test that had to be won. Congratulations to Esteban, I didn’t manage to give myself as I should have.
The stage of linked destinies, was it something you feared?
I did not apprehend them in themselves but at the stage where we were and saw the men who remained, yes. I was very apprehensive about being with Esteban, he was really the man I didn’t want to be with. Not humanly because he is a very good person, but he was the one who performed the least among the four remaining. He was never really quiet on the board, there was always a moment in the strategies where his name was mentioned, even if in the end we didn’t really vote against him. It was not reassuring at all and when I saw that, I sank directly.
Very disappointed, you had some harsh remarks towards him… Do you regret them, cold?
I can’t say that I regret them because that’s really what I think at the moment and what I live. It’s not possible to say months and months later that I’m sorry and that I’m sorry, it’s too easy. At the time, that was my feeling. I wrote to Esteban afterwards to apologize for my remarks, I told him that I was not going to learn from him that emotions were hard to manage there with fatigue, hunger… Today oday there is no resentment between him and me at this level, everything is going very well. But I admit it, I don’t deny having been very brutal.
Why was your partner the target of the votes according to you?
It was for them the perfect mix between making people believe that we are voting against the least deserving person and at the same time ousting the one who bothers us a little on the immunity tests. It was killing two birds with one stone and pulling two thorns out of one’s foot at the same time. Especially since during the council, everyone notes Esteban but when everyone speaks, they say: “I vote against Clémence” And that, I admit that when I saw him I wondered why they hadn’t noted my name directly. Why not assume to take me out? It’s something you only see afterwards and it’s even more frustrating.
How did you experience Quentin and Frédéric’s betrayal? As we discover, for you this pact is very sacred. Did you fall from above?
I had doubts. I really hoped that my alliance with Quentin and Frédéric could be more important in their eyes than the one they had with Nicolas, but I was not fooled. I knew very well that it was going to be played out between our two pairs and that Frédéric and Quentin had the cards in hand. I even sensed it before I went to council and told Laura about it. I wasn’t flabbergasted, I was just disappointed.
Frédéric explains straight to your eyes why he betrays you. Do you blame him or do you understand that it’s a strategy like any other?
At the time I resent him enormously because his justification for me is totally false. He reproaches me for having lied straight in the eye concerning the elimination of Gilles but if I dared to make this alliance with the girls and lie to Frédéric and Quentin, it is because the week before he made me the same with Helena. She was my ally and my friend, they were fully aware of her elimination so the betrayal started then. Blame me for it two weeks later and take it out on me as an argument to get out, it’s really knowing how to turn the situation to your advantage.
Unlike Frédéric, Quentin does not play fair with you. You really didn’t see it coming?
Yes, because for me, in the game, Quentin and Frédéric are one and the same person. One doesn’t go without the other, a bit like Laura and me. The fool’s game didn’t work for me at all. The glowing words I say about Quentin when he is given the black vote are those of Esteban that I repeat. Afterwards, it’s still an adventurer that I appreciate. Given what he did during the ambassadors, I still consider that he has a word. It’s strategy but it’s still someone with a man’s word and it’s still honorable.
While we thought the cards were reshuffled thanks to the strategy of the girls, the trio made up of Nicolas, Frédéric and Quentin is back in force and displays omnipotence. At this point in the game, does anyone really suspect this secret alliance?
The alliance between the three boys? She was not at all secret, we had already spotted her when they were four. We suspected that the elimination of Gilles was not going to call into question their alliance. Everyone was aware that they were very attached to each other and that they wanted to move forward together. The only thing I hoped was that my alliance with Frédéric and Quentin would be stronger than the one they could have with Nicolas. But I had very serious doubts.
Did you expect strategy to take up so much space in this season?
Yes, because during the various exchanges we have with the production before joining the show, we are asked the question: whether we are ready to accept the strategy. It’s something that was maybe a bit lacking in the last few seasons but for me it’s really part of the nature of Koh Lanta. Otherwise the greatest athletes would win each time and everything would be written in advance. But it wouldn’t be so thrilling. In this season, we are perhaps making more of a difference between the game and reality.
Are you still proud of your career path?
I am very proud of myself, of my individual events won, I also know that in collective events I have always managed to bring something. Afterwards, I am someone who judges herself a lot and who seeks perfection, so there is necessarily a little touch of bitterness.