VIDEO. Fort Boyard: 9 million euros missing to save the legendary setting of the game show, a call for donations launched

Fort Boyard weakened by repeated attacks from Atlantic waves. In order to undertake work to protect the stone vessel as quickly as possible, the Charente-Maritime department and the Heritage Foundation launched a call for donations from the general public and businesses on Tuesday December 17, 2024. With one objective: ” Save Fort Boyard!”

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Fort Boyard: “threatened with destruction”, the monument will be renovated “in order to avoid the worst” and will open its doors to the public from 2028

Amount expected by the operation: 9 million euros. If, as hoped, the generosity of the French is there, this will make it possible to restore the famous building. The sum, however, represents only part of the total amount necessary to save the monument: no less than 36,6 millions d’euros. Hors taxes. It must be said that the damage caused by the waves which continuously fall on the stones is considerable, specifies France3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine: the Fort is cracking, revealing holes in the walls.

Hence the need for “repair of the very degraded embankment which surrounds the structure, as well as the restoration of a docking harbor to the south-east and a spur to the north-west”, specifies the Fondation du Heritage.

Filming maintained during the work

For 35 years, the Fort Boyard program, which is recorded on the historic site, has become the summer meeting place for the French. The adventure game punctuates Saturday evenings for millions of viewers. And we are not the only ones to contemplate its ramparts: the notoriety of the Fort erected on the island of Aix in the 19th century has long gone beyond our borders. This is why 35 countries including Turkey, Serbia, the United Kingdom and even the United States have developed their own version of the show.

So for France2, there is no question of abandoning filming during construction. “We have already planned work meetings to agree on the days when they are most likely to intervene in relation to the days when we are filming,” explains the executive producer of the show, Antoine Weber, of Adventure Line Productions.

It is possible to contribute to the prize pool here. According to the schedule announced by the Heritage Foundation, the work should be completed in 2028. Before being able to welcome the public again.