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I see you too have good taste in music.

I'll assume its an Airbnb now.

Guano! That's what you slipped in! That's what was on your shoe! AND THAT EXPLAINS THE ABRASION ON YOUR PALM! DAMN I'M GOOD!

And without Ft. Boyard, we would have never had Crystal Maze (with Richard O'Brian, although Richard Ayoade is reasonable. That Tudor-Pole pillock can piss off).

*Googles Melinda Messenger *

$2 million a night, and you have to take out the trash, vacuum, and wash the windows before checking out.

> TIL that the construction of Fort Boyard took so long

HOW LONG WAS IT?!

I used to love the Crystal Maze as a kid. Richard O'brien is the only host as far as I'm concerned. I tried watching the Ayoade reboot and while he was a reasonably entertaining host it just wasn't the same. I think perhaps the Internet and the intervening years have reduced my capacity for being entertained by game shows.

Her whole career was in front of her.

Let me run that back for you!

Building started in 1801 and was completed in 1857

But the invention of TV took so long that the game show only started in 1990

Always said that the bloke that sits the voiceover for come dine with me would be a good host. Even looks the past!

I spent a semester in Moscow in 1998, and they showed Форт Баярд на НТВ all the time.

It's how I will never forget the Russian word for midget, "карлик."

Another TIL for me there!

The budget on the reboot with Ayoade is clearly very low as well. The games are less imaginative, and the sets feel more claustrophobic. It always feels like watching people play through a series of Crystal Maze-themed escape rooms rather than the actual show.

Griswold hit the lights!

Fort Boyardee

I guarantee

> The fort was completely cleared of a huge layer of guano (50 cm thick).

That's a lot of guano, did they sell it or just threw it out? I've heard that guano can be rather valuable, or is that not the case in the late 1900's?

>I think perhaps the Internet and the intervening years have reduced my capacity for being entertained by game shows.

This is often the same with reboots in general no matter how good they are. Nothing can replicate the fuzzy glow of childhood memory.

Though give me a Knightmare reboot and I'm absolutely fucking in.

The urine stain on your pants indicates a single shake man; far too busy for the follow up jiggle.

I've seen that show.

Isn't it like a French precursor to Americsn Ninja Warrior?

I feel like the term “years later” vastly undersells just how long the timeframe was before it found its new purpose.

There is a excellent – albeit in French – Youtube video about it: L'HISTOIRE DE FORT BOYARD P1 - Les années Laffont | Le Télévisator. Yes, that's almost 2 hours long, quality Youtube content right there.

The story is quite a bit of fun. The fort was purchased by a dentist at an auction during the 60's. For the price of a very nice car: about 50,000 euros (adjusted for inflation).

When it got the interest of a very succesful TV producer, they had quite a genius move. They purchased it back from the dentist for 500,000 euros (adjusted for inflation) – nice markup mister dentist. It was then sold to the region Charente for 1 euro on the condition they finance the restauration (quite expensive, the fort was in poor shape) and agree to rent it exclusively to the production company.

Today, the fort is a symbol of one of the most succesful TV game ever created and is quite a staple of french television. This is also a good move on Charente part, even though this property is very expensive to maintain, it is a huge tourist attraction. Which is fun because before the 80's the existence of the fort was mostly unknown apart maybe from fishermen.

It was a source of saltpetre for gunpowder

hey i remember this, when i was a kid i thought they built it specifically for the show lol

56 years

The fort was completely cleared of a huge layer of guano (50 cm thick).