Fort boyard little people. About the television game "Fort Boyard", Passepartout and other characters

Yesterday, the heroes of the most popular TV show “Fort Boyard” arrived in Baku for the first time - Passepartout And Pastan. Their arrival was organized by the ATV channel, headed by the president of the ATV television and radio company Vugar Garadaghly, TV channel director Rauf Dadashev and creative producer of the project "Fort Boyard Azerbaijan" Ranar Musaev.

The purpose of their visit is to meet with Azerbaijani fans who have been following this project for 25 years. Fans will be able to see them, chat and take pictures at the ATV Plus stand today at 16:00 at the Baku Expo Center, where the Azerbaijan International Exhibition and Conference “Telecommunications and Information Technologies” - Bakutel opened.

Passepartout (André Bourchet), Pastan (Anthony Laborde) and executive director of the Ford Boyard project Pierre God gave an exclusive interview to the site.

- Tell us about your first impressions of Baku?

Passepartout: We would first like to thank Ranar for inviting us to Baku. We were happy to immediately agree to come here. Unfortunately, we haven’t had a chance to walk around the city yet, because we arrived a few hours ago, but we’ll definitely go somewhere in the evening. Baku is simply a magnificent city.

Pastan: Your city amazed me from the moment I stepped off the plane. At first I was surprised by the quality of the roads, then by the architecture, tall buildings. Honestly, it felt like we never even left Paris. Baku reminds me of my homeland. Ranar promised to take us for a walk around the city today. We will finally see it with our own eyes. We are most interested in the sights and traditions of your people.

- Did you know anything about our city before coming to Baku?

Pastan: To be honest, no, but now they not only found out, but also saw it with their own eyes. I don't even want to leave here. Baku is a warm city and immediately attracts you.

- Have you tried our national dishes yet?

Passepartout: (Laughs). To tell the truth, we were simply in shock. Thanks to Ranar, he organized a gorgeous lunch for us with your national dishes, I think it was kebab. Everything was delicious. We tried it for the first time, but despite this, we really liked it. There was so much food in front of us that we didn't know where to start. We don't eat much, so we had to abstain. Azerbaijanis are hospitable, warm people. We liked everything here. We are absolutely delighted.

- What does the game “Fort Boyard” mean to you?

Pastan: Fort Boyard is our whole life. We simply cannot imagine ourselves without this game. Not only me, but all the heroes of this project think so.

- What do you do outside of this project?

Passepartout: As soon as the game ends, we return to our real life. This may seem strange, but I work in the subway.

Pastan: I work in a store for tourists.

- But I know that Passepartout is also a singer and actor in addition to all this. Is it so?

Passepartout: You revealed my secret. (Laughs)\ I have a lot of songs that I wrote myself. There is even a composition dedicated to "Fort Boyard". In it I sing about my life in this fortress. In 1987, I starred in Mylène Farmer’s “Tristana” video, and three years later I became known first in France and then throughout the world as Passepartout from “Fort Boyard.”

Afterwards he starred in the French project "Trois contes merveilleux". Work takes up a lot of my time and I simply don’t have any free time to do anything else, so I no longer took part in films. In addition to all this, I would like to note that I have my own website where everyone can listen to songs performed by me. Pastan and I often perform in France and in other countries of the world at various parties.

Teams from around the world took part in Fort Boyard. Could you say which of them stood out to you the most?

Paspam: To be honest, I can’t remember. There were a lot of them.

Passepartout: I remember most of all the participants from Azerbaijan. It was easy and interesting to work with them.

- How did the Azerbaijani participants distinguish themselves?

Passepartout: In the game "Fort Boyard" all participants are divided into groups, and everyone only supports their team. And in working with your celebrities, we saw that they support each other and rejoice at the success of their opponent. This shows how united you are as a people. We are glad that we were able to meet such a talented person as Ranar. We know it wasn't easy for him. There were quarrels and reconciliations, but he held up well. We will be glad to cooperate with him again.

- Do you yourself support any team or is this just a job for you?

Pastan: First of all, this is our job. We have no right to advise or help participants. But there are teams that we ourselves root for if we see them doing very well in difficult tests, because not everyone can pass them. We ourselves are interested in the performance of the participants.

- This year you lost La Bule. How will the game continue without him? Who will replace him?

Passepartout: We were not just work colleagues, but real friends in real life. It will be difficult for us without him. We don't think anyone can take his place at Fort Boyard.

Pastan: He is always close to us in spirit.

- Pierre, as the executive director of the Fort Boyard project, tell me what is its success?

Pierre: The project "Fort Boyard" is filmed in a fortress, which was built in the mid-19th century and is located off the coast of France, between the islands of Aix and Oleron. Our project runs four months a year. It all depends on the season. Most often, filming begins in the spring. Success also depends on the fact that representatives of all nationalities can take part in this game, language does not play any role, the main thing is to cope with the challenges. This is an international game.

- And finally, what did you say to your Baku fans?

Passepartout: We haven’t seen them yet, but today we’ll meet everyone at the exhibition. We are pleased that we are loved very much here. Wherever we go, people know us and shout out our names as soon as they see us. We fell in love with Baku.

Kamala Aliyeva

Photo - Zaur Najafbekov

The popular international television game "Fort Boyard" impresses not only with its exciting plot, but also with the setting against which the action unfolds. The unusual architecture of the building, where participants compete in strength, dexterity and ingenuity, seems so mysterious that you definitely want to get to know it better. Indeed, in the history of Fort Boyard, which “sheltered” the famous show and gave it its name, there are many interesting pages.

Basic information

The sea fortress Fort Boyard is an incredibly complex engineering structure with a tragic fate. It took so long to build that it lost its defensive significance and was almost immediately abandoned. And the fort would be another ghost building, if not for the French producer and creator of game shows Jacques Antoine, who made it a “star” of first domestic and then world television.

Geographical location

Finding Fort Boyard on the map is easy. The citadel covers the port city of Rochefort in the Charente-Maritim department on the Atlantic coast of France from the sea. It is located in the Antios Strait, which is connected to the Bay of Biscay, limited by the islands of Ile d'Aix and Oleron.

The climate of these places is extremely unstable. In winter, stormy winds blow, raising gigantic waves of up to 25 m, nicknamed “killers”. Boyard suffered a lot from the ferocity of the local sea. Every spring, considerable funds are spent on restoring the walls of the building damaged by the wild elements. And the show is filmed only from early April to early August to avoid severe storms that pose a threat to life.

Due to changeable weather conditions, only the film crew and show participants are allowed to be in the fortress at a time. When high waves reach the roof of a building, urgent evacuation from it is possible only by helicopters, and they have a low capacity.

Description

In plan, the defensive structure is an oval, 68 m long and 31 m wide. With a height of 20 m, the building is divided into three floors-galleries that surround the courtyard. On one side there are corridors, on the other there are small rooms-cells. There are about 70 of them in total.

The flat roof is equipped with a terrace with a diving board and a helipad. Above the complex rises an observation tower, in which the main character of the adventure show now “lives” - the old man Fura, who asks riddles. In front of the facade facing the bay there is a modern pier where boats with tourists and participants in the TV game moor. It is connected to the main building by a metal gangway.

At the moment, the cells are actively involved by the creators of the show. Special equipment for various tests is installed here, and inventory is also stored. The main “bait” of the game is the treasury, located on the ground floor in close proximity to the cages with tigers, which vigilantly guard the wealth of the fortress.

The history of one of the most unusual forts in the world

In the middle of the 17th century, another escalation of the ongoing conflict between England and France began. The western port of Rochefort, where a military shipyard had just been built by that time, was under constant threat of attack by a powerful and well-armed British fleet. To protect an important strategic site, coastal fortifications were built, but they could not adequately withstand the threat from the sea - the range of artillery guns of that time was small.

In 1666, for the first time they started talking about a fortress on the water, which should have been built between the islands located on both sides of the Gulf of Antios. Its guns would have met the enemy much earlier than the coastal ones, preventing the advance of the British into the depths of the Bay of Biscay, and then along the Charente River to Rochefort. The military engineer Descombes proposed in 1692 to build a fortress on a sandbank known as the “Boyard Spit.” Technically, this was difficult to implement due to the instability of the soil and unfavorable weather conditions - the site was submerged under water during storms and tides.

The outstanding military builder and Marshal of France, the Marquis de Vauban, after analyzing the situation, told King Louis IV that it would be easier for him to reach the moon than to build a fortress in the indicated place. It was decided to abandon the idea. But the history of the building known today as Fort Boyard does not end there.

Centuries later, during the Seven Years' War, the British still managed to capture the island of Ile d'Aix, which forced the French military to think again about the maritime citadel. This time, engineer Armand Samuel de Marescott and Vice Admiral François Etienne de Rosily-Mesros even created a detailed construction project, but again it did not come to fruition, for economic reasons.

Construction of a sea fortress

In 1801, during the reign of Napoleon I Bonaparte, with whose light hand many bold plans were realized, they returned to the issue with greater persistence. It was decided to strengthen the sandbank with a “cushion” of stone blocks that could withstand the pressure of a massive building. In 1804, they began to implement a grandiose project. Construction turned out to be an even more labor-intensive and expensive process than it seemed on paper. The workers were confronted by the combined forces of nature and man.

The stones sank into the sand under their own weight, forcing the creation of ever new layers of embankment. After 3 years from the start of construction, it became clear that the work was practically standing still. In the winter of 1807 - 1808. Fierce storms destroyed the foundation that had been built with such difficulty and everything had to be started anew.

English warships often anchored near the shallows, creating a constant threat to the builders. But the most important negative factor was still the high cost of the project. Napoleon ordered the original size of the fortress to be reduced, but this did not significantly change matters. 3.5 million francs were spent on the embankment alone, and the construction of the walls was not even started.

Another event completely cooled Napoleon’s interest in the problematic structure. In 1809, the British defeated Rochefort's squadron - the need to protect the port city disappeared by itself.

The rise to power of Louis Philippe I, technological progress and a new round of the British-French conflict led to the fact that in 1837 the construction of a sea stronghold in the Bay of Biscay was continued. By that time, the stone foundation had stopped subsiding, and the advent of such technical innovations as concrete and hydraulic lime, capable of hardening in an aquatic environment, significantly simplified and reduced the cost of installation work.

The need for natural stone, which had to be mined and delivered to the sea, disappeared, so the construction of the citadel in the waters of Rochefort proceeded much faster. 20 years later, the unfinished fortification, called Boyard, was completed.

In total, the French spent more than half a century on the implementation of the sea stronghold project. Moreover, most of the time they did not build, but struggled with unfavorable initial conditions.

Guarding the maritime domain

The long-awaited citadel, well planned and capable of withstanding a long siege, was garrisoned with 250 men. They were going to use 74 guns to equip the fortification, when it suddenly became clear that this was not necessary. Technological progress affected not only the construction, but also the military sphere, significantly increasing the power of artillery pieces. Now their shells reached three times further than in the 17th century, when the idea of ​​​​strengthening the defense of Rochefort first arose. The batteries located along the shore and on the skeletons easily “blocked” the bay, cooling the enemy’s combat ardor.

The feasibility of further exploitation of Boyard, as well as its construction earlier, was called into question. Moreover, strong waves, hitting the walls of the casemates, moved the guns, interfering with aimed fire. Even the construction of a breakwater did not completely solve the problem.

Equipped with only 30 guns, the fortress still “fought” for some time, but during the period of the Bonapartist dictatorship, interest in it completely faded.

Like many fortifications that have lost their significance, Boyard turned into a penitentiary institution. From 1870 to 1872 Here, at first, captured Germans and Austrians were kept - France was at war with Prussia during this period, and then national activists dissatisfied with the aggressive policies of the Third Republic.

Fort Boyard's history as a prison turned out to be no less short than its military history. Although its position, far from the coast and civilization, seemed very advantageous, making it difficult for the prisoners to escape, 300 prisoners were soon transferred to the island of New Caledonia, a Pacific colony of France.

The citadel's "prison past" was reflected in the script for the TV game. Participants who do not manage to leave the room where the tests are taking place in time are made prisoners and sent to the cells of a dark dungeon.

Abandoned

The object that remained “orphaned” was returned to the Navy, under whose care it was until 1913. The Defense Department cared little about the dysfunctional fortress, but it became even worse when this owner also disappeared into oblivion.

All the equipment, even the guns, was stolen, and nature, with redoubled force, set about destroying the building, which appeared, it would seem, contrary to its laws. During the Second World War, the fortification was badly damaged by the German invaders, who turned it into a shooting range and severely damaged the walls. Piles of rubble buried the patio.

Surprisingly, the extensive restoration work carried out by the French government after the war did not affect Boyard. Gloomy and abandoned, it towered in the middle of the strait, presenting a gloomy, semi-fantastic sight.

The perfect testing ground for adventure

Seeing a destroyed but still stunning fort in 1980, reminiscent of a lonely ship without a captain, game show creator and producer Jacques Antoine experienced a surge of inspiration. He would later say that he immediately realized how much the granite building in the middle of the watery desert suited his plans for creating an innovative adventure game.

First, the fortress was “tested” in the filming of another show called “Adventurers.” And then we began its global reconstruction. One gets the impression that Ford Boyard was built specifically for Jacques Antoine’s show - only in his skillful hands did the building finally find “full life.” Not a single previous owner, including the Belgian dentist Eric Aert, who bought the building in 1961, was able to properly use it.

During the restoration, 700 m³ of stone debris and a 50-centimeter layer of bird droppings were removed from the courtyard.

The first episode of the adventure show "The Keys of Fort Boyard" was shown on French television on July 7, 1990, and an international version appeared almost immediately. In 1991, the word “key” disappeared from the name. The idea of ​​the game is simple - after passing a series of tests, a team (or 2 teams) of 6 participants gains access to the treasury and, having collected as many special coins as possible, then exchanges them for real money.

However, the “brainchild” of Jacques Antoine became a real pioneer in the segment of extreme shows built on fear, danger and mandatory reward.

The fate of the program did not go smoothly; it was either abandoned due to a drop in viewer interest, or revived again. In 2017 – 2018, the game was released in an updated format: the script included more interesting tests for modern viewers, including interactive ones.

Main characters of the game

The heroes who accompany the participants in pursuit of treasure remain unchanged. This:

• leading;
• Elder Fura is a magician and wizard who supposedly hid treasures stolen from people in the citadel 200 years ago, which now need to be returned;
• magical judges, in the last season - only one of them;
• La Boule is a giant who strikes a gong and escorts captured participants to prison;
• Lady Boo, who must be fought in a room with mud or clay;
• Felindra is the tamer of the tigers guarding the treasury;
• Passepartout and Pastemps, giving the game a special flavor and acting as co-hosts.

In the section on the question Who likes Ford-Boyard, tell us something interesting? given by the author Maxim Gribanov the best answer is Fort Boyard (French Fort Boyard (pronounced /bojar/; sometimes transliterated as Bayard, Boyard or Boyard) - a stone fort located off the Atlantic coast of France in the Antioch Strait, between the islands of Ile d'Aix and Oleron. Construction has begun in 1801 and ended in 1857.

The fortress was never used for strategic purposes, but for a long time it served as a detention center for political prisoners. When the prison was moved to New Caledonia, the fort became one of the monuments of French history on a regional scale.


In the fifties of the twentieth century, a local dentist bought the fort from the municipality, paying only one franc. But the deal required the building to be restored and made accessible to the public. The dentist (together with a certain Belgian company) decided to set up a restaurant with a helipad in the fort. However, the plan failed, and the municipality took the fort back.

For the last 13 years, the fort has been on television.
After watching the film “The Adventurers” starring Alain Delon, where some episodes were filmed in the fort, one of the French companies (Adventure Line Production) restored the building and began filming one of the first “real shows” in the world.
The project turned out to be successful - the game is already shown in 15 countries. In addition to the French version, the so-called
national games. They are being prepared for countries in Europe, Latin America and Russia.

Inhabitants of the fort: there are four permanent characters in the fort: the big guy La Bulle, the dwarfs Passepartout and Pastan, the tiger trainer Monica.
Stargazer Fura is one of the main characters of the fort. According to the rules of the game, Fura must speak the language of the participants, otherwise it would be difficult to accurately convey the meaning of the riddles.
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The French TV game Fort Boyard first aired on Russian television in 1992. The show about the adventures of treasure hunters within the walls of a 19th-century fortress immediately won great love from the audience.

The French TV game Fort Boyard first aired on Russian television in 1992. The show about the adventures of treasure hunters within the walls of a 19th century fortress immediately won great love from the audience.

History of the Fort

Work on the construction of a stone fortress on an artificial embankment in the Bay of Biscay began in 1804. France was in dire need of a fortification structure in this particular place, since on the sea coast at that time there was a shipyard for the construction of warships - an important strategic facility that was repeatedly attacked by the British. Construction was completed in 1866. The fort was 68 meters long, 31 meters wide and 20 meters high. In the 60s of the last century, Fort Boyard was sold at auction to private hands. Since then, the grandiose structure has been used as a film set by filmmakers.

Creator

The author of the idea for the television game “Fort Boyard” was the French television director Jacques Antoine. The show started on French television in 1990. Everything that happened on the screen had no analogues in the past. This game became the pinnacle of Jacques Antoine's creativity. The creator himself considered its charitable aspect to be one of the most important features of the game. Jacques Antoine is also known as the author of several books and director of a number of popular television shows and radio programs.

Fort inhabitants

During the filming of the show, the participants constantly interact with the characters who, according to the script, live on the territory of the Fort. Among them, Elder Fura is a hero who has been present in the show since the very first episode. He is the keeper of the keys to numerous rooms of the fortress, which he gives to the participants only after he hears the correct answer to his riddle. The role of Elder Fur is played by actor Yann Le Gac. The guides Passepartout, Pastam and Pasmurai also live in the Fort. The role of the latter is played by actor Anthony Laborde. Pasmurai is translated from French as “passing through walls.” He accompanies players at night. It is also impossible not to recall the most striking inhabitant of the fort - Lyabul. His name means "ball". His duty is to strike the godg, announcing the beginning and end of the game.

Good day to everyone reading the Review. Pro. Today I want to leave my review of my impressions of the TV show Fort Boyard.

I think everyone remembers this game very well, which we watched with the whole family for many years in a row.

This program began airing in the 90s, was very successful and soon became popular. I still remember the music with which it began.

The transmission is French. I filmed in a very interesting place. The game has a name - Fort Boyard, which is exactly the name of the fort in which the events unfold. This fort is located near the coast in the Bay of Biscay. This fort was built as a place for shooting training ranges and was also used as a prison. It currently houses the set of a game show.

The goal of the game is for a team of players to pass various physical and intellectual tests, find keys and clues, use the clues to form a word, and if the word is correct, then get treasures - gold coins. Participants earn seconds to receive treasures; the longest period of time is 4 minutes. Only in a few games did the teams manage to win the maximum time.

A team of 6 participants takes part in the game. Usually, they are volunteers for some organization, and if they win treasures, they donate the money to a fund for good causes.

The game is played by two presenters - a man and a woman. In addition to the presenters, Fort has many of its own heroes who we remember from childhood. This is the bearded gray old man Fura,
who lives in a tower and asks complex riddles,

also the Strongman of Fort La Boule is the largest man, beats the gong before the start of the test and at its end and is the warden of the dungeon. (By the way, I heard that this actor died of cancer last year), the tiger trainer is Monica, the tamers are Michael and Major.

And the famous Guides. Dwarf people who accompany participants to trials around the fort. They always run and don't talk. There are three of them. Their names are Passepartout, Pastam and Pasmurai.
These are French dwarf actors, very famous for their roles in TV shows and movies.

More often than others, in various television works, I met the actor Andre Boucher. In the game he played the role of Passepartout. The actor is now 48 years old, his height is 120 cm. Passepartout is the only one of all the conductors who participated in all seasons of the game, and is also filmed in the current games.

Wonderful game. I remember how the whole family was waiting for the session. As I remember now - at 5 pm on Saturday. Then, together with our friends, we also played this game, inventing challenges for ourselves in the yard. I was pleasantly surprised that the game is still being filmed to this day. I would love to watch a couple of episodes.

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