Viaplay preps ‘Fort Boyard’ revival in Poland ahead of streamer’s launch

Fort Boyard

Nordic streamer Viaplay has ordered a reboot of veteran Banijay format Fort Boyard in Poland, marking the SVOD’s first commission in the country.

Fort Boyard, which was created in France by Jacques Antoine in 1990, is an adventure gameshow format that sees two teams competing in physical adventure escape-room based challenges both inside and outside of a fort. Teams must also answer riddles and mind-related games in a bid to be crowned the winner.

The Viaplay show will feature 48 Polish celebrities and is being produced by Banijay-owned Endemol Shine Poland, debuting in the autumn on the NENT Group-owned service.

The order marks a return for the family entertainment format to Poland after a 10-year hiatus and comes ahead of the streamer’s launch in the country in August.

NENT has to date focused mainly on original drama for Viaplay in the Nordics, but said it planned to stock the service in Poland with both scripted and non-scripted local content.

Filippa Wallestam, NENT’s chief content officer, said: “Our ambition is to launch locally produced shows, both drama and unscripted, as one of the cornerstones in our Viaplay offering in Poland.

“A legendary format like Fort Boyard that we have revived successfully in other markets is the perfect first step to capture the local audiences. We are very excited about bringing this power format back to Poland and can’t wait to reveal the rest of the upcoming local slate/offering.”