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2006 was a bumper year for the International version of Intervilles in that
there were two sets of competitions, both recorded in the summer months and
then transmitted in the summer and autumn respectively.
The first
set of competitions involved four nations - China, France, Russia and Ukraine
- and was recorded in
Saint-Pierre, Réunion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. The
second also involved four countries, with China and France dropping out to be
replaced by Italy and Romania. These 'autumn' events were staged in Sainte-Maxime-sur-Mer, Var, on the French Riviera.
For ease of reference JSFnetGB refers to them as (A) Saint-Pierre
and (B) Sainte-Maxime-sur-Mer.
The French Domestic series Intervilles continued, but
there was some controversy in the choice of its presentation team. Regular
presenter Nagui was otherwise engaged, making the daily game show Tout le Monde veut Prendre sa
Place (Everyone Wants to Take Their Place) and was not available to
present the 2006 series of Intervilles. 2005 co-host Patrice Laffont is
tipped to take his place as main presenter, but - much to his chagrin - he is
dropped by new channel France 3 who consider him too old at 66. After several
further suggested candidates were rejected by the organisers (such as Patrick
Sébastien and Anthony Kavanagh), the choice was finally made: Nathalie Simon,
last involved in 2004, would return alongside Julien Lepers and
Jean-Christophe Le Texier (better known as Tex), a comedian and comic artist,
with Vanessa Dolman commentating on the Fil Rouge.
There had been talk of a possible return for Interneige
in 2006, but the plans come to nothing, the reason cited being a lack of time
and money.
Meanwhile, in Spain, for the first year since it began in 1995
as Cuando Calienta el Sol (When the Sun Heats Up) the Spanish Domestic
series Grand Prix del Verano (Summer Grand Prix) did not grace
television screens in 2006. This was due to a disagreement between broadcaster
TVE and production company Europroducciones over who should present the show.
RTVE wished to break their association with Ramón García, while
Europroducciones wanted to retain him as show host. While several alternative
hosts were discussed, negotiatons proved feuitless and RTVE backed out,
leaving no time for Europroducciones to produce a 2006 season and find another
channel to transmit it. However, all was not lost as Grand Prix del Verano would
be relaunched in
2007 on the FORTA TV association of regional channels. |
