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Coming into 2020, you could be forgiven for thinking that it
could well be a bumper year for 'The Games' - with a new Jeux Sans
Frontières in the works from France 2, who had announced it with much
fanfare in summer 2019. It was to be presented by popular Egyptian-born French
television host Nagui Fam (who works professionally as Nagui). The expected
series didn't materialise in 2019, which of course saw the debut of Mediaset's
JSF-clone Eurogames in Italy later in the year.
After months of silence, it was announced on 19th December that the new France
2 series would no longer be Jeux Sans Frontières; instead they would be
relaunching a brand new version of Intervilles in 2020. The reason for
this change was explained by Nagui in the French press shortly afterwards when
he said: "France 2 only wanted to collaborate with other European public
broadcasters, but none was interested."
Then, on 28th February 2020, some further news came through about Eurogames,
which sologossip.it reported as having been renewed for a second
season. Arguably, this was a somewhat unexpected development as the first
season audience figures were poor and dwindled over its six week run. The new
series was expected to see a small shake-up in the presentation stakes, with
Ilary Blasi being retained but Alvin dropped in favour of an older, much-loved
Italian actor and television presenter, Claudio Amendola.
Of
course, shortly after these announcements, many parts of the world including
France and Italy were hit badly by the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic, and
either or both of these series may now well be postponed or cancelled.
Considering the devastation and tragedy caused by this virus, Intervilles
and Eurogames are of small importance, the safety of competitors,
audiences and crew being paramount. Hopefully, when happier, safer days
arrive, these series can return.
by Alan Hayes
with thanks to Frédéric Tonton |
