Tania Čakarević is returning to French reality show Koh-Lanta for a second season, this time on "Koh-Lanta All Stars 2026," where she will be forced into a duo with Nicolas, the former team captain who tried to vote her out of the game in 2023.
The new season begins Tuesday, August 25, on TF1 and TF1+.
In 2023, Tania reached the final of "Koh-Lanta: Le Feu sacré" after becoming the contestant who received the most votes against her in the show's history, a result she attributes to her strong personality and outspokenness, which had drawn criticism at the time from Nicolas, her team captain.
Paired with a former rival
Tania, 26, a former dietitian and sports coach, said she did not hesitate for even two minutes before agreeing to return. It had been a dream to take part once, she said, so why not twice, though she admitted she was not sure whether it was madness speaking on her behalf.
She said many people had asked her why she was going back after nearly winning the competition outright the first time. She said she had lived through the entire adventure and come out of it with a good image, and that image would not change because she is the same person in the game as she is in real life. She said she wanted to live a new adventure to discover even more about who she is, describing Koh-Lanta as also a major test of self-reflection.
She said she was shocked to learn she would be teamed up with Nicolas, who had tried to eliminate her at nearly every council during their season. Some contestants had worked out the pairing in advance from seeing the totems of the different seasons, she said, but she had been completely oblivious. She said the production is unpredictable, which is exactly what makes the new season so striking.
Facing the cold again with Raynaud's syndrome
Asked whether there was a hardship of Koh-Lanta she had forgotten before returning, Tania pointed to the nights on the island. She said she was so cold that she thought she was going to die every night, and that even moving closer to the fire left her thinking she would either die from the flames or die from the cold. Out of respect for her boyfriend, she said, she avoided cuddling up to other contestants, though she admitted she sometimes got close to fellow contestant Laure, because otherwise the cold would have been unbearable.
Tania has previously revealed she suffers from Raynaud's syndrome, a blood circulation disorder she has had since birth that leaves her fingertips, toes, nose and ears permanently cold. She said the condition makes the cold on Koh-Lanta especially hard to cope with, given contestants are given only a small sweatshirt and leggings to sleep in, and said it was again very difficult this time.
'Koh-Lanta changed my life'
Tania said Koh-Lanta changed her life. During her first season, she said, she learned that she was not defined solely by her identity as a sportsperson, but was someone else besides, describing herself as an incredible, positive person. She said the show also changed her career: she left dietetics and coaching, work she may return to one day, to become a content creator, and now makes her living from social media. She said she feels very fulfilled.
Turning her following toward tennis
Tania said her follower count grew dramatically after her first season aired. She kept working her old job for six months while her online following built up, before deciding to commit to content creation full-time, a decision she said she does not regret because she does not like doing things by halves.
Her boyfriend is professional tennis player Titouan Droguet, who is ranked 111th in the world. Tania said that in recent months she has steered her Instagram account toward tennis, a sport she has played her whole life, which she said made sense and lets her follow him on tour while she works. She said she is free with her time, creates videos and gets to live wonderful experiences.
How she met Titouan Droguet
Tania said she and Droguet did not meet quite the way fans might assume. She said he had crossed paths with her ten years earlier, when she accompanied her sister Sarah, who played tennis, at the Roland-Garros tournament. Droguet has said he was instantly drawn to her at the time, though she did not notice him. Two years after her Koh-Lanta season aired, the pair met again at a gathering, and it was only then that he watched her season.
Tania said watching the show let him see who she truly was, because contestants wear no makeup, do not eat and do not sleep, so viewers see the soul of the candidates. She said that was when he realized she was fabulous for him.
