After 16 years of absence, “Intervilles” is making a comeback this summer. But the emblematic game returns without its famous cows and with a replacement that is not unanimous.
Sixty-three years after its creation, in 1962, Intervilles is about to come back to the small screen to the delight of nostalgic. This cult game, which opposes two French cities through a series of wacky physical challenges, has marked several generations. Imagined by Guy Lux and originally presented by Léon Zitrone and Simone Garnier, Intervilles was interrupted in 1972 after 10 years of existence. The game made a first return in 1985 to FR3, before switching to TF1 from 1986 to 1991.
Afterwards, Intervilles was entitled to several comebacks, passing through the hands of different animators such as Nagui, Tex, Nelson Monfort, Philippe Candeloro or Olivier Chiabodo and finally Nathalie Simon. But since 2009, nothing. The show seemed to have bowed out, leaving orphaned its faithful viewers.
It was without counting on France 2 who decided to resuscitate this television monument. The chain has formalized the news by revealing this week the long -awaited broadcast date: Intervilles Returns from Thursday, July 3, 2025. And it was Nagui, who had already orchestrated the return of the program in 2004, which will once again be in charge.
Many (too much?) Of animators for Intervilles version 2025
First novelty in this Intervilles Version 2025: The star host will be surrounded by many other emblematic figures of the PAF like Bruno Guillon, Camille Cerf, Valérie Bègue or Magali Ripoll. One wonders how the roles will be distributed with such a skewer of animators, but the casting has something to offer a facelift with several faces to this great classic of summer entertainment.
A detail still has the effect of a cold shower for certain unconditional fans: the absence of the famous cowhides. These intrepid cattle, who unrestrained the candidates in the arena, had become inseparable fromIntervilles over the years. Nagui and France Télévisions, carried by convictions in favor of animal welfare, preferred to give up this controversial tradition.
Hailed by some, the announcement aroused strong reactions to others, shouting in the sacrilege. Two historic cities ofIntervillesDax and Mont-de-Marsan, even decided to boycott this 2025 edition. “Intervilles Without cowtakes, it is not Intervilles“, hammered the mayor Montois Charles Dayot.” It’s a fair, any television game, but it’s not called Intervilles“, He insisted, seeing it” a denigration of the “local” traditions around the Landes cow.
The replacement of the cows in Intervilles revealed
Far from silence the controversy, the teams ofIntervilles have presented in recent days on social networks the replacement for the iconic bovid: “Topa”, a mascot in the form of a giant (and cute) cow -shaped cow carried by a person in flesh. A way to perpetuate the symbolism that could also amplify discomfort instead of appeasing it. On Instagramthe small scenes supposed to tease the arrival of Topa and showing Naguy, Valérie Bègue, Camille Cerf or Yoann Riou, in full discovery of the mysterious mascot borders on the ridiculous for many.
“Ridiculous in addition, in view of the teaser without the legendary Shanana in credits, there is nothing that goes,” writes a commentator. “For me it will be more a parody ofInterville“, reacts another when a third provides” a beautiful stew that no one is going to look at “. That we are not mistaken: many other comments have still praised the process of leaving the cows quiet and expressed, conversely, their impatience.
In the meantime, France 2 continues the preparations for this highly anticipated come-back, which had already failed to see the light of day in 2020 before being postponed due to health crisis. With or without horns, the television monument intends to reconnect with its luster of yesteryear.