A contestant died of cardiac arrest on the 16th Season of Koh-Lanta, the French version of Survivor.
The French competition was filming on location in Cambodia, March 21st, when 25-year-old contestant Gérald Babin collapsed during the first challenge and reportedly suffered a series of heart attacks. Read more here.
Deaths during the filming of reality competitions are rare and this one is particularly disturbing because the contestant was so young and reportedly in good health. The tragedy is apparently unprecedented in France, But it's not the first death on a foreign edition of Survivor. In 2009 a Bulgarian contestant and and a Pakistani competitor both died on their respective Survivors.
This year has seen a number of former contestants and reality TV personalities who have committed suicide, including Mindy McCready of Celebrity Rehab and -Storage Wars star Mark Balelo.
These tragedies remind us that reality TV comes at a price. Thankfully that cost is usually limited to a few scrapes or broken bones and perhaps a contestant's deteriorating mental health--not their lives.
