Exatlon is a reality competition series where two teams of physically fit contestants compete against each other. The teams are composed of athletes (such as current and former Olympians), sports professionals and celebrities on one team and ordinary people with athletic ability, from all walks of life on the other team. All must have strong physical skills and sporting abilities.

Exatlon
Created byAcun Medya
Original workExathlon Brasil [pt]
Years2017–present
Films and television
Television seriesExation (independent international versions, see below)
Miscellaneous
GenreSports entertainment, reality competition
First aired25 September 2017 (2017-09-25)
Official website
Official website

Exatlon is a team-oriented competition which moves to an individual mode in its final weeks, culminating in a final round where a male and female are crowned the Exatlon champions. The format varies in certain markets where the male and female compete in the final for one of them to be crowned the Exatlon champion.

Created by Turkish production company Acun Medya, the format was first aired in Brazil[1] on Rede Bandeirantes in 2017 and since then has been a rating success in Mexico[2] (TV Azteca), Romania[3] (Kanal D), Slovenia[4] (Planet TV), Colombia[5] (Canal RCN), US Hispanic (Telemundo), Hungary (TV2), Turkish (Netflix), Greece (Skai TV) and Germany (Sport 1).

Format

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An Exatlon season is stretched across 4 to 6 nights a week from a minimum of 12 weeks to as many as 31 weeks.

Each day the teams compete on specially designed parkour courses. The parkour courses are designed as head-to-head races (tête-à-tête). The first team to achieve 10 wins is crowned that day's winning team - 10 is the Winner.

Exatlon's key point of difference is its complex parkour courses that can test the most accomplished athlete. These stable parkours combine running tracks with swimming pools, hurdles, obstacles, balance beams, toboggan slides, sand & mud crawl nets, crawl tunnels, under/over bars, dropping platforms, and physical sporting mechanisms. Each parkour has a further skill-based ending that is changed according to the game requirements. The game endings are interchangeable across the parkours with over 50 possible choices. The parkours are long testing tracks that require a number of sporting skills. Each one can involve any combination of speed, swimming, jumping, balance, flexibility, strength, dexterity, coordination, muscle memory and sporting intelligence. The Exatlon parkours test all aspects of an athlete's abilities.

Individuals need to perform at their highest level consistently as this is the only way they can secure a strong position within their team rankings. These rankings are important as regularly, over the course of the series, contestants will be eliminated from either team.

Exatlon's host plays and important role in the show commentating on each parkour, guiding the viewer through each game. A unique characteristic of this sports-reality format is the sports style commentary.

The team stage

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Eight to ten Athletes in each team face-off every week, with athletes eliminated each week.

A typical week in Exatlon includes but is not limited to: the House game, the Money game and Money Smash, the Individual Medal game, the International game, the Best-of game, the Special game, the Elimination game and the Play-off game.

Once Exatlon reaches its final eight to ten athletes, the format moves from the team stage to the individual stage.

The individual stage

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The final eight to ten compete individually to crown the Exatlon Champion or Champions along with the trophy and a cash prize.

Aside from the parkour games, Exatlon also includes Quiz & Word games played once a week between the two teams.

Exatlon's format evolves in future seasons creating international tournaments and competitions across multi-national, regional and world championships.

International versions

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Legend:

  Currently airing franchise
  Franchise with an upcoming season
  Franchise no longer aired
  Status unknown
Country/Region Local title Network(s) Winners Host(s) Prizes
  Brazil Exathlon Brasil [pt]
Band

Season 1, 2017: Marcel Stürmer

Luís Ernesto Lacombe R$350,000
  Colombia Exatlón Colombia [es]
RCN Televisión

Season 1, 2018: José Rodríguez

Roberto Manrique $600,000,000
  Germany Exatlon Germany
Sport1 Season 1, 2024: Current season Jochen Stutzky [de] 100,000
  Greece Exatlon Greece Skai TV Season 1, 2025: Upcoming season TBA TBA
  Hungary Exatlon Hungary [hu] TV2

Season 1, 2019: Huszti Katalin
Season 2, 2020: Dr. Busa Gabriella & Böjte Dávid
Season 3, 2020-21: Szente Gréta & Herczeg-Kis Bálint
Season 4, 2022: Szente Gréta & Jósa Dániel

Palik László [hu] (Seasons 1–3)
Monoki Lehel (Season 4)
Ft.20,000,000
(Season 1)
Ft.30,000,000
(Seasons 2–4)[a]
  Mexico Exatlón México [es]
Azteca 7
(Season 1)
Azteca Uno
(Season 2–present)

Season 1, 2017-18: Ernesto Cázares & Macky González[b]
Season 2, 2018-19: Aristeo Cázares & Aidee Hernández
Season 3, 2019-20: Mati Álvarez [es] & Heliud Pulido
Season 4, 2020-21: Patricio "Pato" Araujo & Mati Álvarez
Season 5, 2021-22: Koke Guerrero & Marysol Cortés
All Star Season 1, 2022: Koke Guerrero
Season 6, 2022-23: Andrés Fierro & Liliana Hernández
All Star Season 2, 2023: Koke Guerrero
Season 7, 2023-24: Patricio "Pato" Araujo & Mati Álvarez
Season 8, 2024-25: Current season

Antonio Rosique [es] $2,000,000[c]
  Romania Exatlon România [ro]
Kanal D

Season 1, 2018: Vladimir Drăghia [ro]
Season 2, 2018: Beatrice Olaru
Season 3, 2019: Andreea Arsine & Ion Surdu

Cosmin Cernat [ro] 100,000[d]
  Slovenia
Exatlon Slovenija
Planet TV

Season 1, 2021: Franko Bajc & Marjanca Polutnik
Season 2, 2022: Karolina Siročič & Marko Špiler

Miran Ališič [sl] (Season 1)
Jure Košir (Season 2)
50,000
  Turkey
Exatlon Challenge Türkiye
Netflix Season 1, 2020: Barış Erdoğan & Yağmur Karabal
Orkun Işıtmak 250,000[e]
  United States
(in Spanish)
Exatlón Estados Unidos
Telemundo

Season 1, 2018: Marisela Cantú
Season 2, 2019: Valeria Sofía Rodríguez
Season 3, 2019: Alberto "El Venado" Medina
Season 4, 2020: Nate Burkhalter
Season 5, 2021: Norma Palafox & Jeyvier Cintrón
Season 6, 2022: Susana Abundiz & Briadam Herrera
All-Stars Season 1, 2022-23: Yoridan Martínez & Yamilet Peña
All-Stars Season 2, 2023-24: Susana Abundiz
Season 7, 2024: Upcoming season

Erasmo Provenza (Seasons 1–4)
Frederik Oldenburg (Season 5–)
$200,000[f]

Notes

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  1. ^ Although the prize altogether is Ft.30,000,000, because there's two winners the prize is split in half with each winner receiving Ft.15,000,000.
  2. ^ When the season originally aired, Ernesto was the only winner of the season whereas Macky was declared the runner-up. In the first All Star season, Macky was declared to be the co-winner of the first season after the series decided to have a male and female winner from the second season moving onwards.
  3. ^ Since Season 2 where they have been two winners of the show, the prize was divided in half. Each winner getting $1,000,000 as a result.
  4. ^ In Season 3, the prize was split between the two finalists; receiving 50,000 each.
  5. ^ As there were two winners, the main prize was divided in half with each winner taking ₺125,000 as a result.
  6. ^ From Season 5, a male winner and a female winner will receive $200,000

References

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  1. ^ Exathlon Brazil official website
  2. ^ "EXATLÓN MÉXICO - Sitio Web Exatlón - Exatlon". www.exatlon.com.mx.
  3. ^ "EXATLON ROMÂNIA - Exatlon Website". www.exatlon.ro.
  4. ^ "EXATLON SLOVENIJA - Exatlon Spletna stran". www.exatlon.si.
  5. ^ "EXATLÓN COLOMBIA - Sitio Web Exatlón - Exatlon". www.exatlon.co.