Television. Intervilles: The Smurfs, Rausch who doesn't understand, the season in Amnéville... anecdotes from the show

After hosting an entire season of the program, there will be no visit to Moselle for Intervilles in this 2025 season . The question was even raised at the municipal council in Metz at the end of 2024, leaving the door open to participation in the years to come.

But even though the show is focusing on six far-flung cities in northeastern France this summer, the cows, the Tournette, and the Wall of Champions have already made several beautiful detours through northern Lorraine over the past many years.

For once, and probably the only time, it's not two cities that are facing off, but two amusement parks. The Smurfs (and the Walibi kangaroo) in Lorraine face the Futuroscope in Poitiers. This is the first time that Intervilles has traveled to Moselle, and the park is the perfect setting to entertain viewers .

Among the challenges, one revolves around a giant Gargamel whose poison must be stolen. The lake also plays a central role in the evening of July 5, 1991.

But in the end, it was the little Smurfs of Lorraine who were devoured by the Parc de l'Ouest. "What a gargamelle" was the headline in the RL. There was one victory for the Moselle residents, though: in the audience were employees of the Lorfonte factory in Uckange with their clearly visible banner denouncing the closure of the site and the loss of 350 jobs. A fight relayed by Guy Lux on air.

Images and articles from the time

"The Grenats in blue win by a whisker" was the headline in Le Républicain Lorrain on June 26, 2007, in the special page dedicated to the event. This was the first time Metz had participated and also the first broadcast of the year . On the Mulhouse side: Julien Lepers ; on the Metz stand: Tex. A neighbor, Robert Wurtz from Alsace (a former football referee), was on the whistle.

The introductions are made, the games are launched on the Place de la République with a shock captain on the Moselle side. Isabelle Wendling , handball world champion, believes in it hard as iron. However, the beginnings are sluggish. After being beaten in the mirabelle plum and quiche competitions, it is the TGV Est who will make the locals pick up speed before the victory on the wall of champions.

The video report produced by Le Républicain Lorrain in Metz in 2007

But the evening's recurring gag comes from the mayor himself. Tex asks a terribly innocuous question: "So, Mr. Mayor, a few words about the start of the game?" The mayor's response, no doubt bothered by the background noise, is: "About the parking lot? Yes, it used to be a parking lot here, but tonight is an exceptional evening," provoking widespread laughter.

Thinking he was off air, he confessed to Tex: "I don't understand what you're saying at all." And the Metz parking lot became a recurring gag throughout the show.

Jean-Marie Rausch and the parking lot

Images and articles from Intervilles 2007 in Metz

Before the revival of this 2025 season, it was in Amnéville that everything stopped in 2009. The time is (already) for savings. The producer's idea is therefore to shoot the entire season in a single location (as had already been the case 5 years earlier at Europa-Park).

The April 23 article talks about the "largest TV studio in the world" with 4,000m² and the manager of the Galaxie in Amnéville mentions a three-year contract.

On site, the teams set up camp for a month, while they film the French programs, a "junior" edition, and an international version. A bonus: the indoor ski slope allows for new and different games.

Obviously, Metz, as a neighbor, had to participate. The RL headlined on June 20th with an encouraging "Metz, we can" which ultimately proved insufficient.

On the evening of the broadcast, the producer was categorical in the Républicain Lorrain for the following season: "In any case, there will be Intervilles in Amnéville." At the end of the summer of 2009, however, Intervilles was put on hold. Aside from a special broadcast, it was not until 2025 that the legendary show returned to television.

The video report made in Amnéville in 2009.