Fort Boyard is a French game show created by Jacques Antoine that was first broadcast on 7 July 1990 (originally as Les Clés de Fort Boyard, however shortened to Fort Boyard from the second series in 1991). Foreign versions of the show have aired around the world since 1990. Set and filmed on the real fortress of the same name in France, the programme appears similar to The Crystal Maze (which was created as an alternative format by Antoine for Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, after Fort Boyard itself was unavailable to film in because of its then ongoing refurbishment during 1988–89). Channel 5 later bought the rights to Fort Boyard and made their own British version, using the now refurbished set, which aired from 16 October 1998 to 29 December 2001 for four series. It was briefly revived by Challenge in 2003 for one series.
