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Pékin Express is a French reality game show based on the Dutch–Flemish format Peking Express. The game, in similar fashion to "The Amazing Race", follows six to ten teams of two people (usually couples, friends or members of the same family) as they hitchhike across a continent, with the winner usually receiving a prize of up to €100,000. As of July 2018, 10 seasons (including 1 celebrity special) have been completed, and the 11th is being aired on Thursdays on private French television channel M6. The program is also broadcast on Belgian-Luxembourgish channel Plug RTL, worldwide francophone channel TV5Monde and on French Canadian channel Évasion since its 5th season. First aired from 15 Janaury 2006 to 18 June 2014, it got cancelled by the M6 direction in 2014 due to record-low ratings. After 4 years of absence, the program has returned on 12 July 2018 with a new season, still aired on M6.

Theme
The music used during the opening titles and throughout the episodes is "Summon the Worms" from Brian Tyler's soundtrack to the 2003 miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.

Format and rules
The program puts 6 to 10 teams of two people against each other on a 10,000 km long race divided in 8 to 13 stages (depending on the seasons). Each of them are given €1 per day/per person, which they can only spend in order to feed themselves (from season 2 and onwards). To move, they must hitchhike; means of transport which aren't free of charge (in example, taxicabs) aren't allowed. Every night, teams must seek a shelter and has to get in touch with the population. If they don't find one, they are obligated to sleep outside.

Episodes are usually divided into two distinct races; the first one permits to the three teams that arrived the earliest to take part in an immunity challenge. The winner of the challenge is assured to go through the next stage, regardless of its position in the stage ranking. The second race, to the finish line of the stage, decides the stage ranking, in function of each team's order of arrival. The team arrived in first place receives a black amulet usually representing €7,000 (it can also represent €10,000 in some seasons). The team arrived in last place usually gets eliminated from the race, unless the stage is not eliminatory.

Rules
With every new season, Pékin Express had some of its rules changed. New rules have also been added to make stages more exciting.


 * Disadvantages (Handicaps) can be given to one team if they came last on the previous (non-eliminatory) stage, except in season 9 where everyone regardless of the stage ranking could get one. It can be a wide range of things such as a bicycle, a bag full of cotton, one hen and her eggs, cacti, a souvenir of the country the candidates are currently in (a moai replica in Chile during season 5 or sombreros in Mexico during season 9), or even sometimes a person (in example, a Mongolian wrestler, an old Ecuadorian woman and her 24 canaries, an Indian priest). In season 8, these teams had to share the stage with a French celebrity, which could be the only one in the team to hitchhike.
 * The black envelope (L'enveloppe noire), first used in season 4, contains a piece of paper telling if the stage is eliminatory or not. It is opened at the end of every stage.
 * The red flag (Le drapeau rouge) is a big advantage permitting to the team who grabs it first to control the race. Each time this team meets another one on the road, they can, if they wish, immobilise them for 15 minutes by waving the flag. There is no limit on how much it can be waved by one team. It has been present in every season so far.
 * The black flag (Le drapeau noir) is a dangerous disadvantage. The team arriving with it at the stage's finish line ends up moving down one place in the stage ranking, exposing them to possible elimination. For one team to get rid of the black flag, they must pass it on to another team stopped on the road, while being in a circulating vehicle.
 * Mixed teams (Les équipes mixées) can be formed during one particular stage, consisting of a pousseur (pusher) which tries to go as fast as possible to qualify his own team, and of a ralentisseur (puller) whose job is to slow down the pousseur. The pousseur arriving in last place at the finish line of the stage will eliminate his regular team.
 * Divided teams (Les équipes divisées) puts apart one teammate who competes in the immunity challenge, and the other one who hitchhikes his way to the stage's finish line.
 * The checkered flag (Le drapeau à damier) obligates the candidates to quit their vehicle to use another mean of transport imposed to them by the production. After only being used in seasons 4 and 5, it has made sort of a comeback in season 11 with the Vehicles forbidden sign (Le panneau Voiture interdite), which works the same way.
 * The hidden team (L'équipe cachée) is a second chance given to an eliminated team to return in the race. They must arrive in the Top 2 at the end of the stage to officially reintegrate the competition, while managing to not be discovered by other teams. It has appeared in seasons 4 and 5. In both cases, hidden teams have failed their mission.
 * The infernal beacon (La balise infernale) rule appeared in season 5, and made a second appearance in season 7. During a stage, the beacon that every team has got for the production to localise them and for knowing when the race is over, can ring at random times, obligating the teams to stop the race and get out of their vehicle. The teams must then wait for the beacon to ring again to restart hitchhiking. It is planned to come back in season 11.
 * The green race bib (Le dossard vert) has only appeared once in season 7. The team in its possession could play it to save themselves from elimination, if they felt like they've arrived in last place. It could only be played once.
 * Grouped teams (Les équipes groupées) were formed in season 7, season 10 and season 11. Teams of 2 people have been fused together for one stage in order to form teams of 4 people.
 * The untouchables (Les intouchables) is a rule that appeared for the first time in season 8, and made a second appearance in season 9. During one special stage, the team arrived in first place of the first race is classified as untouchable; they are qualified for the next stage and are exempted from doing the following races. Then, they choose between the two teams that arrived the earliest in the second race, who will join them as the untouchables, and so on until four races have concluded. The teams remaining vulnerable then engage in a final sprint to the finish line.
 * The cursed chest (Le coffre maudit), during season 9, permitted to the team which arrived in first place during one stage to attribute disadvantages to other contestants.
 * The final duel ('Le duel final) is a new rule used in season 11. It permits to the last team that arrived at the finish line to choose a team to compete against in a final, 20km long one-versus-one race, with a challenge to conclude halfway. The first candidate returning to the finish line saves his team, while the remaining one risks elimination.

Routes
Although all the places listed as "starting lines" above are the official ones, on three occasions the competition factually started elsewhere:


 * In season 5, teams, scattered around a small part of the Amazon rainforest, had to find their way through the vegetation in order to arrive at a checkpoint. First team to arrive would directly qualify for the stage's immunity challenge and would get the privilege to spend one day with the indigenous Hoaorani tribe. Then, all 10 teams were led to a platform standing on the Equator.
 * In season 7, teams, installed in taxicabs in downtown Cairo, had to prematurely start the competition and leave their taxicab. They had to go to the Great Sphinx of Giza in order to win the green race bib (see above).
 * In season 8, teams, located in different stations of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, had been given two transport passes to go to the starting line, the Gyeongbokgung Palace. In addition, one contestant in each team had to keep their blindfold on, only advancing thanks to his teammate's instructions. The first team to arrive would be given an advantage consisting in slowing down a team of their choice.

Continents
On 11 seasons, Pékin Express has visited all 6 inhabited continents. However, no season has entirely unfolded in Europe or Oceania (In 2012, the host of the show, Stéphane Rotenberg, said in an interview in 2012 that a season entirely in Europe was one of his desires).

Countries
On 11 seasons, Pékin Express has visited 34 countries or autonomous territories. The country the competition has visited the most times is India, with 3 seasons, including one that entirely unfolded in the country.

Season 1 : La Route du transsibérien
The first season was aired on M6 on Saturday nights at 20:50 and on Sunday evenings at 18:30. It premiered on January 15, 2006 and resumed on April 1 of the same year.

Season 2 : La Route de l'Himalaya
The second season was aired on M6 on Tuesday nights at 20:40. It premiered on March 20, 2007 and resumed on May 22 of the same year.

Season 3 : La Route des Incas
The third season was aired on M6 on Tuesday nights at 20:40. It premiered on January 22, 2008 and resumed on April 8 of the same year.

Season 4 : La Route des dragons
The fourth season was aired on M6 on Friday nights at 20:40. It premiered on April 24, 2009 and resumed on July 10 of the same year.

Season 5 : La Route du bout du monde
The fifth season was aired on M6 on Tuesday nights at 20:40. It premiered on April 13, 2010 and resumed on June 29 of the same year.

Season 6 : Duos de choc
The sixth season was aired on M6 on Saturday nights at 20:40. It premiered on November 6, 2010 and resumed on December 25 of the same year. It was a celebrity special.

Stages
All stages take place in 🇮🇳 India.

Season 7 : La Route des grands fauves
The seventh season was aired on M6 on Wednesday nights at 20:50. It premiered on April 20, 2011 and resumed on July 6 of the same year.

Season 8 : Le Passager mystère
The eighth season was aired on M6 on Wednesday nights at 20:50. It premiered on April 25, 2012 and resumed on July 11 of the same year.

This is the first All stars season of the show.

Season 9 : Le Coffre maudit
The ninth season was aired on M6 on Wednesday nights at 20:50. It premiered on April 3, 2013 and resumed on June 26 of the same year.

This season had the particularity of concluding with a "Champion's final' (finale des champions), opposing the season's winners, Salim & Linda, to the previous season's, Ludovic & Samuel. After a tight race in Miami, Ludovic & Samuel eventually won the episode.

Season 10 : À la découverte des mondes inconnus
The tenth season was aired on M6 on Wednesday nights at 20:50. It premiered on April 16, 2014 and resumed on June 18 of the same year. It is the second _all stars_ season of the show. Eight past participants had to invite someone else that their original partner.

During this season, the show was boycotted by several associations due to the large promotion the program gives to Myanmar, a country in which the Rohingya people are persecuted and hunted down. In addition, the production and candidates had got problems with Indian authorities, which led them to relocate two stages to Sri Lanka.

Season 11 : La Course infernale
The eleventh season is aired on M6 on Thursday nights at 21:00. It premiered on July 12, 2018 and will normally resume on September 13 of the same year.