From August 16th, RTL will not have to worry about the programming of the linear program or the use of the streaming service RTL+ or the ratings for more than two weeks. The Cologne-based private broadcaster is using the start of the first jungle camp 20 years ago as a welcome opportunity for an anniversary show of “I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here!”. A lot is different this time, but the key elements remain the same.
What is really special about the anniversary edition is not that this time disgusting things like camel penises, turkey testicles or ostrich anuses are served in the summer, or that the camp beds are set up in the Kruger National Park in South Africa instead of the Australian bush. Sonja Zietlow has been the presenter since the very beginning and is the big constant, as is jungle doctor Dr. Bob. And for presenter Jan Köppen, this is already the third time.
The fact that the 17 episodes will not be broadcast live will not turn RTL’s reality show world upside down. However, it does mean that this time the audience cannot decide which candidate has to complete the next jungle test. The viewers also do not decide who is eliminated and who gets the jungle crown at the end.
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The broadcaster is hoping that this will create a new dynamic. The decisions are sometimes made by RTL and sometimes by the camp participants. There will also be tests that will decide who stays and who goes.
The switch from live to recorded broadcasts has the advantage for RTL that the show can start every day on time for the start of prime time at 8:15 p.m. – and on the in-house streaming service RTL+, even the day before.
No, the really remarkable thing about the 2024 summer jungle camp, which will be populated by the 13 craziest ex-participants in the show’s history – Elena Miras will be late – is the fact that RTL needed twenty years to come up with such an obvious idea. All that was needed was a small change to the title. Instead of “I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here!” it is now called “I’m a Celebrity – Showdown of the Jungle Legends”.
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What is legendary about the camp veterans of summer 2024 is above all their behavioral problems during their regular jungle missions. Giulia Siegel, the daughter of the eternal ESC song supplier Ralph Siegel, was there in the fourth season in 2009 and is thus the camp resident with the longest Ibes history. Her chain smoking was even comparatively harmless.
At 79, Winfried Glatzeder is the current chairman of the Kruger Park camp. He can at least claim to be a real legend as an actor (in the DEFA classic “The Legend of Paul and Paula”). “I’m unbearable too,” he says of himself, and attributes his return to the camp to the fact that “people might cry out and say: ‘What a disgusting old man’.”
I too am unbearable.
Winfried Glatzederactor legend and camp repeat offender
But Glatzeder did not react as calmly and thoughtfully as he did in the RTL interview in 2014. Larissa Marolt in particular reliably drove him to the most violent emotional outbursts.
This time, the encounter between Glatzeder and Sarah Knappik is likely to be all the more exciting. Her catfight with Gina-Lisa Lohfink in Heidi Klum’s “Top Model” show predestined her for the 2011 camp. She lived up to this reputation and drove her fellow camp sufferers crazy with her hysteria. She now let the Ibes audience know that she is returning as a self-confident lioness. Even back then, she was mostly wrong about her self-assessment.
© RTL
There are high expectations of Thorsten Legat’s entertainment value. The only thing bigger is the ego of the ex-footballer, who is always looking for trouble and who annoyed the 2016 camp with his macho behavior and regular “Kassala” calls.
Reality show veteran Kader Loth can also do “Kassala”. It sounds like this: “I’m going through menopause and I experience all four seasons at the same time. Regardless of whether it’s animals or fellow contestants, everyone should think twice about whether they want to mess with me,” the 51-year-old says, drawing a few lines through the camp as a precaution.
The biggest grumpies and troublemakers united
There is no shortage of big egos. RTL lets the most experienced grumps and troublemakers clash. Former Viva presenter Mola Adebisi could spread some sunshine. His declared goal this time, however, is to lose weight. In the 2014 camp, he lost eleven kilos.
Since then, audience interest has continued to decline. In 2014, almost eight million people watched the show format, which RTL has been using to boost its January ratings statistics since 2004.
Since then, it has been going downhill almost continuously. The 2021 Corona emergency edition from Germany with around 2.5 million viewers marked the absolute low point. The following year, the jungle camp recovered (4.05 million viewers), but continued to lose viewership and averaged 3.88 million viewers by the 17th season in January 2024.
Let’s see if the legends show manages to stop this ratings erosion despite the holiday season.