- "Legends" among them: the staff in the summer jungle 2024
RTL sends 13 semi-celebrities into its "Legends Jungle". All were part of the show before. Here's who they are and what you need to know.
Giulia Siegel (49)
Giulia Siegel, so-called TV personality, actress, model, DJane, and daughter of Grand Prix composer Ralph Siegel, looks back on the longest Dschungelcamp history. She was there in 2009. She left the show due to back pain. It was the season where actress Ingrid van Bergen, then 77, dignity-eating live maggots and won. Siegel remained memorable for her smoking.
Sarah Knappik (37)
Sarah Knappik, known as a model ("Germany's Next Topmodel"), was part of the 2011 staff, which gave loyal viewers a pleasant shiver. Then, actor Mathieu Carrière begged her on his knees: "You're our problem. Go away. Please, please, please leave us!" She eventually left voluntarily, but left some English quotes for eternity ("My air was away"). RTL told her: "My mission is to bring back the little Sarah who got lost in the jungle."
Georgina Fleur (34)
Georgina Fleur moved into the Dschungelcamp in 2013 after her - if you will - star rose as a participant in the dating format "Der Bachelor". Later, she moved into the "Summer House of the Stars" with her then-partner Kubilay, where there were many disputes, including between them. Their relationship, which is no longer together according to RTL, has been a topic in the tabloids ever since.
Winfried Glatzeder (79)
Winfried Glatzeder was one of those participants when he moved into the jungle in 2014, where one briefly wondered: Why him? The actor became famous in 1973 with the leading role in Heiner Carow's "The Legend of Paul and Paula". He was once considered the "Belmondo of the East". But that was a while ago. Now he's 79 and back in the jungle. "My children need money and I need the confirmation that I can be the oldest participant of a super format in my eightieth year," he explained to RTL.
Mola Adebisi (51)
Mola Adebisi is known to everyone who loved Viva. The moderator was practically part of the inventory at the former music channel. In 2014, he moved into the Dschungelcamp without leaving a big mark - he ended up in eighth place. In 2024, he and his wife Adelina became parents to a son. Before the jungle, he told RTL: "My main focus is on losing weight!"
David Ortega (38)
David Ortega is likely the least known figure in the summer camp 2024, even for Dschungel fans. When the former actor in the series "Köln 50667" first appeared in the show in 2016, he had short black hair and a neatly trimmed beard. Today, with long hair and a white robe, he optically resembles a wayward Jesus actor. In 2021, Ortega was briefly a guest in the show spin-off "The Great Dschungelshow" and raised more questions than answers with his appearance and some very erratic thought processes.
Thorsten Legat (55)
Thorsten Legat, a former footballer (among others for VfB Stuttgart) and a walking powerhouse, has become somewhat of a mascot for the jungle. This was due to his appearance in the 2016 season, where he stood out with a distinctively strong ambition (to put it mildly). Probably no other candidate in the history of the show took the pursuit of the star-shaped meals as seriously as Legat with his muscle mountains. Moreover, he has a talent for getting incredibly worked up in his speech. In other words, he's good candidate material.
Kader Loth (51)
Kader Loth is something of a grande dame of German trash TV. She became known many years ago through her participation in formats like "Big Brother" and "Die Alm". In "Die Burg", she witnessed one of the early scandals of the genre when Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt urinated in her bathtub. She first entered the jungle camp in 2011. Her statement to RTL ahead of this year's show, "I generally have no desire for people," shows that she has internalized the mechanisms of the genre.
Hanka Rackwitz (55)
Hanka Rackwitz belongs to the founding mothers of German reality TV - she participated in the container show "Big Brother" as early as 2000. Later, she worked in the real estate business and was part of the makler show "mieten, kaufen, wohnen" on Vox. In the 2017 jungle camp, many viewers felt sorry for her due to her pronounced phobias, which remain in memory. This time, she told RTL that she is better able to cope with her compulsions and fears. However, she also said, "How am I doing? I've been sitting on the couch with my cat for six years - and now comes the jungle camp." She admitted to having "fear."
Elena Miras (32)
Elena Miras became known through the dating and body contact show "Love Island," where she also met her later partner Mike Heiter (who participated in the jungle camp season at the beginning of 2024). Miras entered the jungle in 2020 and sometimes made a name for herself as a noisy choleric. One of her bigger topics was, among other things, that a bottle was mixed up. It seems she still hasn't come to terms with it: "The bottle issue was so present in my jungle back then. I think it cost me my win," she told RTL. She is no longer with Mike Heiter.
Daniela Büchner (46)
Daniela "Danni" Büchner entered the jungle camp in 2020 and still holds the record for the most jungle trials (12). As the widow of the former camper "Malle"-Jens Büchner, she wanted to pay her late husband respect with her participation, according to general reports. However, Büchner often caused friction, and the atmosphere was not good. Even the moderator duo asked the audience not to send the now 46-year-old to any more jungle trials. Now, she wants to show who she "really" is.
Eric Stehfest (35)
Eric Stehfest became known as an actor in the RTL soap "Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten" and for his uncompromising way of speaking about his own story. His autobiography, in which he wrote about his experiences with Crystal Meth and previous drug problems, became a bestseller. In the 2022 jungle camp, he stood out by not participating in a trial because he didn't want to turn against his fellow campers. He said he wasn't ready to play for food with people who didn't like him, which was somewhat of a taboo in the values of reality TV.
Gigi Birofio was only in the jungle camp in 2023, but he's already allowed back in. The reality TV star ("Ex on the Beach") has a talent for bonding with other participants and coming up with some everyday philosophical gems ("The path here didn't just have one step, it had a whole staircase", "My English is still crap"). What stuck in people's minds was how he and fellow camper Cosimo couldn't resist the tempting crunch of a pizza - to the detriment of the other candidates.
In the 2023 season of RTL's "Legends Jungle", contestant Gigi Birofio made waves with his unique perspective and love for pizza, showing that even a mixed bag of experiences can lead to entertaining moments in the jungle.
Furthermore, the 'Mixed' group from RTL's "Legends Jungle" consisted of individuals with diverse backgrounds, each bringing their own set of strengths and quirks to the jungle, leading to an entertaining mix of personalities and challenges.
