I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here! – The First, the Oldest and the Embarrassing: Facts and figures from 20 years of the jungle camp
The RTL Jungle Camp starts on August 16th (daily at 8:15 p.m., from August 15th on RTL+) with a special season. In “I’m a Celebrity – Showdown of the Jungle Legends,” stars from previous seasons compete against each other. The broadcaster is thus celebrating the 20-year history of the reality format. Here are 20 exciting facts and figures about “I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here!”.
1. The first king
In 2004 Celebrities ventured into the RTL jungle camp for the first time, which is based on the British format “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” and is produced with around 400 employees. On January 20, singer Costa Cordalis (1944-2019) was crowned the first jungle king. He beat Lisa Fitz and Daniel Küblböck (1985-2018). However, 2004 did not end with just one winner: Desiree Nick won the second season in the fall. Cordalis thus had the shortest “rainy season” to date of 292 days. Nine jungle queens and eight jungle kings have been able to celebrate victory so far.
2. The jungle camp break
The fact that the jungle camp is celebrating its 20th anniversary and that there have only been 17 seasons so far is due to a break. Due to high production costs and complex production, the show was not continued after the second season in 2004 and did not return until 2008.
3. The departures
With the phrase “I’m a celebrity – get me out of here!”, jungle camp participants can voluntarily end their adventure early. Dustin Semmelrogge was the first to make use of this opportunity in season one and left the camp after just three days. So far, 12 Stars have made use of this opportunity. Five stars also left the camp on medical advice, two stars had to leave due to a channel instruction…
4. The Embarrassing
In 2008, DJ Tomekk was kicked out of the third season of the RTL show after 11 days – on the instructions of the broadcaster. Those in charge took him off the show without giving any reason. Before that, a private video had surfaced in which he could be seen giving the Hitler salute. His subsequent apology and explanation that he had “no right-wing ideas at all” did not bring him back to the camp. Janina Youssefian had to leave because of a racist comment in season 15.
5. Cancel, Cancel
With the famous jungle camp verdict, the campers can also leave a trial early. According to RTL, 15 trials have been cancelled in 20 years and a total of 325 jungle trials have been carried out. The stars of the current 17th season hold the record with four cancelled trials. Past dropouts include Jimmy Hartwig in season two and jungle queen Djamila Rowe in season 16. In the tenth season Helena Prince even decided to abort two experiments and refused to conduct another experiment altogether.
A total of ten attempts were rejected completely. And how many stars were won? In 20 years, 2,629 stars were won, 1,483 stars were earned. The animal companions also play a significant role: around 4 million insects have already been used. According to RTL, these come from breeding facilities.
TV star Danni Büchner had to face the jungle test a total of twelve times in Australia in 2020, setting a record for the most tests. Model and actress Larissa Marolt has mastered the second most challenges: she took part in ten tasks in 2014. Gisele Oppermann and Helena Fürst each had to complete nine tests in 2019 and 2016 respectively.
7. Let me back in!
To keep things exciting in the jungle universe, the producers have also created spin-offs. In 2015, former candidates competed in “I’m a Celebrity – Let Me Back In!” for the chance to return to the camp. Brigitte Nielsen, the jungle queen of 2012, won and took part again in 2016, this time in sixth place.
8. The Golden Ticket and the move
In 2021, the producers had to get creative due to the COVID-19 pandemic: The regular season was canceled, and “I’m a Celebrity – The Big Jungle Show” was produced in Germany instead. In it, Filip Pavlovic secured the Golden Ticket for the next season and was even crowned King of the Jungle in 2022.
The coronation, however, did not take place in Australia, but in South Africa. Due to the pandemic, the 15th season was filmed in early 2022 near the Kruger National Park, South Africa’s largest game reserve, in Mpumalanga. The show returned to Australia in 2023. In total, the jungle campers covered a flight distance of 532,400 kilometers (Germany-Australia and once Germany-South Africa). “This distance would have been enough to transport the stars to the moon and back halfway around the world,” reports RTL.
9. The advertising fiasco
In 2014, a court ruled that the reality show had overdone its product placement. For example, a bar from a biscuit manufacturer was shown for too long and too prominently in one sequence, so that the Hanover Regional Court ruled in 2016 that it was covert advertising.
10. The handover
Sonja Zietlow remained loyal to the format as presenter since the first season. However, various presenters from the jungle joined her: Dirk Bach (1961-2012) presented the show together with her until the sixth season. After his death, Daniel Hartwich became the new jungle presenter for the seventh season in 2013. Jan Köppen took over his position in season 16 after Hartwich announced his departure from the show for family reasons.
11. The famous jungle reporter
Someone you wouldn’t necessarily expect to find in the Australian jungle is Markus Lanz. In the first two seasons he was on site as an RTL reporter. For “Extra Spezial” he reported directly from the jungle. After an internship at Radio Hamburg, Markus Lanz’s career began at RTL. In 1998 he represented Barbara Eligmann on the magazine “Explosiv” and subsequently became a permanent presenter there. He has been working for ZDF since 2008.
12. Left empty-handed
In 2011, the show was nominated for the German Television Award and in 2013 for the Grimme Award in the entertainment category. However, it did not win a prize. In 2013, Zietlow and Hartwich were to be honored at the German Comedy Award for best presentation in the comedy category, but due to the death of Dirk Bach, they did not attend the ceremony. In 2023, the show finally won in the “Best Entertainment Reality” category at the German Television Award.
13. Proof of age and occupations
At the beginning of 2024, 72-year-old Heinz Hoenig moved into the Australian camp. However, he was not the oldest candidate in the history of the successful RTL show. The oldest candidate to ever venture into the Australian jungle adventure is Ingrid van Bergen, now 93 years old. She took part in 2009 at the age of 78 and even won. The youngest jungle camp participant was Daniel Küblböck, who moved into the camp at the age of 18. The youngest jungle king was Joey Heindle, who was crowned king of the jungle in season seven at the age of 19. According to RTL, the average age of a jungle star is 41.06 years. Professionally, actors were the most strongly represented (43 stars), followed by musicians (42 stars) and reality TV stars (34 stars).
14. The constant
Robert “Dr. Bob” McCarron has been part of “I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here!” since the first season. The special effects artist and makeup artist was discovered for the jungle camp during the filming of “The Matrix”. In 2002, he was hired as “Medical Bob” for the British original “I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here!”. In 2004, he made his first appearance as “Dr. Bob” in the RTL jungle camp. Since then, the jungle doctor has been the confidant of the celebrities, informing them about possible risks and dangers before each jungle test.
15. The Romances
Some stars also got closer in the camp. Jay Khan and Indira Weis sparked the ultimate romance in season five. After spending time together after the jungle, they split up again. To this day, both are still playing a PR stunt and a fake relationship. Just one year later, Rocco Stark and Kim Gloss became the jungle dream couple in 2012 and even became parents of the first “jungle baby” after the show. However, they are now separated.
16. The ex-couple
According to RTL, in 2017, Marc Terenzi and Gina-Lisa Lohfink were the first ex-couple to enter the camp. However, the result was very different for the musician and the reality star, who had already been together in 2009. Lohfink came in 8th place, while Terenzi won the show.
17. Two camps
The reality show has remained true to its concept over the years. However, there was a change in 2016 and 2017: First, two camps were set up. In the first three days, the candidates from the base camp had to compete in the trials against Camp Snake Rock and compete for their team.
18. No entry
In 2023, Martin Semmelrogge was the only one of the twelve participants not to receive an entry permit, was stranded in Doha and eventually had to return to Germany. It was not the first time that a participant did not enter the camp: Nastassja Kinski had reportedly withdrawn from the Australian bush in 2017, and Lucas Cordalis had to sit out the 2022 season due to a positive COVID-19 test, but was able to take part in 2023.
19. The voting error
Not everything always goes smoothly: In season 13, there was a technical glitch in the voting results, which meant that no candidate had to leave the camp at first. The next day, the candidate with the fewest votes (Chris Töpperwien, Bastian Yotta and Sandra Kiriasis) had to leave the camp together with two others.
20. The Winner’s Prize
Since 2019, the incentive for celebrities to win the show has been even greater. Since season 13, stars who are crowned king or queen of the jungle not only receive their previously agreed fee, but also prize money of 100,000 euros. Evelyn Burdecki was the first to enjoy this advantage.
Transparency note: Stern is part of RTL Deutschland.
The Commission, which is responsible for overseeing the special season of ‘I’m a Celebrity – Showdown of Jungle Legends’, could consider adopting implementing acts to clarify the rules for the application of this Regulation in the context of this celebrity reality show.
Should an interruption of the show be necessary for budgetary or scheduling reasons, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt implementing acts laying down the rules for the application of this Regulation in order to ensure continuity and fairness in the selection and exclusion process of celebrities for the RTL Jungle Camp.
