– You haven’t died a long time ago?
Obscure gaps in knowledge, shortness of breath due to a waterbuck penis and a tangible rebellion against the leadership: The RTL jungle camp is back on screen. The first episode of the new season, which was released on Thursday on the streaming service RTL+, was, as usual, highly emotional and loud. At the center of the tumult, the tears and the shouting was the former “Cologne 50667” actor David Ortega, who accused his fellow campers of bullying (“You are such a disgrace!”). They retaliated with a kind of civil uprising against the 38-year-old bearded man.
But let’s look back: This new season is not a regular edition of the reality show, but a special one. The occasion is the 20th anniversary of the show, which was first broadcast in 2004. A lot is different this time. RTL is not broadcasting the format at the beginning of the year, but in the summer. The setting is not Australia, but South Africa. The show is not live, but pre-recorded. And: All the campers are people who have already appeared in previous seasons. “Legends,” as RTL calls them.
People like presenter Giulia Siegel (49), actor Winfried Glatzeder (79), ex-footballer Thorsten Legat (55) and reality star Gigi Birofio (25) are fighting for food and dignity. And of course David Ortega, who left his season at the beginning of 2016 and now looks noticeably different. His once short hair has given way to a fluffy mane and a druid-like beard.
Squad Loth is angry
His behavior in the camp shortly after moving in is similarly conspicuous. Early in the morning, he sits next to a toilet paper roll by the campfire and babbles about children’s TV shows and leopards. Suddenly he asks reality veteran Kader Loth (51) whether she was born in Germany. She answers sleepily and annoyed: “I don’t even know where I am right now!” A prelude to major disagreements.
Inexplicably, Ortega is then appointed as the so-called team leader. Not an honorary position, but generally recognized with legislative power, because the team leader organizes the jungle camp.
This increase in power, coupled with the existing scepticism of colleagues (Gigi: “He is a bit creepy. I don’t want him to sleep and then come by at night”), leads to an escalation. As so often, the argument escalates when it comes to veganism. At the first big joint trial, the campers have to swallow all sorts of disgusting things. While Sarah Knappik (37) downs several glasses of cleaned goat stomach and looks as if she’s just come from a zombie film casting, Ortega refuses. Instead, he refers to the Ten Commandments.
“Shame on you!”
He then has the feeling that his colleagues are not taking his veganism seriously. The man, who still describes himself as a “great peace politician,” yells at his colleagues: “Shame on you!” The result: a spontaneous meeting takes place in which Ortega is removed as team leader. Mola Adebisi (51) is supposed to deliver the message and begins the conversation like a department head who has to fire an employee with experience in non-violent communication. He says to Ortega: “You also need a general update.” It does not calm the argument.
If all of this is too conflict-ridden for you, you can also find something amusing in the jungle – especially with Kader Loth. The queen of trash TV (“I am one of the most serious people in Germany.”) finds herself in an awkward situation when she has to greet Winfried Glatzeder, the former “Belmondo of the East”, which is obviously difficult for her. “Winfried… Glatzer,” she says. “But I thought you were dead a long time ago.” She remembers his box office hit “The Legend of Paul and Paula” as “Paula and Paulina”.
Meanwhile, reality star Gigi Birofio fails to smuggle cigarettes into the camp in his pants, near his butt. However, he later lets out a loud fart in front of presenter Sonja Zietlow, reminiscent of a scene from his 2023 season. The term “jungle legend” has many shades indeed.
Former footballer Thorsten Legat experienced a dramatic moment during the food tasting when he chewed on small pieces of water buffalo penis. Shortly afterwards, he blushed and several camp participants and moderator Sonja Zietlow rushed over to pat him on the shoulder. “I couldn’t breathe,” Legat later explained, visibly shaken. The disgusting food had got stuck in his throat.
What has not been seen so far: reality candidate Elena Miras (32), who was announced as a participant but has not yet appeared. According to RTL.de, she will be joining the jungle group as a surprise. Sonja Zietlow was also seen as the sole presenter for large parts of the show. Co-presenter Jan Köppen had a fever at the time of recording and had to rest.
Amid the online frenzy, viewers expressed their thoughts on the RTL+ series, mentioned the unusual situation in the jungle camp and praised the RTL+ app for its intuitive RTL (RTL) user interface, which gives fans easy access to the new season of the reality show.
During a break in the intense jungle life, one of the campers’ smartphones displayed the RTL website with the trending topic “RTL RTL+ Jungle Camp” and presented the interactive RTL live blog with updates and reactions from fans in real time.
