Television: “Legends” among themselves: The staff in the summer jungle 2024

RTL sends 13 semi-celebrities into its “Legends Jungle”. All of them have been part of the show before. Where you know them from and what you need to know.

Giulia Siegel (49)

Giulia Siegel, so-called TV personality, actress, model, DJ and daughter of Grand Prix composer Ralph Siegel, looks back on the longest jungle camp history. She was there in 2009. At that time she left the show due to back pain. It was the season in which actress Ingrid van Bergen, then 77 years old, choked down live maggots as gracefully as possible and won. Siegel is remembered more for her cigarette consumption.

Sarah Knappik (37)

Sarah Knappik, who became known as a model (“Germany’s Next Top Model”), was part of the staff of the 2011 season, which gives regular viewers a pleasant shiver. At the time, actor Mathieu Carrière begged her on his knees: “You are our problem. Go away. Please, please, please leave us!” In the end, she really did go voluntarily, but left behind a few English-language quotes for eternity (“My air was away”). She now told RTL: “My mission is to get little Sarah, who got lost in the jungle back then, out again.”

Georgina Fleur (34)

Georgina Fleur moved into the jungle camp in 2013 after her star had risen – if you can put it that way – as a participant in the dating format “The Bachelor”. Later, she and her then partner Kubilay moved into the “Summer House of the Stars”, where there were many arguments, including between the two of them. Even after that, the relationship of the couple, which according to RTL is no longer a relationship, was a recurring topic in the tabloid press.

Winfried Glatzeder (79)

When Winfried Glatzeder entered the jungle in 2014, he was one of those people who made you wonder: Why him? The actor became famous in 1973 with the lead role in Heiner Carow’s “The Legend of Paul and Paula”. At times he was known as the “Belmondo of the East”. But that was all a while ago. Now he is 79 years old and can be seen in the jungle again. “My children need money and I need confirmation that I can be the oldest participant in a super format at the age of eighty,” he explained to RTL.

Mola Adebisi (51)

Mola Adebisi is known to everyone who loved Viva. The presenter was practically part of the inventory of the former music channel. In 2014, he moved into the jungle camp without leaving a major mark – he ended up in eighth place. In 2024, he and his wife Adelina became parents of a son. Before entering the jungle, he told RTL: “My main focus is on losing weight!”

David Ortega (38)

David Ortega is probably the least known figure in the 2024 summer camp, even for jungle fans. When the former actor in the series “Cologne 50667” first appeared on the show in 2016, he had short black hair and a carefully trimmed beard. Today, with his long mane and white robe, he looks like a Jesus actor who has gone astray. In 2021, Ortega was already a brief guest on the show spin-off “The Big Jungle Show” and with his appearance and some very erratic trains of thought, he raised more questions than he could answer.

Thorsten Legat (55)

Thorsten Legat, ex-footballer (including VfB Stuttgart) and walking powerhouse, has become a kind of mascot of the jungle. The reason was his appearance in the 2016 season, in which he stood out with his pronounced ambition (to put it mildly). Probably no other candidate in the history of the show took the hunt for the ominous stars for which there is food as seriously as Legat with his mountains of muscles. He also has a talent for talking himself into a terrible rage. In other words: good candidate material.

Squad Loth (51)

Kader Loth is something like the grande dame of German trash TV. She became known many years ago through her participation in the formats “Big Brother” and “Die Alm”. On “Die Burg”, another such format, she witnessed one of the genre’s early scandals when Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt urinated in her bathtub. In 2011, she moved into the jungle camp for the first time. The fact that she has internalized the mechanisms is shown by a sentence like “I basically have no desire for people”, which she now told RTL in advance.

Hanka Rackwitz (55)

Hanka Rackwitz is one of the forefathers of German reality television – she took part in the container show “Big Brother” as early as 2000. She later worked in the real estate business and was part of the real estate show “rent, buy, live” on Vox. In the 2017 jungle camp, many viewers felt sorry for her – because her pronounced phobias remained in people’s memories. Now she told RTL that she is coping better with her compulsions and fears. But she also said: “How am I? I’ve been sitting on the couch with my cat for six years – and now the jungle camp is coming.” She is “scared”.

Elena Miras (32)

Elena Miras became known through the dating and physical contact show “Love Island”, where she also met her later partner Mike Heiter (who took part in the jungle camp season in early 2024). Miras moved into the jungle in 2020 and was sometimes noticed as a ranting choleric. One of her major issues was that a bottle was mixed up. To this day, she does not seem to have come to terms with it: “The bottle issue was so present in my jungle back then. I think that cost me my winnings,” she told RTL. She is no longer together with Mike Heiter.

Daniela Buechner (46)

Daniela “Danni” Büchner moved into the jungle camp in 2020 and still holds the record for the most jungle tests (12). As the widow of former camper “Malle” Jens Büchner, she wanted to show respect to her late husband by participating. However, Büchner often caused controversy and the mood was not good. Even the presenter duo asked the audience not to send the now 46-year-old into the jungle tests anymore. Now she says she wants to show what she is “really” like.

Eric Stehfest (35)

Eric Stehfest became known as an actor in the RTL soap “Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten” and for the ruthlessness with which he talks 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 attracted attention by not taking a test because he wanted to turn against his fellow campers. He was not prepared to play for food for people “who don’t like me,” he explained at the time. In the code of values ​​of reality TV, this was a kind of taboo break.

Gigi Birofio (25)

Gigi Birofio was only in the jungle camp in 2023, but now he’s allowed back in. The reality actor (“Ex on the Beach”) has a gift for bonding with other participants and coining one or two everyday philosophical sentences (“The way to here didn’t just have one step, but had a whole staircase”, “My English is still shit”). He remembers how he and fellow camper Cosimo couldn’t resist the crispy temptation of a pizza – to the detriment of the other candidates.