The newcomer to Zietlow’s side: Jan Köppen starts at the jungle camp
Jan Köppen is well aware of the tracks he is following when he enters the Australian jungle. He recently looked at a few excerpts from Dirk Bach (1961-2012), whom he describes in his analysis as a “luminous smooch ball” who “swept everyone with a smile” at the time. And Daniel Hartwich, on the other hand, well, he “always had the rogue on his neck,” says Köppen.
What will one day about his role in “I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here!” or IBES for short? Difficult to predict. However, Köppen is certain that he will be compared to his predecessors. “I can’t do anything about that,” he says. He still sounds pretty relaxed.
Jan Köppen, 39 years old and already tried as a humorous commentator on television madness (“Ninja Warrior Germany”, “Take me Out”), is the new co-moderator of the RTL jungle camp from January 13th. Then the new season of the reality format begins, in which more or less well-known celebrities – this year, for example, actor Martin Semmelrogge and the wife of ex-footballer Stefan Effenberg, Claudia Effenberg – are shipped to a camp in the Australian jungle and bickering, intrigues and conversations around the campfire.
Köppen succeeds Daniel Hartwich, who left the show in February 2022. Hartwich, in turn, inherited comedian Dirk Bach in 2013 after he died unexpectedly. In almost 20 years of format history – the first season ran in 2004 – Köppen is only the third male co-moderator. That alone makes his signing interesting.
Sonja Zietlow, who has been there from the beginning and will remain, will continue to guide through the show. During the preparation, Köppen also consulted them. They were eating together, classic getting to know each other. Zietlow had a lot of tips ready, reports Köppen. “It was about very banal things like the temperature in Australia and the sleeping rhythm. For example, she asked me to buy a daylight alarm clock,” he says. “Because it wakes you up better at night than an alarm clock in your cell phone.”
In fact, the production conditions of the RTL jungle are comparable to few other shows. This is partly due to the large time difference. “There are clearly shift work processes,” says Köppen. “We as moderators – so I was told – get up at 1 a.m. Then we are on the set at 2 or 3 a.m. and prepare.” In addition, the show is live. And the moderation very special – sometimes it resembles a play. Each spiteful phrase is perfectly balanced.
“In terms of the type of moderation work, it’s different than anything I’ve done before,” he says. What he nevertheless understood: The jungle moderator should not take himself too seriously. It’s about the hustle and bustle down in the camp. “We only supply the packaging and are the glue,” says Köppen. When he was asked for the job, he said yes relatively quickly. “But of course I also shrugged – because of the size of the task and the responsibility.”
What he means by that: The format is still radiant and over the years has created one or the other moment that has been remembered, for better or for worse. “I was 20 years old when the first season aired and I can still well remember that it was controversial in the beginning – let’s put it that way,” says Köppen. At that time, the jungle was decried as “disgusting TV”. Before it eventually discovered the feuilleton for itself.
The question is in which future the show is heading. It’s kind of hard to imagine that she’s going to try new extremes again. He also doesn’t believe that reality formats have to take part in the competition for the latest crassness, says Köppen. You can already see every extreme on social media. Almost everything has already happened. “Although I also have to say that in the jungle camp you’ve gotten used to the fact that testicles are eaten,” he says. “And yet everyone who has to do it and who is watching still finds it disgusting. That attraction is still there.”
In the future he will see him only a gagging distance away.
