Daniel Hartwich, “I’m a star – get me out of here!” He last co-hosted with Sonja Seidlow in 2022, and now her successor has been determined. Image: dpa / Marius Becker

Wild camping

The last season of Jungle Camp ended with a shocker: Daniel Hardwich has announced his departure from the popular Garbage format – he will no longer host the show with Sonja Seidlow. “I’m a celebrity – get me out of here!” There are personal reasons, he explained in a press release. His family will no longer be able to go camping with him because his children will be of school age in the future, so he is stopping, he said.

After that, there was speculation about who would succeed the 43-year-old. It was originally reported that comedian Chris Dahl would be the new Jungle Camp moderator. But the 31-year-old denied such rumours. Lutz van der Horst and Ralf Schmitz were also brought in by Sonja Zietlow as potential new co-moderators. Other names mentioned in this context are Oliver Bocher and John Coppen. It really turned out to be one of them!

John Coppen succeeds Daniel Hardwich

On the official Instagram page of the forest camp, RTL finally posted “I’m a star – get me out of here!” Officially announced the new Moderator as:

John Coppen was the heir of Daniel Hardwich.Screenshot instagram.com/ichbineinstar.rtl

No big surprise that the choice fell on John Copan. After all, the 39-year-old was already on “Let’s Dance” for Hartwich when he was absent twice due to illness. Koppen is also known from other RTL formats such as “Ninja Warrior Germany”, “Take Me Out” or “RTL Turmsprung”.

In an interview RTL Koppen made a first statement about his work and made it clear that he did not want to be a copy of his predecessor: “Of course I’m not Daniel, and Daniel isn’t me, and that’s a good thing.” Nevertheless, he wanted to speak to Hartwich before his Jungle Camp debut. As part of his further preparation, he joked in an interview that he would now go to the sauna every day to adjust to the Australian temperature.

Sonja Seidlow awarded John Coppen the title “Fit for the Wild.”

And Sonja Zietlow also commented on her new co-moderator for RTL:

Sonja Zetlow has yet to comment on her new co-moderator.Bild: TVNOW / Stephen Gregorovius

In a previous RTL interview, he revealed that he had an opinion on the outcome. “There’s definitely a lot to match,” he said. He also revealed that he could imagine leaving his job at Wild Camp if Daniel Hardwich’s succession was not satisfactory. “I said if it didn’t fit, I wouldn’t do it again.”

What are fans really saying about Daniel Hardwich’s successor? The mood is mixed: one half is looking forward to Koppan, the other half is very disappointed. However, reality star Detlef Stevens warns critics only after two or three seasons because: “Daniel Dirk Bach’s successor has also passed.” Chris Dahl also speaks in the comments and ironically says: “Very cool! Luckily Chris isn’t tall, I hate him so much.”

(Swi)