Recommendations of the Editorial team
Costa Cordalis, Lisa Fitz, Daniel Küblböck, Ross Antony, Bata Illic, Joey Heindle, Melanie Müller, Markus Mörl and Lucas Cordalis. Has-beens or wannabes. Singers who moved into the “jungle camp”. Is Gil Ofarim coming now? Ofarim is reportedly heading to Australia and the “IBES” village to complete “jungle trials,” which could include eating kangaroo testicles (Gil Ofarim has not yet confirmed his participation).
The expensive Star of David affair
Anyone who moves in there has reached the bottom. And wants money – or needs money. The trial surrounding the so-called “Star of David” affair cost Ofarim dearly. Lawyers had to be paid, court costs had to be borne, plus a stipulation of 10,000 euros each to the Israelite Religious Community in Leipzig and to the sponsoring association of the House of the Wannsee Conference. The payment was late.
It’s not unlikely that Gil Ofarim is one of the most hated musicians in Germany. Since the court ruling on the false accusation, comments have continued to mount that he had done his faith a “disservice” and ruined his career as a rock bard. He is hit with disgusting anti-Semitic comments – but also those that claim that Ofarim is unreasonable. In a television interview, Ofarim gave many people the impression that he had only admitted the false accusation for procedural reasons, because otherwise the punishment could have been higher.
Comeback without success
In fact, his career hasn’t really taken off since then. There were still tickets available until before the event for a comeback concert in the “Matrix” club in Bochum, as the concert hall could only be filled with a few hundred people; According to a “Bild” report, he had to appear with police protection. His comeback song (“Correction of Time”) only has around 50,000 plays on YouTube after seven months, which isn’t a lot. Only around 33,000 on Spotify – not much either.
The end as a musician?
Nobody who has ever gone to the “jungle camp” has gone on to take their show career to new heights. At least not if you were already in the trash segment like Melanie Müller. C-celebrities like her then continued to live out their “scandals” in other trash formats or in their private lives. For Ofarim, if he were to move to the disgust camp, it would possibly be the end of his career as a musician. Who would then take him seriously as an artist? A jungle king on stage?
The mood on the internet is already running high; Interns would probably be busy for hours trying to stop shitstorms against Gil Ofarim as soon as RTL published “IBES” posts on social media. The sad thing about Ofarim’s case: The public will scrutinize every one of his jungle speeches to see whether he says something between the lines about the “Star of David” trial.
There are countless examples of musicians who fought their way from the bottom to the top: Slash, Tracy Chapman, Dave Mustaine, Kurt Cobain. Then those who were at the top, then at the bottom and then at the top again: Johnny Cash, Ozzy Osbourne. What they have in common: People liked listening to them because their stories sounded credible. Talked about real remorse.
If Ofarim were to be thrown out first, he would be the loser again. If he wins, the title would be the ticket to the next C-show.
What does Gil Ofarim hope for from the camp, other than collecting the highest possible fee?