Cosimo and Gigi
German-Italian rock the jungle camp
Heroes of the jungle: Cosimo Citiolo (left) and Gigi Birofio.
© RTL / Stefan Thoyah
They are the stars of the current jungle camp: Cosimo Citiolo and Gigi Birofio, who have more in common than their Italian roots.
Two German-Italian are the undisputed audience favorites of “I’m a star – get me out of here!”. Cosimo Citiolo (40) and Gigi Birofio (23) entertain the audience with wonderful Italian curses and a sympathetic, direct manner.
In addition, the candidates, who are often and hastily dubbed TV machos, please with their openness towards the other participants – whether they are gay (Papis), transgender (Jolina) or esoteric tants (Jana).
Cosimo and Gigi are the favorites of moderator Jan Köppen
For jungle camp moderator Jan Köppen (39), Cosimo and Gigi are even the favorites. For him, both are underdogs who strive for respect – and score points with perseverance and tolerance.
What are your chances now? Both are admittedly not necessarily the brightest candles on the puke fruit cake. But simplicity has never hurt in the jungle camp. On the contrary. With Joey Heindle (29), Evelyn Burdecki (34) and most recently Filip Pavlovic (28), simple but likeable stars have already won.
Cosimo could stop himself on the way to the jungle throne. The entertainer is always good for a freak, directed primarily against himself. In the “Summer House of the Stars”, where he already surprised people in 2022, he wanted to quit shortly before the end because he did not trust himself to progress. And Gigi could be too lazy for the crown, as his advocate Jan Köppen fears.
Strippers from Swabia – who are Gigi and Cosimo?
Despite the almost 20-year age difference, Cosimo and Gigi have more in common than their parents’ Italian heritage. Both come from Baden-Württemberg. Cosimo was born in Stuttgart, Gigi with the name Luigi in Pleidelsheim in the suburbs of the state capital.
Both are typical growths of reality television of the last 20 years. They took part in a TV show and got stuck in the business. As dazzling, entertaining personalities, they were booked again and again.
Cosimo first appeared in 2005 as a candidate for “Deutschland sucht den Superstar”. The Italo-Swabian previously worked as a go-go dancer. Despite rejection because of his lack of singing skills, the self-proclaimed “Checker vom Neckar” kept coming to the casting. He became the second “cult candidate” of DSDS behind Menderes Bağcı (38) – who, by the way, was already king of the jungle … In addition to his DSDS time, Cosimo tinkered through television, was on “Big Brother”. After a few years of celebrity break, he reappeared in 2021 as a candidate for “Battle of the Reality Stars” – but not as likeable there as in the jungle today. With his partner Nathalie Gaus, he secured fourth place in the “Summer House of the Stars” in 2022.
Gigi also once worked as a stripper. But he learned a decent job. He is an industrial electronics engineer. Not much more is known about Gigi’s past life. There isn’t even a Wikipedia entry for him. Today Gigi does “television”, as he said in the jungle. In “Ex on the Beach” or “Temptation Island” he embodied Casanova, the women flew at him. Sex in front of the camera is not a problem for him. After all, you only see “a squirrel under the blanket” anyway, as he said with one of his incomparable metaphors. With his former partner Michelle Daniaux, he took part in the RTL show “Prominent Separated” in 2022.