COLOGNE (dpa-AFX) - The 18th season of "Ich bin ein Star - Holt mich hier raus!" begins on January 24 and will run for 18 days in German prime time at 8.15 p.m. instead of the regular later evening after 10 p.m.. This was announced by RTL. The industry service "DWDL.de" had previously reported on Friday. Accordingly, the grand finale Sunday is February 9. RTL is still keeping the candidates a secret.

"The summer season of "Ich bin ein Star - Showdown der Dschungel-Legenden" gave us and our viewers a lot of pleasure in primetime this year," DWDL quoted Inga Leschek, Chief Content Officer of RTL Germany. "We have therefore decided to present the next regular jungle to a larger audience at the beginning of the year and to program it in prime time."

The industry service DWDL pointed out that 8.15 p.m. sounds like a small change for audiences in Germany, but in the jungle in Australia it means getting up very early for production. Instead of the usual 8.15 a.m., the presenters Sonja Zietlow and Jan Koppen would have to be ready live at 6.15 a.m./gth/DP/men