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Private Notes
For the new Jenke experiment, the reporter goes to Berlin for a week in the problem district of Marzahn and lives here with a family that is dependent on Arbetislosengeld II. Here Jenke can see the poverty with her own eyes and understand the living situation. One thing is for sure, something urgently needs to change with the host family.
Jenke pursues one of the greatest secrets of mankind: the phenomenon of 'being a woman'. In a self-experiment he wants to clarify the question of how differently women feel, think and act in comparison to men. To do so, he even tricks the laws of biology: He doesn't just slip optically into a woman's body, but tries to put himself in the position of a pregnant woman with a 9 kilo strap-on belly. He is not a fan of counters, dirty jokes and male bonding. Just three reasons why Jenke von Wilmsdorff has more female than male friends to this day. And in endless conversations, his great curiosity has certainly made him a bit of what is known as a womanizer. And yet he has never been in the skin of a woman - how could he? Exactly this fact Jenke does not let go. In a self-experiment he wants to test how differently women feel, think and act than men. To do this, he first tricks the laws of biology and tries to put himself in the position of a pregnant woman.
The first "Jenke Experiment" is literally all about cannabis, better known as marijuana. In the course of the controversial discussion about the addictive potential, the healing effect and a possible legalization, Jenke von Wilmsdorff first wants to know how the drug works. "The last time I smoked pot I was 16, 17 years old. At that time I very quickly realized that this was not a drug for me. Nothing has changed about that." On this basis, he moves into an apartment belonging to a coffee shop in Harlem, Netherlands, for five days and consumes what the shop offers. He constantly increases the daily dose, consuming six joints on the last day. The RTL reporter also tries out other forms of administration such as bong, pipe, cake or chocolate, but the effect is as sobering as it was in his youth: "Apart from an intense flash of laughter, I spent the days surrounded by fog as a silent observer. Which was probably due to the enormous amount I consumed every day.
For five days Jenke von Wilmsdorff experiences what it means to sit in a wheelchair. His legs are fixed with special bandages. Among other things, he moves into an apartment that is suitable for the disabled and experiences the problems that the approximately 1.6 million wheelchair users in Germany face every day and how they cope with their everyday lives. At the end of his self-experiment he visits the German Television Prize. Are you prepared for guests in wheelchairs?
Jenke von Wilmsdorff moves into a Berlin hospice for the dying for a week and accompanies people who do not have much time left. In an experiment he wants to be led back to a previous life.
In today's last episode, Jenke von Wilmsdorff tests a 'life with a handicap': For five days at a time, the RTL reporter is first blind and then hard of hearing. An experiment that brings him to the brink of depression. He meets people who are not struggling with their fate, but who lead a fulfilled life despite their handicap. Jenke von Wilmsdorff, for example, blindfolded, goes skiing down an alpine slope with one of them. Later, he meets Alex, who is one and a half years old and deaf since birth. An operation is finally supposed to make him hear. His parents want nothing more than for their son to finally hear their voices. Will that be successful?
Only those who feel it themselves understand others - in the very first episode Jenke von Wilmsdorff literally puts her journalistic credo into practice. Multitasking, excessive demands, conflicts of values or frustration due to boredom at work - stress has many faces. Around 56%, or more than one in two Germans, say that they are often or at least sometimes under stress. More time for oneself - for many this is high on their wish list for the future. But what are the factors that rob us of inner peace and even sleep? And why do we even allow this to happen? Jenke von Wilmsdorff is getting to the bottom of this. For a week he exposes himself to permanent stress: No free time, but a non-stop series of tasks. He is sent into jobs and has to fulfil smaller and larger tasks that demand everything from him physically or psychologically. He is under permanent time pressure to complete his to-do list and on top of that he has to prepare for a real driving test. (Text: RTL)
Jenke von Wilmsdorff is turning 50 this year, and in an experiment he wants to find out whether he can stop or even turn back time and stop physical decay. Over a period of four months he will train and test means and devices that promise a noble physique or something like eternal youth. Jenke is also struggling for the goal of participating in a bodybuilder competition. In the course of his self-experiment, Jenke accompanies, among others, a young mother who has an ambitious goal after the birth of her child: she wants to get rid of the pregnancy pounds and lose 30 kilos. And he talks to teenagers who are taking targeted anabolic steroids because they think they have a better chance of competing in society. (Text: RTL)
Germans eat an average of 60 kilos of meat per year. We like to displace where it comes from. Jenke von Wilmsdorff, a convinced meat eater, is investigating this. He visits mass fattening farms and organic farmers. Meat is the most popular foodstuff of the Germans, but what is the price for responsible production? What pressure are meat producers under and are there real alternatives to mass breeding? A sensitive issue around animal husbandry is transport. Jenke von Wilmsdorff wants to feel it for herself and exposes herself to an extreme situation created for animals for slaughter: For one day he rides on a livestock transporter - not in the driver's cab, but strapped in on the loading area between hundreds of pigs. In unusual experiments, he also illustrates how genetically modified animals are bred up to become pure meat suppliers and how they compare with "normal" conspecifics. (Text: RTL)
Almost 11,000 people in Germany are waiting for a vital organ. Every day three of them die because they have waited in vain. Many of them could still be alive if people had donated their organs after their death, but the willingness to donate organs in Germany continues to decline. Jenke von Wilmsdorff wants to change this: His goal is to convince 100,000 people to fill out an organ donor card. He meets 48-year-old Stefan, who has been waiting for a heart for a long time, and seven-year-old Sarah, a kidney patient who has to go on dialysis four times a week. For both of them, waiting is a battle against time. Will their bodies hold out until they get an organ? In an unusual experiment, Jenke tries to convince more people to take this important step with all the means at his disposal. To this end, Jenke takes a comprehensive look at the situation in Germany, explains the situation and also talks to opponents of organ donation. (Text: RTL)
Jenke loses his memory Dementia is already one of the most widespread age-related diseases in our society. 1.5 million people are affected. If research does not succeed in achieving a breakthrough in therapy soon, this number will increase dramatically in the coming years. But what does it really feel like to be demented and lose your memory? RTL reporter Jenke von Wilmsdorff does the self-experiment and under hypnosis, she lets herself be put into a state of dementia. He experiences on his own body what it is like when important brain functions such as memory and orientation fail. For his experiment, Jenke lives for a week in a shared flat with dementia sufferers and experiences ups and downs together with them. Jenke also meets the family of a 63-year-old dementia sufferer from Cologne who was diagnosed a year ago.
Jenke behind bars: In Germany, about 71,000 people are in prison. For two weeks Jenke von Wilmsdorff is one of them. To experience everyday life in prison, he moves to the Bremervörde prison. During the day he works in the court convoy, in the evenings he spends his time in the narrow solitary cell, like all the prisoners there. Here and in the common rooms he experiences the hard life behind bars. What about the supposed luxury in the cell? And how does the illegal trade in drugs, mobile phones and alcohol work in prison. Back at liberty, Jenke accompanies the unannounced access of a special task force in a prison through the mediation of the Saxon Ministry of Justice. For his further research on the subject of imprisonment and prison, Jenke von Wilmsdorff also meets a mother whose husband is in custody and who now no longer knows how she and her three children will make ends meet.
Jenke is starving - between ravenous hunger and severe weight loss: In order to find out for herself what effects eating disorders have on the body, Jenke von Wilmsdorff lives like an eating disordered person for his new experiment. Under medical supervision, Jenke will starve for weeks on end and radically lose kilos in the process. He will experience on his own body what it means to lose weight against all reason and to put his own health at risk. What drives people to do this? How harmful is hunger and how do the organs react? In therapy facilities Jenke meets young women with eating disorders and learns frightening details about the disease. For example, what tricks patients use to trick their doctors and their own bodies to lose even more weight and how they motivate each other in WhatsApp groups. However, a disturbed relationship with food does not necessarily end in anorexia. Behind "eating too much" is also an eating disorder. (Text: RTL)
After two years Jenke von Wilmsdorff is back with what is probably his toughest test. In his current experiment he is trying - after many failed attempts - to finally give up smoking. In the 90-minute report he meets international experts and unusual methods. As a reporter he also questions the tricks of the tobacco companies and new trends such as the e-cigarette. Will he succeed?
On the occasion of the third global climate strike, the reportage shows the effects of the plastic madness and what consequences this has for mankind and nature. To this end, the team of television journalist Jenke von Wilmsdorff travelled around the world on the trail of plastic waste and spoke with experts and doctors. In addition, Jenke tested on her own body what plastic does to human health. (Text: RTL)
The vast majority of people are worried that they can no longer manage everyday life on their own and are dependent on outside help even for the most intimate tasks. But what does it mean to be in need of care? Can one be happy at all in a nursing home? Jenke von Wilmsdorff addresses questions such as these in his latest experiment on the subject of nursing care, in which he also confronts his own fears of uncertainty and aging.
Is the consumption of meat in large quantities still ethically justifiable? What does this do to health and the environment? Jenke von Wilmsdorff hopes to find answers to these questions in his new self-experiment. For two weeks the journalist eats almost exclusively meat, after that he will be vegan for 14 days. The personal company of a fattening pig presents Jenke with a dilemma: Can he let the sow die? (Text: RTL)
