7 vs. Wild
7 vs. Wild is a German reality TV-show invented by YouTuber Fritz Meinecke and his team.
The series, which is released on YouTube and Amazon Freevee, follows the experiences of 7 or 14 YouTubers who have to survive in the wilderness for 7 or 14 days.
They are only allowed to take seven preselected items with them and the clothing they wear. The participants have to persevere isolation and the moods of nature.
| Season | Year | Duration | Participants | Country | Temperature | Spot selection |
| 1 (2021)|1] | 2021 | 7 days | 7 | [|5]...10 °C / 10...20 °C | Scandtrack | |
| 2 (2022)|2] | 2022 | 7 days | 7 | 20...25 °C / 30...35 °C, high humidity | Wandermut | |
| 3 (2023)|3] | 2023 | 14 days | 14 | 0...10 °C / 5...15 °C | SK Touristik | |
| 4 (2024)|4] | 2024 | 14 days | 7 | −7...+5 °C / 0...15 °C, frost and snow | OrgaTeam itself | |
| 5 | 2025 | 14 days | 7 |
Season 1 (2021)
| Location | Shore of Lake Naren, County Dalarna/Värmland, Sweden |
| Year | 2021 |
| Episodes | 16 |
| Broadcast | YouTube, Wed+Sat 18:00 CET, 6 Nov – 29 Dec 2021 |
| Production | Johannes Hovekamp, Maximilian Kovacs |
| Editors | Johannes Hovekamp, Maximilian Kovacs |
| Camera | Johannes Hovekamp, Maximilian Kovacs, participants itself |
The first season took place at the end of August 2021. The 16 episodes were published from the beginning of November to the end of December 2021 on the Meinecke's YouTube channel.
Concept
The seven participants with varying degrees of experience in bush crafting, camping and outdoor activities were dropped off into an unspecified lake in Sweden. After swimming to the shore each participant was allowed to move 500 meters in each direction along the lake and as far as they wanted into the mainland. According to the rules they were allowed to take seven items with them, clothing not counted. The clothes, were predetermined by their use.The aim of the series is to survive in the wild and in complete human isolation. This includes activities such as: searching for food, building or finding a shelter and a place to sleep, passing of prepared tasks and filming them. Thanks to the location on a lakeshore the water supply and the possibility to fish are guaranteed. All the participants have access to a sealed first aid kit, a sealed mobile phone, a GPS transmitter and the technical equipment for filming.
In the first episode the competition rules, participants and the items chosen in each case were presented. Subsequent episodes showed the participants' recordings, which lasted approximately half a day per episode, with the length of the segments per participant depending on the quantity and quality of the material provided. From the time of elimination the participants are no longer shown at least in the main part of the show, even if they decide to remain on the filming site.
The participants are obliged to daily confirm their well-being by pressing the dead man's switch. Should they fail to do it, they are eliminated and picked up. In addition, the participants have to open a sealed envelope containing a daily challenge. Participation in these tasks is voluntary, but points can be earned by participating, which plays a role in determining the overall winner.
The use of the cell phone carried for emergencies only, will result in direct elimination of the participant, and the use of materials from the first aid kit will be sanctioned with point deductions.
The winner is the participant who stays in the game the longest. If more than one participant remains in the game until the end, the winner is the one who achieves the highest score in the challenges. They will be awarded a 10,000 euro prize, which is donated to a charity organization of their choice.
Participants and their selected items and Locations in Season 1
The seven participants were released in this relay in central Sweden between Hagfors and Vansbro on the 12 km2 Lake Naren.Episode overview and the Challenges
Winner
With 42 points, Fritz Meinecke was the winner of the first season. The prize of 10,000 euros was donated to Robert Marc Lehmann's project Mission Erde. Chris and Mattin shared the second place due to the same score. The following places were determined by the date of elimination.Reception
The aired episodes have an average of over four million views. The Stuttgarter Nachrichten announced the start of the series.After the series' launch, the youth radio program of the SWR DASDING wrote: "The survival format '7 vs. Wild' is going through the roof on YouTube right now." Web video producer MontanaBlack stated that, "it's one of the most hyped formats ever on YouTube." The news portal Watson called the series "brilliant".
The episodes also received attention due to "live reactions" from popular streamers such as Simon Unge, Jens Knossalla and Rezo. Additionally, some of the participants responded to the episodes by providing additional background information, such as from Fritz Meinecke.
Season 2 (2022)
The second season of 7 vs. Wild was published each Wednesday and Saturday on YouTube. It is accompanied by the behind-the-scenes videos on Dave's channel.Participants with their selected items and Locations in Season 2
The game took place at 7 different locations on Isla [San José (Panama)|Isla San José] in the Pacific Ocean in Panama.Episodes
Season 3 (2023)
Season 3 took place in August/September 2023 in the Canadian province of British Columbia on Hope and Nigei Island. This season brought rule changes compared to seasons 1 and 2. The duration of the season was extended from 7 days to 14 days. In this season, participants competed in teams of two, not with a set number of items, but with what they could fit into a predefined bottle. In the preparation and announcement phase of the season, the management nominated presenters Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, among others, who declined to take part.The season was released between 31 October and 22 December 2023 on Amazon and four weeks later on YouTube.
An additional 17th bonus episode was released on 24 January 2024.
Participants and Locations of Season 3
| Participant | cancel- lation | Location of release |
| "Survival Mattin" Rudloff and Fritz Meinecke | Day 3 | |
| "Naturensöhne": Gerrit Rösel and Andreas "Andy" Schulze | Day 5 | |
| Joey Kelly and Jan "Jan Schlappen" Lange | Day 7 | |
| Maximilian "Trymacs" Stemmler and Wieland Emilian "Rumathra" Welte | Day 10 | |
| Kevin "Papaplatte" Teller and Dominik "Reeze" Reezmann | rowspan="3" | |
| Jens "Knossi" Knossalla and Sascha Huber | - | |
| Hannah Assil and Ann-Kathrin "Affe auf Bike" Bendixen | - |
Location of the Orgateam Basecamp:
Hotel: Malei Island Resort
Episodes
Season 4 (2024)
The fourth season was planned for fall/winter 2024.However, the realisation and filming had already been completed at the time of the announcement.
Despite the secrecy, there was speculation about filming and participants for a new season at the beginning of May, as several potential participants signed off for three weeks at exactly the same time.
The participants were announced on August 27, 2024; inquiries as to whether they would accept participation were obsolete at this point, which caused some confusion. The exact location on site was found by fans of the series using the elevation profile and a few pictures within about an hour.
Preparation work began in November 2023 and filming of the season took place in May 2024.
The season will be/was released between 1 October and 22 November 2024 on Amazon and two weeks later on YouTube.
Participants
After a briefing in Frankfurt, the participants traveled to Christchurch via Singapore on scheduled flights. From there they continued with a chartered Cessna 208 Caravan to Wanaka. The last 30 km to the drop-off point were flown in three Airbus Helicopters H125, with the participants blinded with goggles. The journey was non-stop without overnight stays, the time zone difference is 10 hours, the participants were dropped off in the afternoon when they were overtired.| Participant | Day of cancellation |
| Stefan "SurvivalDeutschland" Hinkelmann | :, |
| Hugo "LetsHugo" Goedert | :, |
| Sandra "selfiesandra" Safiulov | :, |
| Johannes Vogel | rowspan="4" |
| Joey Kelly | - |
| Uwe "Flying Uwe" Schüder | - |
| Julia "Julia Beautx" Willecke | - |
Video Episodes
Behind the Scenes
Audio Podcast (contains also season 3 contents)
Since the start of season 4 in 2024, for the first time there has been a podcast for the series in which various protagonists from the previous seasons have their say. The podcast is hosted by Steven Gätjen.| No | Title | Run- time | Release |
| 0 | Trailer 7 vs. Wild – Der Podcast | 2 20 | 1 Oct |
| 1 | Fritz Meinecke – Teil 1 von 2 | 57 30 | 14 Oct |
| 2 | Fritz Meinecke – Teil 2 von 2 | 43 02 | 21 Oct |
| 3 | Ann-Kathrin Bendixen – Affe auf Bike | 51 24 | 28 Oct |
| 4 | Flying Uwe aka Uwe Schüder | 67 35 | 4 Nov |
| 5 | Joe Vogel | 68 52 | 11 Nov |
| 6 | Hugo aka LetsHugo | 50 41 | 18 Nov |
| 7 | Survival Mattin | 72 24 | 25 Nov |
| 8 | The Team - Editing, Camera, Community | 58 33 | 2 Dec |
The game
For the first time, the participants did not know where and how they would be exposed.They only found out the country from Singapore onwards. They learned the local conditions and the game mode directly at the drop-off point.
With temperatures well below zero at night and sometimes only slightly above zero during the day, this season was climatically more challenging than the previous seasons.
There were numerous useful items on the plane, such as sleeping bags and flares. There were also cigarettes lying around, but the smokers overlooked them.
There were also 6 suitcases scattered around the site, which could be found either by chance or by scattered clues. These contained other useful items, such as saws, toothbrushes, knives, dog food, peanuts and chocolate, as well as less useful items intended for improvisation.
The exchange point for memory cards, technology and information about the location of the cases on compact cassettes was a mounted letterbox. Each participant was required to carry a medipack and a GPS tracker, and there was also a satellite phone for emergencies.
Locations of Season 4
The relay was carried out on the South Island of New Zealand and filmed near Wanaka. The release took place in late autumn between 10 and 25 May 2024 for the first time as a group.It was modelled on the crash of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, with an aircraft wreck of a Dornier Do 28#Dornier [Do 28 A/B|Dornier Do 28A-1] serving as the backdrop.
;Location of the organisation team in Wanaka: The main base was Wanaka Hotel at an altitude of 285 m, about 50 minutes away from the Orgateam. It was also the starting point for evacuations at Code Yellow: driving to the Forest Range Station by car, flight with ultra-light helicopter Guimbal Cabri G2 to the drop-off, which took approx. 90 minutes.
;Location of the organisation and emergency team on site : The local base was Forest Range Station at an altitude of 410 m near Lindis Pass on State Highway 8. There also was the Helicopter take off place, about 5 km away from the drop-off zone. It was also the starting point for evacuations at Code Red: flight with ultra-light helicopter or ride with All-terrain vehicles to the drop-off, which took approx. 8 to 15 minutes.
;Location of the drop-off of the participants: The participants were dropped off at the bottom of the 400-meter-deep Breast Creek at an altitude of 610 meters on a plateau measuring around 3000 square meters.
;Uwe's Tree Antonia:
;Bridge for pickup:
;Weather station nearby and weather records: