Grande Fratello

For the celebrity edition of the series, see Grande Fratello VIP.

Grande Fratello
Created by	John de Mol Jr.
Directed by	Fosco Gasperi (2000–2001) Fabio Calvi (2003–2004, 2006–2009) Sergio Colabona (2009–2012, 2014–2015) Alessio Pollacci (2018–2019, 2023–) Marco Fuortes (2018–2019, 2023–)
Presented by	Daria Bignardi Barbara D'Urso Alessia Marcuzzi Alfonso Signorini Simona Ventura
Country of origin	Italy
Original language	Italian
No. of series	18
No. of episodes	333 (live shows)
Production
Running time	190–220 min (approx.)
Production company	Endemol Shine Italy
Original release
Network	Canale 5 (main show and daily recaps, 2000–) Italia 1 (daily recaps; 2014–) Stream TV (live; 2000–2003) Sky (live; 2004, 2008–2009) Mediaset Premium (live; 2006–2015) Mediaset Extra (live; 2018–) La5 (live; 2010–) Rete 4 (daily recaps; 2023–2024)
Release	14 September 2000 (2000-09-14) – present
Related
Grande Fratello VIP

Grande Fratello (also known by the acronym GF) is the Italian version of the reality television franchise Big Brother , created by producer John de Mol Jr. in 1997, which began airing on 14 September 2000 on Canale 5, it has gone on to become a cultural phenomenon in Italy. ^[1] The show follows the format of other national editions, in which a group of contestants, known as "housemates", live together in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world. Live television cameras and personal audio microphones continuously monitor them. Throughout the competition, housemates are "evicted" from the house by public televoting. The last remaining housemate wins the competition and a cash prize. The series is named after the fictional totalitarian dictator from George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four .

Over the course of its nineteen seasons, the program has been hosted by Daria Bignardi (2000–2001), Barbara D'Urso (2003–2004, 2018–2019), Alessia Marcuzzi (2006–2012, 2014–2015), Alfonso Signorini (2023–2025) and Simona Ventura (from 2025).

The reality show also had seven editions of the spin-off Grande Fratello VIP , reserved for famous people and one of the spin-off The Couple - Una vittoria per due, reserved for couples.

Format

The old logo for the Italian version of Big Brother - Grande Fratello.

Based on the original Dutch version created by Endemol, the show sees a number of "housemates", divided by gender, social backgrounds and geographical locations, locked up together in a house, where the viewing public can watch them twenty-four hours a day, and vote them out of the house as they choose. ^{[2] [3]}

The housemates can visit the "confessional" at any time during the day, either to talk to psychologists if they need to, talk to "Big Brother", or to nominate.

The title is inspired by the George Orwell novel 1984 . The novel tells of a Big Brother, head of the totalitarian state of Oceania that constantly monitors its inhabitants by the camera in an attempt to suppress their free will. The tag line of the novel is "Big Brother is watching you", which inspired the show, as it is Big Brother who now has total control over the situation in the house.

The housemates live in a house 24 hours a day, bugged by numerous cameras and microphones which capture their every move. Every week the housemates participate in tasks that determine their food budget for that week, or could even affect that week's nominations. The overall goal is to be the final surviving housemate and claim the prize fund. A PlayStation game based on this version was released in 2003.

Cast

Season	Presenter	Reporter		Opinionist			Direction
		External	Social				Home	Studio
1	Daria Bignardi	Marco Liorni					Alessio Pollacci	Fosco Gasperi
2
3	Barbara D'Urso							Fabio Calvi
4
5
6	Alessia Marcuzzi
7
8				Alfonso Signorini
9
10								Sergio Colabona
11
12
13				Manuela Arcuri [N 1]	Cesare Cunaccia [N 1]	Vladimir Luxuria [N 2]
14			Chiara Tortorella	Cristiano Malgioglio	Claudio Amendola
15	Barbara D'Urso				Simona Izzo		Marco Fuortes	Alessio Pollacci
16					Iva Zanicchi
17	Alfonso Signorini		Rebecca Staffelli	Cesara Buonamici
18					Beatrice Luzzi
19	Simona Ventura			Ascanio Pacelli	Cristina Plevani	Floriana Secondi

Location

Season	Location
	Home	Studio
1	Cinecittà Studios, Rome	Theater 1 of Cinecittà, Rome
2
3		Theater 5 of Cinecittà, Rome
4
5
6		Palastudio of Cinecittà, Rome
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17		Voxson studios, Rome
18	Lumina Studios, Rome
19

Series details and viewership

Season	Days	Housemates	Winner	Runner-up	Episodes		Originally released			Grand prize	Average viewers (millions)	Average share
							First released	Last released	Network
1	99	10	Cristina Plevani	Salvatore "Salvo" Veneziano	15		14 September 2000 (2000-09-14)	21 December 2000 (2000-12-21)	Canale 5	₤250,000,000	9.82	37.00%
2	92	16	Flavio Montrucchio	Emanuela "Lalla" Sempio	14		20 September 2001 (2001-09-20)	20 December 2001 (2001-12-20)		₤250,000,000	8.00	32.74%
3	99	16	Floriana Secondi	Victoria Pennington	15		30 January 2003 (2003-01-30)	8 May 2003 (2003-05-08)		€250,000	8.00	33.15%
4	106	15	Serena Garitta	Patrick Ray Pugliese	16		22 January 2004 (2004-01-22)	6 May 2004 (2004-05-06)		€300,000	8.44	33.89%
5	71	17	Jonathan Kashanian	Catrina Davies	11		23 September 2004 (2004-09-23)	2 December 2004 (2004-12-02)		€250,000	6.86	30.70%
6	99	20	Augusto De Megni	Filippo Bisciglia	15		19 January 2006 (2006-01-19)	27 April 2006 (2006-04-27)		€900,000	6.51	31.68%
7	92	19	Milo Coretti	Alessandro Tersigni	14		18 January 2007 (2007-01-18)	19 April 2007 (2007-04-19)		€500,000	5.57	25.80%
8	92	21	Mario Ferretti	Teresa Stinziani	14		21 January 2008 (2008-01-21)	21 April 2008 (2008-04-21)		€500,000	5.46	25.19%
9	99	23	Ferdi Berisa	Marcello Torre Calabria	16		12 January 2009 (2009-01-12)	20 April 2009 (2009-04-20)		€300,000	6.63	29.17%
10	134	26	Mauro Marin	Giorgio Ronchini	20		26 October 2009 (2009-10-26)	8 March 2010 (2010-03-08)		€250,000	6.16	27.83%
11	183	34	Andrea Hirai Cocco	Ferdinando Giordano	27		18 October 2010 (2010-10-18)	18 April 2011 (2011-04-18)		€300,000	5.43	23.55%
12	161	36	Sabrina Mbarek	Gaia Elide Bruschini	24		24 October 2011 (2011-10-24)	1 April 2012 (2012-04-01)		€240,000	3.85	17.40%
13	85	17	Mirco Petrilli	Francesca "Chicca" Rocco	13		3 March 2014 (2014-03-03)	26 May 2014 (2014-05-26)		€250,000	4.12	19.15%
14	78	19	Federica Lepanto	Domenico Manfredi	12		24 September 2015 (2015-09-24)	10 December 2015 (2015-12-10)		€200,000	3.52	18.74%
15	49	17	Alberto Mezzetti	Alessia Prete	8		17 April 2018 (2018-04-17)	4 June 2018 (2018-06-04)		€100,000	3.88	23.25%
16	64	19	Martina Nasoni	Enrico Contarin	10		8 April 2019 (2019-04-08)	10 June 2019 (2019-06-10)		€100,000	3.25	19.94%
17	197	35	Perla Vatiero	Beatrice Luzzi	47		11 September 2023 (2023-09-11)	25 March 2024 (2024-03-25)		€100,000	2.44	18.59%
18	197	34	Jessica Morlacchi	Helena Prestes	42		16 September 2024 (2024-09-16)	31 March 2025 (2025-03-31)		€100,000	2.12	16,76%
19	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA		29 September 2025 (2025-09-29)	TBA		€100,000	TBA	TBA

Popularity

The program has broken several records, including exceeding a 50% share of the ratings (with peaks of 60% during season one). The fifth season recorded a decline in ratings which was put down to both the competition from rival reality television shows and the season's poor and hasty production. By the ninth season, the show recorded increasing ratings which took the program back to its original popularity.

Despite a decline in viewing figures over the years (especially in the twelfth season), Grande Fratello is still one of the most successful reality shows in Italy.

References

Annotations

1. Until the fourth live show.
2. From the fifth live show.

Sources

1. "Grande Fratello VIP: trash, esperimento sociologico e politicamente (s)corretto". ilgiornaleditalia.it. 13 November 2021.
2. "La scienza del Grande Fratello (e degli altri reality show)". Focus.it.
3. "Se la realtà è peggiore del Grande Fratello". corriere.it.

External links

• Official website