Grande Fratello

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.

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.

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.

Annotations

Sources

• Official website