L'isola dei famosi (; Italian for The Celebrity Island or The island of the famous) is an Italian reality show, first aired on Rai 2 in 2003, before moving to Canale 5 in 2015. This program is the Italian Survivor for celebrities.
The program The first eight seasons of the show, broadcast from 2003 to 2011, were aired on Rai 2 and hosted by Simona Ventura: after her departure in June 2011 to Sky Italia the program underwent a big change in the format; starting in the ninth season in 2012, the program had two new hosts, Nicola Savino in the studio of Rai 2 and former winner Vladimir Luxuria from the island; in 2015 both were replaced: Alessia Marcuzzi is the host in the studio, while Alberto "Alvin" Bonato is the host from the island. Alvin was replaced in 2017 by Stefano Bettarini, Ventura's former husband. Bettarini was replaced in 2018 by Stefano De Martino, former husband of Belén Rodríguez, therefore in 2019 De Martino was replaced by Alvin. Following the spread of COVID-19 in the winter of 2020, Mediaset decided to cancel this program due to social distancing rules; in 2021 Marcuzzi, as host in the studio, and Alvin, as host from the island, were replaced by Ilary Blasi and Massimiliano Rosolino. Blasi in 2022 kept her position as host in the studio while Rosolino was replaced by Alvin, who came back, for the fourth time, as host from the island.
Format L'isola dei famosi is the Italian version of the international format of Survivor, created by Charlie Parsons. In February 2001, a show with a very similar format, called Survivor, was aired on Italia 1 and hosted by two journalist of TG5, Benedetta Corbi (as host in the studio) and Pietro Suber (as host from the island), but this program failed in TV ratings and was cancelled after one season. The first three seasons of L'isola took place in the Dominican Republic on the Samaná Peninsula. The show moved from the 4th to 6th season to Cayos Cochinos, Honduras. Due to the 2009 Honduran coup, however, the 7th season of the show was held in the Corn Islands, Nicaragua only to return to Honduras from the 8th season.
In L'isola dei famosi, a group of celebrity competitors (and non-celebrity competitors as well, in certain seasons) must survive on a desert island with no facilities. Competitors must build shelter, procure food and water, and find ways to maintain warmth. Candidates have a basic survival kit which, through group efforts, can be enhanced with new objects. Once a week there is a challenge winner, determined through contests of skill, balance, strength, or other factors. The competitor(s) who wins the week's challenge becomes immune from the elimination: a live nomination takes place every week, in which competitors are gradually eliminated. The last remaining contenders compete for the final prize during the season finale. Usually a portion of the final prize is donated to charity. Note that each contestant is paid by the production based on how many weeks he/she participates in the reality show.
Series details SeasonsNetworkPresenterLaunch dateFinale dateEpisodesDaysOpinionistsSentCastawaysDirectorPrizeLocationWinnerIn the studioConnecting1Rai 2Simona Ventura19 settembre 200314 novembre 2003957Alfonso SignoriniPierluigi DiacoSelvaggia LucarelliNot presentMarco Mazzocchi11Egidio Romio€200,000Samaná (Dominican Republic)Walter NudoAndrea G. PinkettsMaria Venturi217 September 2004The first episode of 17 September 2004 ended early due to Hurricane Jeanne which hit the Dominican Republic and the peninsula of Samaná, while the disembarkation of the shipwrecked took place in the episode of 24 September.19 novembre 2004Luca GiuratoAntonio MazziMassimo Caputi13Sergio MúñizAldo BiscardiSandro MayerBruno VespaGiada De Blanck321 settembre 200516 November 2005Antonella Elia15Lory Del Santo413 September 20068 November 2006Nicola SavinoMichele CucuzzaNancy Dell'OlioPaolo Brosio19Cayos Cochinos (Honduras)Luca CalvaniLory Del SantoKatia RicciarelliCesare CadeoElena SantarelliAlessandro MeluzziMichela Rocco di TorrepadulaRiccardo RossiAntonio MazzaFabio CaninoMaria Giovanna ElmiAlba PariettiPlatinetteAlessandro Rostagno519 September 200728 November 20071171Mara VenierAlfonso SignoriniSandro MayerFrancesco Facchinetti18Manuela VillaGianluca NicolettiAlda D'Eusanio615 September 200824 November 2008Luca GiuratoPamela PratiFilippo Magnini23Vladimir Luxuria724 February 20105 May 2010Adriano AragozziniAntonia Dell'AtteRossano Rubicondi22Corn Islands (Nicaragua)Daniele BattagliaGabriella SassonePierluigi DiacoRocco BaroccoMonica SettaClaudio LippiNadège du BospertusAndrea PucciCristiano MalgioglioFrancesco Facchinetti8Simona VenturaReplaced by Nicola Savino for the seventh episode of 29 March 2011.Nicola SavinoReplaces Simona Ventura for the seventh episode of 29 March 2011.14 February 201126 April 201172Vladimir LuxuriaAlba PariettiDaniele BattagliaCayos Cochinos (Honduras)Giorgia Palmas9Nicola Savino25 January 20125 April 2012Diego PassoniLucilla AgostiLaura BarrialesVladimir Luxuria20Antonella EliaNina MorićBarbara De Rossi10Canale 5Alessia Marcuzzi26 January 2015The first episode of 26 January 2015 ended around 10:05 pm due to bad weather in Honduras, while the disembarkation of the shipwrecked took place in the episode of 2 February.23 March 2015850Mara VenierAlfonso SignoriniAlvin14Roberto Cenci€100,000Le Donatella (Giulia and Silvia Provvedi)119 March 20169 May 2016106218Giacobbe Fragomeni1231 January 201711 April 20171173Vladimir LuxuriaStefano Bettarini14Raz Degan1322 January 201816 April 20181385Mara VenierDaniele BossariGialappa's BandStefano De Martino20Nino "Gaspare" Formicola1424 January 20191 April 20191268Alda D'EusanioAlba PariettiAlvin23Paolo RiccadonnaMarco Maddaloni15Ilary Blasi15 March 20217 June 20212285Iva ZanicchiElettra LamborghiniTommaso ZorziNot presentMassimiliano Rosolino26Roberto CenciSimone "Awed" Paciello1621 March 202227 June 20222599Nicola SavinoVladimir LuxuriaAlvin32Nicolas Vaporidis1717 April 202319 June 20231064Enrico Papi18Marco Mazzoli18 Vladimir Luxuria8 April 20245 June 20241459Sonia BruganelliDario MalteseElenoire Casalegno24Aras Şenol19Veronica Gentili7 May 20252 July 20251057Simona VenturaPierpaolo Pretelli22Cristina Plevani
TV ratings Season Average Viewers Share 1 6,357,000 26.98% 2 7,479,000 32.73% 3 7,643,000 35.25% 4 4,972,000 25.88% 5 5,207,000 23.75% 6 5,037,000 22.39% 7 4,391,000 19.94% 8 3,908,000 15.70% 9 3,574,000 14.52% 10 5,256,000 25.08% 11 4,270,000 22.39% 12 4,003,000 20.96% 13 4,456,000 24.07% 14 2,820,000 16.39% 15 3,067,000 18.30%16 2,489,000 18.52%17 2,515,000 19.51%
References Annotations
Sources
External links Official website of L'isola dei famosi in RAI Official website of L'isola dei famosi in Mediaset