Gerry Scotti

Virginio "Gerry" Scotti (born 7 August 1956) is an Italian television presenter, actor and former member of the Italian Parliament.

Early years
Scotti was born Virginio Scotti on 7 August 1956 in the hamlet of Camporinaldo, in Miradolo Terme, Pavia. After giving up studying law, Scotti began his broadcasting career as a disc jockey" at Radio Milano International. In 1982, he moved to Radio DeeJay and a year later became the host of DeeJay Television, the first Italian programme for music videos, broadcast by Italia 1. Scotti also hosted other music programmes such as Festivalbar.

Television career
Scotti was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Socialist Party from 1987 to 1992.

Since the 1990s, Scotti has been a television presenter, almost exclusively for Canale 5. He is known as a quiz show host, having presented Chi vuol essere milionario?, the Italian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Passaparola, the Italian version of The Alphabet Game and The Money Drop. He also directed entertainment programmes such as La sai l'ultima?, La Corrida, Paperissima, Buona Domenica (with Harold Davies) and The Winner Is. He was the co-host of the satirical show Striscia la Notizia, and acted in several films and situation comedies.

In 2008, he returned as a host on R101 (the former Radio Milano International), and became deputy-president of Monradio (the radio division of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore).

In 2011, after Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ended, he presented The Money Drop, until its end in 2013.

He was the host of Avanti un Altro! along with Paolo Bonolis in 2014 and 2015.

In 2015 he presented Guinness World Record and Caduta libera, the Italian version of Who's Still Standing which achieved good ratings. In the summer of 2017, he presented The Winner Is. In December 2017 he started to present the Italian version of the American game show The Wall. In January 2018 he returned to present Striscia la notizia.

Awards
Scotti won the Italian television Telegatto prize in 1984, 1985, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2007.

In 2008, he won the platinum Telegatto, in the Excellence category. In 2011, he was mentioned in the Guinness World Records as the TV host who hosted the most episodes of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

Personal life
Scotti was married to Patrizia Grosso, with whom he had one son, Edoardo, in 1992. Since 2011, he has been in a relationship with architect Gabriella Perino. His son has two children, born in 2020 and 2023.

On 27 October 2020, Scotti tested positive for COVID-19 and spent time in the hospital. He has since recovered.