Grande Fratello season 12

Grande Fratello 12 was the twelfth season of the Italian version of the reality show franchise Big Brother. The show premiered on 24 October 2011 and concluded on 1 April 2012. Alessia Marcuzzi returned as the main host of the show. The house had been radically renewed from the last season. The winner of the season, Sabrina Mbarek received a €240,000 grand prize.

The Invaders
On February 13, 2012, Alessia Marcuzzi communicated to viewers that, from that moment on, three former housemates (with the title of "Invaders") would re-enter in the competition with the aim of hindering the path of the current competing housemates towards final victory, namely, Patrick Ray Pugliese (GF4), Cristina Del Basso (GF9) and Ferdinando Giordano (GF10); in fact, they entered the 17th week of this edition.

Initially a "second wave" of "Invaders" was planned for the next episode (i.e. for the 18th week), but then the idea was dropped due to the refusal to participate (due to previous work commitments) of the four former housemates contacted by Endemol Italia. The housemates called to take part in the competition were Roberto Mercandalli (GF 8), the couple made up of Veronica Ciardi and Sarah Nile (GF 10) and George Leonard (GF10).

Role of the "Invaders" and management of the edition
The critics did not particularly appreciate the Invaders' entry: the authors of Grande Fratello have totally rejected the complaints made by the critics, and by the public, reaffirming the full and total regularity of the program and the televoting.

Margherita Zanatta (GF11) revealed that she had been contacted before the start of the season by Endemol Italia to participate, as an "Invader" in the twelfth edition, but she refused the proposal: a few weeks before, also Guendalina Tavassi (GF11) had also declared that she had received the same proposal, but she then refused to be able to participate in the ninth season of L'isola dei famosi. From the statements just mentioned by Zanatta and Tavassi, it can be deduced that the Invaders' entry had already been premeditated before the start of the twelfth season of Grande Fratello and not after, as the authors had publicly declared of the program at the time of the Invaders' entry.

On 4 July 2012, Patrick Ray Pugliese, one of the Invaders, gave some interviews in which he made controversial statements about the relationships between the authors, the housemates (including himself as the Invader) and the regulation of Grande Fratello. The controversial statements have aroused various controversies as part of the critics read in them an alleged piloting of the game by the authors of the program through a presumed piloting of the Invaders.

Alleged influence of call centers on televoting
Alfonso Signorini, opinionist of the twelfth edition, in an interview he stated, a few days after the Grade Fratello 12 final, the following: "I believe that within Grande Fratello 12 there was the influence of a few call centers too many: otherwise it is not possible to explain how it is possible that Ilenia, with a fan club of 80,000 people who have not voted all but almost, may have lost to a certain Martina who has 10,000 fans. Maths is not an opinion […] It would be time and time to get organized to ensure that call centers do not interfere with the outcome of a final vote."

Furthermore, Signorini, also in that interview, declared that he had doubts about the fact that Sabrina Mbarek, winner of the twelfth season, did not deserve, in his opinion, this title as Gaia Elide Bruschini, the runner-up, was greeted with a roar from the studio audience while the italian-tunisian coolly. Therefore, the so strong difference in preference between the two competitors, between the studio audience and the one at home, cannot be explained.