L'isola dei famosi

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
