“Good evening and welcome to Big Brother. It is September 14, it is 9 pm and we are finally there”. It was the first words of Daria Bignardi, presenter of what had been described for months as the event of events, capable of distorting the fate and future of television.

The “Big Brother” had finally landed in Italy. Something knew, but not a lot. Some editions abroad had already been held, however in a YouTube and social era, the spread of the images was very limited. If the information was reduced, the perceptions flocked. Also thanks to some films, such as “The Truman Show” or “and TV” began to spread the idea of ​​the great eye and the cameras on twenty -four on twenty -four, without interruption, with the possibility of spying on the competitors at any time, in any room.

Canale 5 came to that evening with the dress of the great occasions and an unprecedented advertising battage. “The TV will no longer be as before,” repeated for an entire summer an out of field voice that explained how the ten protagonists, once they ended up in isolation for a total of one hundred days, would not have had TV, radio, cell phones, books, video games, Walkman, computer, cards, watches, calendars and even pens available.

The house and the competitors

The house stood in Cinecittà, a few meters from the set set up for Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York”. 182 overall square meters, which included a living room, two bedrooms, one bathroom, an outdoor swimming pool, a vegetable garden and a confessional, the latter ended today in common use but which was then contained in dictionaries with a completely different definition.

The protagonists of the “show-Spy” (originally baptized him thus) five men and five women: Francesca Piri, Roberta Beta, Lorenzo Battistello, Marina La Rosa, Rocco Casalino, Sergio Volpini, Maria Antonietta Tilloca, Salvo Veneziano, Pietro Taricone and Cristina Plevani. They would not have been so few.

We knew we were inside the story

That September 14, 2000 – same day as the death sentence in the USA of Rocco Barnabei, the first issue of discussion addressed at home – we knew we were inside the story. This is why when the next morning the ratings were published, the shock spread among the corridors of Mediaset. The debut of the “GF” had in fact been exceeded by “Fantastic Italiana”, Rai 1 show with Mara Venier and Massimo Lopez who had scored 5.521 million against the 5.452 of the reality show. Although the share had rewarded Canale 5 (24.78 against 23.75%), the response was considered a half disaster and the 5 million who had managed to touch Rai 2 in turn with the film “Disturbing crimes” did nothing but increase the impatience.

The strokes of the press (which were then denied)

The early funeral were wasted. “The (good) news is that Big Brother’s debut had a modest audience,” said Norma Rangeri on the Manifesto. “Even if the evening of Canale 5, slow and boring, was only a presentation of the ten boys and their families, the possibility of a real flop is not so remote. The Big Brother for the moment is a younger little brother, a lower note than the new pornography of the reality shows”.

It was no less the press, which on September 16th he titled in cubital characters: “Big Brother is still small”. To then explain that the success of Stream, which showed the boys without interruptions and censorship 24 hours a day, was poorly balanced by a more chastened and soporific version of Canale 5.

On the contrary, Fabrizio Rondolino, a special consultant for the communication of the broadcast: “The first episode was mandatory boring, but as soon as life in the house the data have climbed”. A conviction also confirmed by the authors: “Everything will change with the advent of nominations and eliminations”. They were right. The following week, on September 21, the “GF” climbed to 7,445,000 spectators, while the 28th of the 8 million wall (31.2%) broke through.

The surge therefore became unstoppable: on November 23, the 40% share threshold (11.7 million) and the epilogue of 21 December reached 16 million, with 60 out of 100 tuned televisions. Sanremese final stuff.

The fiery debate

“Big Brother” stopped being a program. He soon transformed into a social experiment, regarding the debate between academic, into a subject chewed by priests, bishops and cardinals. “I saw some scenes and it’s a miserable reality,” Monsignor Ersilio Tonini thundered. “Language is also empty. I have so much mercy of them, poor my children.”

The director of Canale 5, Giorgio Gori, tried to dodge the attacks: “Big Brother is less violent than Miss Italy: there are girls exposed for their physical attractiveness, here the competitors have many more chances to get involved”.

Politics, among other things, in a hot season that would have been dominated by the electoral challenge between Silvio Berlusconi and Francesco Rutelli was soaked. On November 22, surprisingly, the Minister of Cultural Heritage Giovanna Melandri sent a basket full of books to competitors. A gesture that literally made the center -right literally: “For those who are in crisis of consensus, every occasion is good for making electoral propaganda, even Big Brother, at the beginning vituped and now exploited to place an advertising spotice”, accused the senator of the National Alliance, Michele Bonatesta. Simone Baldelli, at that time national coordinator of the young people of Forza Italia, thought about the load: “That of Melandri is the electoral intrusion of a ‘great sister’. By now the left, in order to advertise and contain the losses, even tries to speculate on the audience of a successful program”. Vittorio Sgarbi and Alessandra Mussolini who evaluated as “useful” the sending of the books to boys “brought by boredom”. It was the definitive consecration.

The incursion attempts and the parodies

Not being able to shine with his own light, Rai decided to shine with reflected light. Instead of ignoring the elephant in the room, the state TV riding the phenomenon. Sabrina clumsy inaugurated the imitations of Marina and Maria Antonietta and, always on Rai 2, “those that football” even attempted the incursion to cinecittà by means of a hot air balloon with Francesco Paolantoni on board. The comedian was supposed to communicate to the boys the results of the games, the production, however, operated the hydrants and fired the music at full volume by forbidding the tenants to go out in the garden, under penalty of exclusion. In the face of an average of 29.5% of share, in the highlights the Fabio Fazio program saw the curve climb up to 36.2.

He had more fortune “strip”. With a radio -controlled helicopter, the Gabibbo kept to the inhabitants a message that warned them of the threats of helplessness that, according to some studies, men ran in wearing the wireless microphones for 18 hours a day. The order did not read the sheet, but Taricone disobey and, learned the news, threatened to abandon the game. Announcement that remained such.

For ninety -nine days the bunker was really inaccessible. Only two exceptions: the entrance of a dog in half of the route and the intrusion of Emilio Fede disguised as Santa Claus in the penultimate episode.

But then Big Brother would become more

Like all the first few times, that edition was unrepeatable. Not to mention that, after a quarter of a century, nothing remained of that experience. Over the years, “Big Brother” would have become other, contaminated with suite, hovels, surprises, overwhelming people, calculated and competitors anything but novices. Another spirit, another conception of segregation which is not true segregation is not. Reason why that “GF” still appears to us as something tremendously revolutionary.