The first 4 episodes out of 10 in total were released on Friday 22 May on Prime Video – the others will be released three a week until 5 June – of the first Italian edition of The 50, a reality game show adaptation of a French format already replicated around the world.

The fifty contestants who give the program its title are famous people in various capacities: content creators, influencers, actors, TV and radio stars. Here is the complete list: Helena Prestes, Floriana Secondi, Edoardo Tavassi, Francesca Cipriani, Francesco Chiofalo, Mila Suarez, Paola Caruso, Shaila Gatta, Valerio Scanu, Drusilla Gucci, Clizia De Rossi, Federico Fashion StyleLucrezia Borlini, NozzolinoEva Giusti, Simone Dell’Agnello, La Giss, Tony Renda, Jenny Guardian, Alessia Pascarella, Maika Randazzo, Antonella Elia, Matteo Diamante, Khady Gueye, Paolo Noise, Antonella Mosetti, Eva Grimaldi, Imma BattagliaGiancarlo Danto, Claudia DorelfiThe Defe, Giorgio Ramondetta, Giulia ScaranoTwins Door, Federico FuscaLaCindina, Lucky John, Aurora Baruto, Gianmarco Zagato, Nicole Pallado, Giulia Sara Salemi, Valerio Mazzei, Sespo, The MusazziPanda Boi, Jhonatan Mujica, Merisiel Irum, Alex Caniggia, Giorgia Yin, Max Felicitas.

If reading the names of the participants the “who?” they have overcome the “ah yes!”, don’t worry: we are in the same situation. But just as it is not necessary to know perfectly all the teams participating in the Champions League to watch a Champions League match, in the same way it is not necessary to have a degree in gossip and reality television to follow this program which is in fact the Champions League of what we can define as “trashow” reality shows. So here’s how it works and what can be said about these first episodes of The 50, the first reality show in which the prize money will go to a viewer (the official trailer is reviewed in depth).

How The 50 works

The show, recorded around September 2025, mainly takes place (apart from the outdoor rehearsals) in an ancient castle, where the contestants live together under the watchful eye of the “master of the house”, a character with a lion mask on his face who acts as an invisible host, under whose orders other characters disguised as dogs, rabbits and foxes operate.

Every day, the group of competitors faces two types of tests: games in which the prize pool can increase or decrease, and games to eliminate participants. There is the chair game, a kind of dodge ball, or other holiday village or oratory games: at least for now, no chess games or mud fights.

In prize pool games, representatives are chosen to challenge the staff or everyone teams up temporarily. In elimination games, the defeated competitors make up lists among which the winners must vote on who to send out of the house, sorry from the castle.

Meanwhile, as mentioned, viewers can participate in the game by signing up for a competition to indicate who will win the reality show and, among those who get the prediction right, there will be who will win the final prize money (during The 50 and on the Prime Video Italia Instagram page there is the QR code and the link with the instructions to participate).

A little trashy, a little cringe, but also magnetic: why see The 50

Seeing “historical” showbiz characters – from Floriana from Big Brother to Antonella Elia, from Paolo Noise from Zoo 105 to Eva Grimaldi and his wife Imma – face trials alongside or against very young influencers and content creators is like seeing an Italian-style generational handover, with the “older ones” not willing to give way willingly.

The result is a show in which the trash and cringe typical of reality shows take on almost sociological if not directly demographic connotations.

There are hatreds – which often originate from other TV programmes, and never mind if you don’t know the precedents – and the loves typical of every house in which the contestants of a reality show are locked up. There are strategies, often terrible or immoral or both. There are the social-television freaks and those who try to give themselves a tone. There are absurd characters for those who don’t know them (is there really a surgical operation to change eye color?), surprisingly reserved people (like the porn star Max Felicitas), and there are those few who realize where they ended up and above all who they ended up with (maximum solidarity with Tavassi and Musazzi).

There is everything you can expect and more, so much so that the further you go the more you find yourself incredibly involved in the dynamics, clashes and feuds. In all of this, the impressive number of contestants multiplies the strengths and weaknesses of this reality show of reality shows, which we would certainly have done without but which we will still watch every episode of. And we have already chosen who to vote for.

Rating: 6.5