Pietro Taricone (4 February 1975 – 29 June 2010) was an Italian

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

, and

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

contestant on ''

Grande Fratello ''Grande Fratello'' is the Italian version of the reality television franchise '' Big Brother''. Begun in September 2000, it has gone on to become a cultural phenomenon in Italy. There have been twenty-one completed seasons as of 2021, sixteen ...

''. An avid

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

and

extreme sport Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...

enthusiast, he was nicknamed "O’ guerriero" ('The Warrior'). Taricone was born in

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the Va ...

. He was a contestant on the first season of ''

'', the Italian version of ''

Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' ** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control ** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...

'', in 2000. On the show, Taricone had an affair with fellow contestant Cristina Plevani after just three days in the house. Taricone came in third place on the show, while Plevani won the season. However, the show launched Taricone's career and he later appeared in Italian television and film roles. Taricone had one daughter, Sofia, with

Kasia Smutniak Katarzyna Anna "Kasia" Smutniak (; born 13 August 1979) is a Polish-Italian actress and model. Personal life Smutniak was born in Piła, Poland. Her father, Brigadier General Zenon Smutniak, is a military pilot and served in the Polish Air Fo ...

, a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

. Taricone and Smutniak took part in a

skydive Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. For ...

over

Terni Terni ( , ; lat, Interamna (Nahars)) is a city in the southern portion of the region of Umbria in central Italy. It is near the border with Lazio. The city is the capital of the province of Terni, located in the plain of the Nera river. It is ...

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

, in June 2010. During the jump, Taricone waited to open his parachute until he was just 100 metres from the ground and thus could not stop his fall in time before he hit the ground. He suffered severe back, leg, and head injuries in the accident. He died on 29 June 2010, after more than nine hours of surgery, at the age of 35.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taricone, Pietro 1975 births 2010 deaths Italian male actors Participants in Italian reality television series Grande Fratello People from Caserta Male actors from Rome Accidental deaths in Italy Big Brother (franchise) contestants