''L'isola dei famosi'' (; Italian for ''The Celebrity Island'' or ''The island of the famous'') is an Italian

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

, first aired on

Rai 2 Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting '' TG2'' news bulletins, ta ...

in 2003, before moving to

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...

in 2015. This program is the Italian ''

Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...

'' for celebrities.

The program

The first eight seasons of the show, broadcast from 2003 to 2011, were aired on

and hosted by

Simona Ventura Simona Ventura (born 1 April 1965) is an Italian television presenter and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Italia 1988 and represented her country at Miss Universe 1988. She is the third woman to have presented the Sanremo Music Festiv ...

: after her departure in June 2011 to

Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media conglomerate Comcast. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8, Cielo, and Sky TG24. Pay TV services on the Sky ...

the program underwent a big change in the format; starting in the ninth season in 2012, the program had two new hosts,

Nicola Savino Nicola Savino (born 14 November 1967) is an Italian radio host, television presenter, television writer, radio director, actor, record producer and impersonator. Biography Nicola Savino was born in Lucca on 14 November 1967 to an engineer fathe ...

in the studio of

and former winner

Vladimir Luxuria Vladimir Luxuria (; born 24 June 1965) is an Italian activist, television personality and actress. Luxuria was a Communist Refoundation Party MP, belonging to The Union (political coalition), The Union coalition led by Romano Prodi. She was the ...

from the island; in 2015 both were replaced:

Alessia Marcuzzi Alessia Marcuzzi (born 11 November 1972) is an Italian television host, actress and former fashion model. In a career spanning over 30 years, she also co-hosted Sanremo Music Festival 2025. Career Born in Rome, to father Eugenio, from Trieste, ...

is the host in the studio, while Alberto "Alvin" Bonato is the host from the island.

Alvin ''Alvin'' (DSV-2) is a crewed deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The original vehicle was built by General Mills' Electro ...

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 María Belén Rodríguez (; born 20 September 1984), better known as Belén Rodríguez or simply Belén, is an Argentine-Italian television personality, actress and model. Based in Milan since 2004, Rodríguez has hosted variety shows and app ...

, therefore in 2019 De Martino was replaced by

. Following the spread of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

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 Ilary Blasi (; born 28 April 1981) is an Italian television host, former model and former child actress. Early life Ilary was born in Rome, daughter of Roberto and Daniela. Her mother named her after one of her favourite Western movie heroi ...

and

Massimiliano Rosolino Massimiliano Edgar "Massi" Rosolino (born 11 July 1978) is an Italian retired competitive swimmer. Biography Born in Naples to an Italian father, Salvatore, and an Australian mother, Carolyn, he moved to Australia at the age of three, coming b ...

. Blasi in 2022 kept her position as host in the studio while Rosolino was replaced by

, 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 ''

'', created by

Charlie Parsons Charles Andrew Parsons is a British television producer known as the creator of the ''Survivor'' franchise. He also created ''The Big Breakfast'' and '' The Word''. Education Parsons was educated at Tonbridge School, a boarding independent scho ...

. In February 2001, a show with a very similar format, called ''Survivor'', was aired on

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is aimed at both a young adult and adult audience. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, was or ...

and hosted by two journalist of ''

TG5 ''TG5'' (''TeleGiornale 5'') is a news programme on the Italian TV channel Canale 5, part of the Mediaset network and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is broadcast domestically on Canale 5 and TgCom24, Mediaset TGcom24 several times a day. The ...

'', 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 The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

on the

Samaná Peninsula The Samaná Península is a peninsula in Dominican Republic situated in the province of Samaná. The Samaná Peninsula is connected to the rest of the state by the isthmus of Samaná; to its south is Samaná Bay. The peninsula contains many beach ...

. The show moved from the 4th to 6th season to

Cayos Cochinos The Cayos Cochinos or Cochinos Cays consist of two small islands (''Cayo Menor'' and ''Cayo Grande'') and 13 smaller coral cays situated northeast of La Ceiba on the northern shores of Honduras. Although geographically separate, they belong to t ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. Due to the 2009 Honduran coup, however, the 7th season of the show was held in the

Corn Islands The Corn Islands are two islands about east of the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, constituting one of 12 Municipality, municipalities of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. The official name of the municipalit ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

only to return to

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

TV ratings

References

;Annotations ;Sources

External links

Official website
of ''L'isola dei famosi'' in

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

Official website
of ''L'isola dei famosi'' in

Mediaset Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isola dei famosi, L' Survivor (franchise) 2003 Italian television series debuts 2010s Italian television series 2020s Italian television series Italian reality television series Television shows filmed in the Dominican Republic Television shows filmed in Nicaragua Television shows filmed in Honduras Television series by Banijay RAI original programming Rai 2 original programming Canale 5 original programming