The Canale 5 reality show hosted by Ilary Blasi achieved the highest share of the prime time audience with 1.879 million viewers. Tomorrow Alex Belli, Guendalina Tavassi, Michelle Masullo, Andreas Müller and Alessandro Roncaccia will join.
The Big Brother VIP returns to Canale 5 and takes first place in prime time in terms of share, but the debut of the ninth edition tells a more complex story than that suggested by the numbers released by Mediaset. The first episode, aired on Thursday 17 September with Ilary Blasi to management and Cesara Buonamici and Selvaggia Lucarelli in the role of commentators, she was followed by 1,879,000 spectators with a 16.92% sharewhich rose to 18.53% of the active audience, with peaks that during the long live broadcast reached 3,221,000 viewers and 25.7%.
The reality show was therefore the program with the highest share of prime time, but not the one with the highest number of viewers: on Rai1 the film Naples-New York by Gabriele Salvatores has in fact collected approximately 2.1 million viewershowever stopping at 13.9% share, while on Rai2 the men’s European volleyball match between Italy and Slovenia exceeded 1.8 million with 11%. A difference also due to the duration of the programs, which makes it particularly important to distinguish between the average audience and percentage of share when comparing the results of the evening.
For Big Brother VIP, however, the data takes on an additional meaning when compared with previous debuts. With less than 1.9 million spectators, the one on September 17th is in fact the least seen premiere in absolute terms in the history of the formatwhich has been broadcast in Italy since 2000. Only a few months ago, on 17 March 2026, the previous edition of GF Vip had debuted with 2,146,000 spectators and 18.4%, while Big Brother which started in September 2025 had reached 2,813,000 spectators and 20.4%.
A start therefore which allows Canale 5 to prevail in the evening’s share, but which at the same time confirms how much more difficult it has become for the reality show to reach the numbers of previous seasons. The result is different for the younger segment, one of the audiences most sought after by the internet: among the 15 and 34 year olds the share reached 21.76%.
Big Brother VIP, what happened in the first episode
The debut evening served above all to build the new group of competitors, after the preview of theOpen House which in the previous days he had already brought to the little room of the house Carmen Di Pietro, Jonathan Kashanian, Piera Meloni and Alessandro Varsi.
During the live broadcast they were joined Giulia Provvedi, Moreno Morello, Megan Ria, Marina La Rosa, Simone Annicchiarico, Valeria Marini, Giacomo Gallani, Federica Morello and Giancarlo Dantothus bringing the number of tenants entering the first phase of the program to thirteen.
Naturally, there was no shortage of first nominations, which have already led to televoting Carmen Di Pietro, Federica Morello, Giancarlo Danto and Moreno Morellowhile the actual dynamics of coexistence are still inevitably to be built.
Even on the social front, Mediaset recorded a significant result: according to the data communicated by the company, the official hashtag #GFVIP it reached first place among the Italian trends and entered the podium of the most discussed topics of the evening at a global level, a sign of the program’s ability to generate online conversation that continues to go beyond simple television data.
Those who enter Big Brother VIP on Saturday 19 September
The cast, however, is not yet complete. The second appointment is scheduled for Saturday 19 September in prime time on Canale 5when five other competitors will cross the Red Door: Alex Belli, Guendalina Tavassi, Michelle Masullo, Andreas Müller and Alessandro Roncaccia.
A group in which two returns linked directly to the history of reality stand out above all. Alex Belli he was one of the protagonists of the sixth edition of Big Brother VIP in 2021, while Guendalina Tavassi he owes a decisive part of his television popularity to Big Brother, in which he participated in 2010.
They will enter with them Andreas Müllerdancer and winner of Friends, Michelle Masullo And Alessandro Roncaccia. Once these five entries have been completed, the competitors of the new edition will be overall 18.
The particularly tight calendar chosen for the start of the season will then continue Monday 21 Septemberwhen Big Brother VIP returns to prime time again and, with all the tenants finally reunited in the House, the phase will begin in which the presentations will necessarily have to be replaced by relationships, alliances, tensions and stories capable of determining the stability of the program in the coming weeks.
