TV show · Reality · Canale 5 · 2018

The Cave of GF VIP 3

Beneath the golden Rich House, a prehistoric cave with real stalactites.

Act one

One house
in two halves.

September 2018. Endemol Shine Italy is preparing the third season of Grande Fratello VIP, airing on Canale 5 from 24 September. It is hosted by Ilary Blasi, with Alfonso Signorini as studio pundit and the Gialappa's Band as outside commentators. The season introduces a new narrative idea: a House split into two opposing environments.

On one side, the "Rich House": an open space of 825 square metres in a golden theme, with a confessional featuring a golden armchair and six special rooms — Mystery Room, Panic Room, a "Flower Power" SPA, a zen garden. On the other side, the "Cave": the exact opposite. A prehistoric stone age, with rock walls, stalactites, stalagmites, an old wooden door. Whoever lost the weekly challenges ended up there. The concept of the 3rd season was this: inequality, live on air.

On 24 September 2018, in the first episode, the contestants were split into two teams by an opening quiz. The winning blue team moved into the Rich House, the red team into the Cave. For 78 days, until 10 December 2018, the two halves coexisted. The season was won by Walter Nudo, with a 100,000-euro prize, in the finale against Andrea Mainardi.

Front view of the Cave: old wooden double door between sculpted rock walls, short stalactites hanging from the lintel, fake vegetation on the sides, sandy floor. Light streams in from the roof of the Cinecittà sound stage — The Cave entrance, front view

Inside the set Cave: stalactites hanging from the ceiling of the sound stage, a large old wooden double door in the background, fake vegetation along the walls, sandy floor — The interior, between stalactites and door

Three-quarter view of the Cave with sculpted stone steps rising toward an arched opening, lateral stalactites and stalagmites, a fake street lamp resting at the top, fake hanging vegetation — The steps, toward the passage

Act two

Plasterers
against the clock of live TV.

The photographs in our archive are dated 13 and 18 September 2018: six days before the on-air premiere. On the 13th the Cave was still under construction: plastered rock walls, buckets of mortar on the ground, fibreglass stalactites still leaning against the wall. Five days later, on the 18th, it was ready on set at Cinecittà: the door mounted, sand spread, vegetation fixed in place. The timing was tight: live television does not wait, and that set had to be inhabited by the contestants on the afternoon of the following Monday.

To carve rock walls in five days you need craft. Expanded polystyrene is cut with a hot knife for the large masses, then shaped with chisel and rasp for the texture. Stalactites are made one by one in fibreglass, with a steel core for those hanging from above: they must be light and indestructible — underneath, people live twenty-four hours a day for two and a half months. The same technique as film scenography, applied to the rhythm of TV entertainment. It is the same Cinecittà school Ivano Ferrario entered in 1981, extended to a sector — reality TV — that did not exist in 1981.

Creation Art workshop, 13 September 2018: sculpted rock walls with short stalactites at the start of the arch, still in the patina phase, two windows with natural light coming in. View of the walls from inside the cave under construction — The workshop, 13 September 2018

Workshop: rock walls still in progress, sandy ground, buckets of coloured mortar on the right, electrical cables on the ground. Rough texture of the fake stone still to be patinated — The patina, still to be applied

Same set, five days later at Cinecittà: stalactites hanging from above the sound stage, old double door already mounted, fake vegetation installed, sandy floor spread out, ready for the live show — The same set, five days later

Behind the scenes

A scenography
you live in twenty-four hours a day.

The difference between film scenography and reality TV scenography is not the construction technique — it is the duration of use. A film set is shot over a few weeks and then dismantled. A Big Brother House is inhabited live, every hour of the day, for two and a half months. The stalactites must not fall on anyone; the rock walls must withstand accidental impact; the old door must open and close thousands of times. It is structurally solid scenography, yet aesthetically identical to a film set.

Overall view of the inside of the GF VIP 3 Cave at Cinecittà: stalactites hanging from above the sound stage, old wooden double door at the centre, fake vegetation along the rock walls, sandy floor spread out — The Cave ready, Cinecittà, 18 September 2018.

Walls sculpted by knife

The Cave walls start from thick blocks of expanded polystyrene. The first cut is with a hot knife to define the large rocky volumes; then with blows of chisel and rasp for the irregular texture of stone. On top, a coat of fibre-reinforced plaster and a painted patina in earthy tones — browns, ambers, ochres — because live television, under the lights, eats up subtle tones.

Stalactites with a steel core

The stalactites hanging from above are in fibreglass, each formed from an individual mould. Inside, a steel core anchors them to the grid of the sound stage. The stalagmites rising from the floor are rigid fibreglass resting on a wide base. None of this is allowed to come loose during a 75-minute live broadcast.

The door that opens a thousand times

The old wooden double door is the central passage of the Cave: the contestants cross it thousands of times over the 78 days of seclusion. For that reason it is a structure of real, non-scenic wood, mounted on heavy-duty industrial hinges, with handles hand-forged in rustic style. It is the point where the scenography stops being "seen" and becomes an object of use.

1,650 m² total of the GF VIP 3 House at Cinecittà

5 days from our workshops to the Cinecittà set

78 days live · 15 episodes on Canale 5

Finished Cave set at Cinecittà: front view of a large double door in old wood between sculpted rock walls, short stalactites above the lintel, fake vegetation on the sides, sandy floor. — The Cave entrance

Inside the Cave on set: stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites rising from the sandy floor, two large old wooden door leaves in the background, fake vegetation along the walls. — Stalactites and double door

Three-quarter view of the inside of the Cave: sculpted stone steps rise toward an arched opening, stalactites and stalagmites on the sides, fake street lamp above, fake vegetation hanging. — The inner steps

A prehistoric cave
beneath the Rich House,
live on Canale 5
for seventy-eight days.

Grande Fratello VIP · third season 24 September — 10 December 2018

Tech sheet

One thousand six hundred and fifty square metres

The House of Grande Fratello VIP 3 occupied 1,650 m² in total between technical and scenic areas at the Cinecittà Studios. It was one of the most articulated Houses in the history of the format: eight rooms plus communal areas, an outdoor garden, confessionals, and — for the first time — two opposing environments accessible to the contestants depending on the outcome of the challenges.

Eight hundred and twenty-five square metres of Rich House

The "Rich House" occupied 825 m² of the 1,650 total — half of the usable surface. An open space dominated by gold, a confessional with a golden armchair, six special rooms: Mystery Room, Panic Room, a "Flower Power" SPA, a zen garden, and two other themed areas that changed throughout the episodes. The remaining half was the Cave: the same space, the opposite aesthetic.

Fifteen prime-time episodes

The fifteen episodes of GF VIP 3 aired in a twice-weekly slot — Monday and Thursday evenings — on Canale 5, from 24 September to 10 December 2018. Host: Ilary Blasi. Studio pundit: Alfonso Signorini (who would take over hosting the following year). External commentators: the Gialappa's Band. Winner: Walter Nudo, prize 100,000 euros, in the finale against Andrea Mainardi.

Seventy-eight days of seclusion

The contestants of the 3rd season lived the divide between the Rich House and the Cave for 78 days — from 24 September to 10 December 2018. Each week a challenge determined who moved where. For the scenography this means one thing: everything must last. Stalactites that do not fall, walls that withstand impact, a door that opens thousands of times. The difference between film scenography and reality scenography is here: in the hours of mechanical stress under which it remains standing.

All production data

Type: TV show · prime-time reality show · Endemol format
Programme: Grande Fratello VIP · third season
Host: Ilary Blasi
Studio pundit: Alfonso Signorini
External commentators: Gialappa's Band (live link)
Production: Endemol Shine Italy
Broadcaster: Canale 5 · Mediaset
Premiere: 24 September 2018
Finale: 10 December 2018
Season length: 78 days · 15 episodes · twice-weekly slot (Monday + Thursday)
Winner: Walter Nudo (prize €100,000) · in the finale against Andrea Mainardi
Location: Cinecittà Studios, Rome (House + Palastudio)
House surface: 1,650 m² total (technical + scenic) · 825 m² "Rich House"
Environmental concept: House split into two opposing environments: "Rich House" (golden, 825 m², 6 special rooms) and "Cave" (prehistoric, stone age). The Cave replaced the "Tristopoli Station" of the second season.
CA construction period: 13 — 18 September 2018 · five days from our workshops to the finished set at Cinecittà
Our role: Full realisation of the "Cave" scenography: rock walls sculpted in expanded polystyrene and fibreglass, hanging stalactites with steel cores, rigid stalagmites, an old wooden double door mounted on industrial hinges, fake vegetation. Five days of build between 13 and 18 September 2018, documented by the Creation Art photographic archive — six days before the on-air premiere of 24 September 2018.

Other TV shows we have worked on

Ciao Darwin — the Genodrome portal of Bonolis
Rock Politik — Adriano Celentano's magenta-LED Manhattan skyline
Braccio e la Mente — the RAI game show with the Red Toy Factory
Chi ha incastrato Peter Pan — Bonolis's transformer robot
Cristina Parodi Live — the biomorphic LED sculpture for LA7
Topo Gigio Show — the big-top village of Gigioland

Second life

The Cave dismantled,
the format still on air.

On 10 December 2018 GF VIP 3 ended live with Walter Nudo's victory, and in the following weeks the Cinecittà House was dismantled piece by piece to make room for the scenography of the next season. The Cave — rock walls, stalactites, old double door — did not survive in any form of re-use: the polystyrene rocks were demolished, fibreglass scraps sent to special disposal, the doors recovered for our warehouse.

The format, on the other hand, kept going. Alfonso Signorini, studio pundit in 2018, took over the hosting of Grande Fratello VIP from the following year and kept it for the seasons that followed — four, five, six, seven. The concept of two opposing Houses, which debuted with us in 2018 (Rich House vs Cave), came back in later years in variants: Upstairs House / Downstairs House, mystery house, suite/recluse. It is the dramaturgical mechanism that works, and our prehistoric Cave was its prototype.

From that build at Cinecittà we consolidated a way of our own for handling reality TV scenography: quick but robust carving in polystyrene and fibreglass, steel cores for suspended pieces, patinas that withstand seventy to eighty days of studio under continuous lights. We now apply the same techniques to the other TV show scenographies and to many of the sets of Cinecittà World, where the Cinecittà of production and the Cinecittà of the theme park talk to each other every day.