Virginio "Gerry" Scotti (born 7 August 1956) is an Italian television presenter, actor and former member of the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...

Early years

Scotti was born Virginio Scotti on 7 August 1956 in the hamlet of Camporinaldo, in Miradolo Terme,

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

. After giving up studying law, Scotti began his broadcasting career as a disc jockey" at Radio Milano International. In 1982, he moved to '' Radio DeeJay'' and a year later became the host of ''DeeJay Television'', the first Italian programme for

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s, broadcast by

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 ...

. Scotti also hosted other music programmes such as ''

Festivalbar The Festivalbar () was an Italian singing competition that took place in the most important Italian squares during summer, such as the Piazza del Duomo, Catania or Piazza Bra, Verona. The first edition took place in 1964 and was broadcast by ...

''.

Television career

Scotti was a member of the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies () is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the upper house being the Senate of the Republic (Italy), Senate of the Republic. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform ...

of the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...

from 1987 to 1992. Since the 1990s, Scotti has been a television presenter, almost exclusively for

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 ...

. He is known as a quiz show host, having presented '' Chi vuol essere milionario?'', the Italian version of '' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'', '' Passaparola'', the Italian version of The Alphabet Game and '' The Money Drop''. He also directed entertainment programmes such as ''La sai l'ultima?'', ''La Corrida'', ''Paperissima'', ''Buona Domenica'' (with Harold Davies) and ''The Winner Is''. He was the co-host of the satirical show ''

Striscia la Notizia ''Striscia la notizia'' (, "the news slithers") is an Italian satirical television program on the Mediaset-controlled Canale 5. Launched in 1988, it is meant to be a parody of the daily news, which airs right before the program, but ''Striscia'' ...

'', and acted in several films and situation comedies. In 2008, he returned as a host on ''

R101 R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airships completed in 1929 as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme, a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was d ...

'' (the former Radio Milano International), and became deputy-president of Monradio (the radio division of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore). In 2011, after Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ended, he presented The Money Drop, until its end in 2013. He was the host of Avanti un Altro! along with Paolo Bonolis in 2014 and 2015. In 2015 he presented

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

and '' Caduta libera'', the Italian version of '' Who's Still Standing'' which achieved good ratings. In the summer of 2017, he presented '' The Winner Is''. In December 2017 he started to present the Italian version of the American game show '' The Wall''. In January 2018 he briefly returned to present ''

Striscia la notizia ''Striscia la notizia'' (, "the news slithers") is an Italian satirical television program on the Mediaset-controlled Canale 5. Launched in 1988, it is meant to be a parody of the daily news, which airs right before the program, but ''Striscia'' ...

''. He co-hosted the first night of the Sanremo Music Festival 2025 alongside Carlo Conti and Antonella Clerici.

Awards

Scotti won the Italian television

Telegatto Telegatto (a composition of ''television'' and ''gatto'', meaning "cat", after the trophy, which is a small statue representing a cat), was an Italian television award first conceived in 1971 following the contest ''Gran Premio internazionale de ...

prize in 1984, 1985, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2007. In 2008, he won the platinum Telegatto, in the Excellence category. In 2011, he was mentioned in the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

as the TV host who hosted the most episodes of ''Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?''.

Personal life

Scotti was married to Patrizia Grosso, with whom he had one son, Edoardo, in 1992. Since 2011, he has been in a relationship with architect Gabriella Perino. His son has two children, born in 2020 and 2023. On 27 October 2020, Scotti tested positive for

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 ...

and spent time in the hospital. He has since recovered.

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

*
Gerry Scotti
at

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Scotti, Gerry 1956 births Living people People from the Province of Pavia Italian male actors Italian television presenters Italian game show hosts Italian radio personalities