A prank in poor taste, but one that entered the history of Italian television. It was the one that saw Sandra Milo as the protagonist on January 8, 1990, while she was hosting the show "Love is a Wonderful Thing". During the episode, a viewer intervened live by phone warning the host that her son Ciro had been the victim of a road accident. After the initial shock, the presenter fled from the studio crying, loudly invoking his name. The news turned out to be false, but despite this Sandra Milo had a fainting spell shortly after, which led her to temporarily suspend the program.
Sandra Milo is dead, the actress muse of Fellini was 90 years old: she died in her home in Rome
The Prank
From a gruesome prank to a catchphrase in the media. The one done to Sandra Milo on January 8, 1990, entered the history of Italian television, also becoming a jingle in the show "Target". A tasteless episode, which however made the actress and presenter's reaction viral, who after the scare was also forced to temporarily suspend her program. During the live broadcast of her show "Love is a Wonderful Thing", aired on Rai 2, a viewer called to inform her of the hospitalization of her son Ciro following a serious road accident: "Sandra, but what are you doing there? Don't you know that your son Ciro has been admitted to San Giovanni in serious condition? He had an accident". After the initial shock, Sandra Milo ran out of the studio in tears shouting "Ciro, Ciro", feeling ill immediately after. The news of the accident turned out to be false, but her screams became a catchphrase in the media.
The scene has been replayed many times on various television programs, primarily "Blob", "Striscia la notizia" and "Target", becoming a true symbol of so-called reality-TV and inspiring the title of another satirical television show on Italia 1, "Ciro, the son of Target", broadcast a few years later. The prank and Sandra Milo's reaction was even included as a quote in the song "The Strange Family" by Giorgio Gaber and Enzo Jannacci, written in 1991. The incident led to an internal investigation by Rai, which established that the name provided to the switchboard operators by the viewer was Maria Ramondio (which however turned out to be a false identity), while the phone number from which the call came was associated with the Alemagna office's line, in Via del Corso in Rome.
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