Overview
- The 25th-anniversary edition is slated for Monday, September 29 on Canale 5 with Simona Ventura hosting a 100-day non-celebrity run.
- The first promo introduces a contestant named Matteo as a soft-spoken ex-boxer who knows the Divine Comedy by heart, with his face kept off-screen.
- Unshow and Trash Italiano report that Matteo is 47-year-old boxing coach Matteo Azzali from Parma, a claim not confirmed by the production.
- Reports outline Azzali’s past in Rugby Parma, a switch to professional boxing with Boxe Parma, retirement after a serious accident, and later work founding an amateur club and opening a supplement shop.
- Coverage notes his existing social followings and a past studio appearance supporting Giacobbe Fragomeni, while Ventura says more than 15 contestants have been selected to tell real-life stories.