The terrible joke played on Sandra Milo that changed the way television is made forever: here’s what happened.
When talking about the late Sandra Milo a cruel prank call suffered in the 1990s is often mentioned. During a live television broadcast, she was told that her son Ciro was in hospital in serious condition. Milo, visibly upset, desperately shouted the name “Ciro” in front of the cameras before running away in panic. This episode, initially parodied and mocked, proved extremely painful for Fellini’s muse.
The episode occurred in Rome on 8 January 1990, during a live broadcast from the Rai studios in Via Teulada. Milo hosted the program “Love is a wonderful thing” on Rai2, a talk show about good feelings. Among the guests were the actor Alessandro Gassman, the lawyer Tina Lagostena Bassi and the actress Francesca D’Aloja. During the space dedicated to phone calls from the public, a female voice told her that her son Ciro had been hospitalized in serious condition at the San Giovanni hospital. Milo, shocked, began to scream desperately: “Oh God… who’s talking? Oh God, who is he?…”. The woman on her phone insisted, increasing Milo’s panic, who ran away from the cameras worried about her son.
The program was discontinued and Rai2 aired a long advertising block followed by a TV show. In the meantime, Milo was helped by the doctors present in the office and taken home. The situation became further complicated when Ciro initially proved untraceable. The program’s editorial team attempted to contact various hospitals without success, making it clear that it was a cruel joke.
Sandra Milo terrible joke: she changed the way of making TV
The author of phone call she had deceived the switchboard operators by declaring that she wanted to ask Milo why she had never remarried after the divorce. Years later, guest on the radio program “The Lunatics”, Milo revealed that the call came from an office in Via del Corso, where twenty-six women worked, all of whom denied any involvement. Milo reflected that perhaps that woman had wanted to feel powerful for once, messing up the order of things.
After that joke, television changed. The short clip became a catchphrase, broadcast repeatedly by other programs and passed down on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. For some time, he also gave the name to a Mediaset program: “Ciro, the son of Target”. In 2015, interviewed by “Il Fatto Quotidiano”, Milo explained that she initially received extraordinary solidarity, with the President of the Republic, Francesco Cossiga, who apologized to her on behalf of all Italians. However, over time, she was accused of having orchestrated everything to gain publicity and she was the target of insults and derision. Sandra Milo commented that, at least, that moment has become a piece of television history.
