There is something left unsaid in the world of television. Something from which everyone distances themselves – hosts, authors, characters, spectators – but which in reality everyone then watches, comments on, perhaps desires, with great curiosity. The TV brawl. In the wake of great figures who are now either no longer with us or have lowered their banners and sheathed their swords – there would be no need to remember the greatest of all, but I’ll do it anyway: Vittorio Sgarbi – 2025 will go down in history as the year of the most iconic, tragic and comical, but above all viral, television arguments on Italian TV.
Dal throwing a kettle at Big Brother until that “I’ll punch you” by Enzo Iacchetti to Eyal Mizrahipassing through the epic feud between Selvaggia Lucarelli and Barbara D’Urso on Dancing with the Starsthese are the clashes that have inflamed the small screen, spreading like wildfire on social media. From here on, from tenth to first place, the ten most explosive fights of 2025.
10. Valeria Marini against Pierluigi Diaco
At BellaMà, a kind of live dismissal. First Diaco surprisingly announces the closure of Valeria Marini’s column, then the showgirl gets fired up: “It’s something you decided.” The following week, the latest confrontation escalates: “You didn’t treat me well.” Tenth place: it’s beautiful, but it smells like a written script. The prepared girth (as shown in the photo below) is a clue.
Teo Teocoli: “TV is 50 years behind, there are none as good as me. Celentano asked me to do something”
9. Big Brother kettle toss: Helena Prestes vs. Jessica Morlacchi
It’s January 3, 2025, literally the first fight of the year at GfVip, the last one hosted by Alfonso Signorini, Jessica Morlacchi repeatedly provokes Helena by calling her an “imbecile”. The Brazilian model acts Brazilian. He grabs a kettle full of boiling water and throws it at him. Great controversy, all-out indignation, then they both find themselves in the final. Jessica Morlacchi will win. And who knows, the kettle may not have played a decisive role in all of this.
8. Omar Fantini against Dino Giarrusso at the Isola dei Famosi
There was a time when Dino Giarrusso he was an MEP. And another time in which he grabbed you by the neck Omar Jockeys trying to push him underwater at Famous Island. In the edition well conducted by Veronica Gentili, the two castaways clashed during one of the games on the program: a water polo match. Fantini accuses Giarrusso of having also tried to attack one of the competitors, the former MEP defended himself by speaking about the competitive spirit of the moment and rejecting all the accusations: “He threatened me with death.”
7. Rula Jebreal to Italo Bocchino: “Shitty lobbyist.”
The month of May is the month of roses. Those who jumped are full of thorns Coats Jebreal e Italo Mouthpiece on the Nine, in the program Accordi e Disaccordi hosted by Luca Sommi. On the topic of Gaza and the October 7 attacks, Bocchino attacks: “You don’t have the sensitivity to respond, you don’t have it because you have profound anti-Semitism.” Jebreal’s attack is very strong: “Shit lobbyist… Shame on you. My family is made up of Jews who escaped from Germany… You are using the issue of anti-Semitism to delegitimize the work on the genocide. You are a human disgrace.” The golden rule of the TV brawl – established by yours truly – says that if it happens on a talk show, it is always more interesting. Because it affects us all in one way or another.
6. Lilli Gruber against Gianfranco Fini
At Otto e Mezzo the discussion becomes tense. Lilli Gruber and his crusade against the right crashed against the experience of the former leader of the National Alliance Gianfranco Fini. The presenter presses him on several fronts: conflict in the Middle East, Donald Trump, the alleged subjugation of the Brothers of Italy and Giorgia Meloni to the Atlanticist line. Fini attacks: “You want a headline about Giorgia Meloni, I’m not stupid enough to answer the obvious questions.” “Why did you come on this show?” Dice Gruber. “Jesus”says Fini, “Because she invited me!”. Masterpiece.
5. Carlo Calenda vs. Marco Travaglio
More rags flown on the Nine to Agreements and Disagreements in this 2025 between Calenda and Travaglio. Carlo Calenda speaks of Alessandro Orsini, who is not present, as a “Russian propagandist”. Marco Travaglio can’t resist: “You are a slanderer and defamer because Orsini in 2019, when everyone wanted to lift the sanctions, said to leave them. You call others a propagandist because you are a propagandist and you believe everyone is.” A “speck” starts and then a “poor guy”. Sublime.
4. Paolo Del Debbio sends in… Luca Bottura and Massimo Giannini
Dritto e Rovescio, March 2025. Professor Paolo Del Debbio reacts harshly to the criticisms on social media and in the press by Luca Bottura and Massimo Giannini, who had spoken of him as a symbol of “retequatrismo”, in a worse sense. The reply: “I wanted to tell Luca Bottura that he wrote “retequattrismo”, tell that to your sister. There is no such thing as “retequattrismo”. If you think it’s something that’s not right, keep it to yourself, because no one gives a damn about Luca Bottura.” The host then attacks Massimo Giannini who had spoken of “hitmen”: “That other little genius Massimo Giannini who says: “it’s time to respond to this journalism”, as if he were Letterman. Go fuck yourself.”
3. Selvaggia Lucarelli-Barbara D’Urso: the feud of the year
The most-watched TV rivalry of 2025. Weeks of clashes between the juror and the competitor, with Selvaggia publishing articles on Barbara’s alleged “privileges” and the presenter accusing the journalist of “psychological demolition”. Heart-pounding final with Lucarelli giving the third place cup to Barbara. Fabio Canino gets in the way: “I would like Selvaggia and Barbara to exchange a sign of mutual tenderness, even if it were fake.” Barbara D’Urso: “I can’t be fake”. Selvaggia: “You deserved this third place.” Sparks. “With the heart” is always the key word.
2. Luca Telese abandons the studio after the clash with Daniele Capezzone: “Stay in bed”
We haven’t seen a fight like this for a long time. During a discussion about the Global Sumud Flotilla mission on the October 5 episode of Omnibus, Luca Telese loses his temper with Daniele Capezzone and abandons the study live, leaving the presenter Gaia Tortora stunned. “Stay in bed.” At Fanpage.it I had the burden and honor of interviewing both of them. Telese said: “Forty minutes of pure Capezzone can kill anyone.” The reply from the new editor of Tempo: “A small tragedy of the left: they can’t handle the debate.” The evening before, in fact, Francesca Albanese had dumped Francesco Giubilei on In Onda. And this counts as a bonus brawl.
1. Enzo Iacchetti vs. Eyal Mizrahi: the fight of the year
The fight of the year. Enzo Iacchetti who overflows and forcefully enters the Italian public debate. It’s Tuesday 16 September. Rete 4, It’s always Cartabianca. We talk about Gaza and the ongoing war. In connection, one floor below the one from where Iacchetti is connected, there is Eyal Mizrahi, president of the Friends of Israel Federation. Iacchetti tries to express his pro-Palestine position, Mizrahi continually interrupts him, with a cold tone and provocative phrases. The breaking point: Mizrahi says that “even children are children of terrorists” and asks Iacchetti to “define him as a child”. At that point, the explosion of the Striscia host. The moment goes viral, splits public opinion. Iacchetti receives political attacks on all fronts. I interviewed him several times at Fanpage.it: “For telling the truth about Gaza I am losing my job and receiving death threats.” From that moment, it goes without sayingpublished a book and doubled his presence on TV.
Out of competition: Scanzi against Vespa
On November 11th, at È semper Cartabianca, an equally epic clash took place which I include out of competition. So strong, that it would have ended up distorting the rankings: Andrea Scanzi against Bruno Vespa. The Rai1 host tries to downplay his opponent on Giorgia Meloni’s policies: “Have patience, Scanzi…”. But the Fatto Quotidiano journalist doesn’t let that paternalistic tone pass and replies dryly: “Be patient, tell someone else, Vespa”. From that moment, the comparison takes an irrecoverable turn: “If you have to come on TV and deny every failure of Giorgia Meloni, I give you credit for it. But be patient, you tell your son, a child, not me.”
