Like it or not, it was a landmark of Italian television in the late Eighties. For better or for worse, it was groundbreaking. It was aired from 21 January 1990 through to 21 February 1993 on RTL. Although originally aired on a minor network, the Italia7 syndication, 'Colpo grosso' soon became quite popular and around 1,000 installments of the show were produced in five years. Tutti Frutti was the German version of the Italian game show Colpo Grosso (Big Score). Think of a burlesque show or of wet T-shirt contest being televised in a late evening show, sort of. erotic, but more 'for laughs' than sleazy. The whole thing was indeed silly and not exactly family friendly, but it was somewhat entertaining, yes. Normal contestants, including lads, had to dance and strip too, in order to gain points for the game, but it was a mild type of strip-tease, they kept their underpants on. The cheerful ladies also sang songs, chatted with the host and took part in some quizzes as contestants. They took off all their clothes except for underpants and stockings, generally. A bunch of pretty ladies from all over Europe, called 'ragazze Cin Cin' ('cheers' girls), or 'Bandierine' ('small flag' girls) or by other funny names, danced to the music unveiling their breasts. Naturally, the 'main course' of the show were the exhibitions of the strippers. Country points, nonsensical rules of the game and a fairly revealing ballet made the RTL erotic game show a TV hit. It was a game show, but the quizzes were mostly the occasion for comedic relief by host Umberto Smaila - a well-know face in the Eighties, formerly a member of the cabaret group 'I gatti di vicolo Miracoli'.

'Colpo grosso', Italian for 'big shot', brought strip-tease to Italian television.

Tutti frutti television game show