A Mussolini Joins Big Brother in Italy

Italy's most notorious surname is about to move into prime-time reality TV. Variety reports that Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of dictator Benito Mussolini and niece of Sophia Loren, will join the cast of Italy's Celebrity Big Brother, Grande Fratello VIP, when its eighth season premieres Tuesday on Canale 5. She's the daughter of Benito Mussolini's fourth son, Romano, and Loren's sister Maria Scicolone, notes Wanted in Rome. "Hold on tight," she told followers on social media. "I'm entering the 'Big Brother' house as a contestant. We have to dance, we have to sing, and I want to learn from the others."

Mussolini, 63, has spent decades straddling politics and entertainment. She acted in Italian films from the 1970s through 1990, appeared with Loren in Ettore Scola's A Special Day, and even released a J-pop-style album in Japan in 1982. In the early '90s she shifted to politics via the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, later serving in both chambers of Italy's parliament and in the European Parliament, all while becoming a staple of TV talk shows and a contestant on Italy's Dancing With the Stars. Her entry into the Big Brother house is being billed as the first time a major Italian political figure has joined a reality series.