Filippo Bisciglia
Temptation Island

«Yesss, victim of 'sto ca##o».

Then an endless stream of exclamation marks that you can't see—because this isn't a cartoon—but from the tone, it's easy to sense them.

And at the same time that gesture, hands slicing through the air to indicate the aforementioned, as is customary to gesticulate.

Thus bursts forth F. on a hot mid-July evening.

Then, the fact that F. is a young girl and what her slicing hands indicate are ultimately details of secondary importance.

Because this isn't a comic, this is «Temptation Island».

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«Temptation Island» you know what it is, don't pretend to come down from the soap mountain up there in Val Brembana, I know the television has reached there too.

And what can a poor soul do on a Monday, after clearing the table and loading the dishwasher, if not sink into the couch, remote in hand, and force his light reluctance towards the path of the most subtle temptation?

What better does a Monday evening offer in Val Brembana?

Mathematically, even on the crest of the soap mountain, everyone is aware of the events happening at «Temptation Island».

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It works like this.

A few couples somewhat in crisis go to an island and break apart, the women in the girlfriends' village, the men in the boyfriends' village.

It's all about seeing if the girlfriends and boyfriends can last about twenty days without breaking apart.

Which said like that seems simple.

But, on the edge of the girlfriends' village, there is the singles' village, and at the edge of the boyfriends' village, there is the single women's village.

Now, in the real world, if someone is single, it means she is a barnacle and he is a scorpionfish.

On the temptress island, however, no, the single women and even the single men are invariably like Claudia Schiffer and like Tom Cruise and are there just to tempt the broken ones.

«Leave that scoundrel, he doesn't deserve to pick a flower like you», «Yesss, exactly, you understand me».

«Anyway, she's already having fun with that hunky single, come on, kiss me, stupid», «Sure she's kissing him, and you're the single I've always been looking for, smack smack».

All unbeknownst but under the watchful eye of the hidden camera.

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Then, once a week, all the girlfriends go to the beach, by the sea, and sit on a log in front of a nighttime bonfire, and this is the bonfire.

There's even someone who asks each girlfriend, «Oh, would you like to watch a video on my laptop?».

No double meaning, he really does have a video on the laptop to show the girlfriend of the moment.

And in that video, the girlfriend's boyfriend is having a good time with the Schiffer-like single, in one way or another, that shameless guy!

And all the other girlfriends perched on the log glance furtively without letting on, unaware of their own fates.

Then again all to the village to curse fate.

And that's how the boyfriends arrive at the bonfire.

There's always someone who asks each boyfriend, «Oh, would you like to watch a video on my laptop?».

No double meaning, he really does have a video on the laptop to show the boyfriend of the moment.

And in that video, the boyfriend's girlfriend is having a good time with the Tom-like single, in one way or another, that shameless girl!

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Until, pulling the rope too much, it ends up breaking the rope.

It's then that the girlfriend and her boyfriend approach the bonfire to settle unfinished business and decide whether they return home together or each on their own way, «And give me back the necklace I gave you for your birthday», «Go ahead, take it, you bought it from the Chinese, anyway».

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The wonderful thing about «Temptation Island» is that no one wins anything but everyone goes through the notorious path.

«Eeeeehhhhh these weeks I've gone through a path, I've finally understood what I want», «Eeeeehhhhh, I've done the path too, I've grown and I know for sure what I want, and it's not you».

When all the broken ones found themselves at the confrontation bonfire with their path, at that moment «Temptation Island» closes its doors, like what happened on Monday and see you next edition.

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I've digressed, but now I'm back on track.

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So, there's F.

F. is engaged to R.

It's their fault that I'm writing this stuff, take it with them.

They struck me and even provoked some thoughts.

F. has R. at her disposal, despises him, and humiliates him at every possible moment in his absence and even in his presence, deciding that at the confrontation bonfire she'll throw him away like a worn-out rag.

R. suffers in silence and approaches the bonfire like the fatted calf after hearing of the prodigal son's return.

R. is the sacrificial victim.

«Yesss, victim of 'sto ca##o», bursts out F. during her path, with emphatic gestures.

But then, at a certain point, just as F. is casually dismissing him, he raises his gaze and she has a strange reaction.

She starts licking her lips, digresses, justifies her decision, seems confused.

However, she tells him clearly, «I'm not staying with you anymore».

Now she seems once again confident, relishing in the despair and plea of R.

But R. hasn't lowered his gaze.

«You disrespected me».

F. doesn't understand.

«I'm not staying with you anymore, I'll find someone better than you».

F.'s reaction is like that of a Lenin statue coming down in 1989, once, ten, a hundred, a thousand times.

Stunned.

So stunned that, for the first time, she sees a human being in R.

So stunned that she whispers, «Let's give it another chance».

«I'm not staying with you anymore, I'll find someone better than you».

92 minutes of applause.

Social media explodes.

R. rises as a symbol of renewed dignity and human awareness.

All very beautiful.

Edifying.

So much so that, after an unmemorable amount of time, I stay awake until late at night.

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R. and F. have definitely broken up.

A month ago they left the island of a thousand temptations, each rowing back to their own home.

Persistent rumors have R. as the protagonist of the new edition of «Uomini e donne».

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Two days ago «Temptation Island» closed its doors.

R. and F. are back together, he's made peace with it.

Along the social media highway, the wave of indignation runs strong.

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There are many morals.

The first that comes to mind is a bit vulgar, so I'll keep it to myself.

The second is that what comes to my mind is what Lou Reed sings in «Venus in Furs», at this point hit, dear lady, and heal his heart.

The third is that tonight the finale of «Temptation Island» airs again.

The fourth is that maybe I’ll make a fake profile to publish this stuff, but then I realize I’ve also written about Gianni Drudi, so.

The last one is that I hate summer.