Prince Narula does not have a visiting card, but were he to ever get one made, he ought to describe himself as a “Full-time reality TV star”. Because that’s what Narula is. Over the past four years, the tall, muscular Lokhandwala resident has featured in, and won, everything from Roadies X2 and Splitsvilla 8 to Bigg Boss 9. He is a bona fide legend among his peers, some of whom have had a rough landing after their short-lived fame snuffed itself out.

What makes Narula stand out from the crowd is his track record. He started out with reality TV and following a few glorious wins, went on to headline a daily soap before returning to the medium as a judge in Roadies. Narula was ‘discovered’ in 2014 by a creative for Roadies who saw him take on eight people simultaneously in an akhada in Mr Punjab, in which, he says, contestants were evaluated on “acting, grooming, modelling and stunts”.

So, even as he continued his association with Mr Punjab, he quickly auditioned, and was shortlisted, for Roadies. Narula claims he was “happier than the winner” when he finished runnerup in Mr Punjab, since victory would have meant signing an exclusive two-year contract with the channel it aired on.

What has made the Mohali youngster tick? Of course, he can do a bit of everything and is good at ‘strategy’, an attribute that comes in handy when you are cooped up in a home with some ten competitive strangers or collaborate on a task that tests physical endurance. But his backstory, says Shalini Sethi, is as important. “Prince does not have any connections in the industry. He has his own story and experiences, and he has had a successful journey that makes him an idol for youngsters,” says Sethi, who is the programming and content head for youth entertainment at Viacom 18, which produces Roadies and Splitsvilla. Since reality TV allows for minimal tweaking, producers are particularly careful about properly executing the only thing they can moderate: casting. “It is important to get the right combination of contestants who will give the best content since audiences remember contestants more than the show at times,” says Sethi.

At his plush home, Narula, between pampering his Yorkshire Terriers, Love and Bird, says that the secret to acing the reality TV circuit is to “simply be yourself”. “You can’t last long just because you have a good body, you have to have a smile on your face. You need to have charm and be able to entertain when you come on screen.” Faking coolness, too, never gets you anywhere, says Narula. “Aspiring contestants often fudge details, but they are easily found out. Again, this ‘cool dude’ thing is not a wise thing to do. You may project a positive or negative image — there’s an audience for both — but being true to yourself is what matters,” he says.

Narula approaches each show in the same way. “In any show, I keep to myself initially and try and understand the game and what it demands. What is it that I should do that the audience will enjoy? To what extent are my co-contestants willing to go in order to win? Then, I formulate multiple strategies. If one doesn’t work, I have something to fall back on,” he says. “In most shows, your co-contestants can eliminate you, so a lot of people think that if they become friendly with them, they will be around for longer. But in doing so, they go overboard and forget who they really are and what they set out to do.”

Last year’s Khatron Ke Khiladi winner, Shantanu Maheshwari feels that one must approach reality shows for the right reasons. “Don’t do it for just fame,” says the 27-year-old whose dance group Desi Hoppers participated in America’s Got Talent in 2016 and is presently competing in NBC’s World of Dance, judged by Jennifer Lopez, Ne-Yo and Derek Hough. “Many people think if they do a reality show, it will increase their followers and consequently, their negotiation power for whatever they choose to do next,” says the Jhalak Dikhlaja finalist from 2016 ,who feels one “shouldn’t turn reality TV into a money-making business”.

Compared to Narula and Maheshwari, Faisal Khan (left; below) started early. He won dance reality show DID Little Masters 2 when he was only 13, and four years later, in 2017, trumped his competitors in Jhalak Dikhla Ja. Khan’s secret weapon was a freestyle number studded with flips and jumps that he performed blindfolded. “The more you interact with the audience, the better,” says Khan. “It need not be a ‘dukhbhari kahani’, but one has to share one’s life all the same,” says the 20-year-old who has often spoken about his parents’s struggles to provide for him and his passion for cricket.

Bigg Boss 7 winner Gauhar Khan (below) says that the trick is to reveal “the real you”, and that it doesn’t come easy. “The toughest part is deciding how much you are willing to share — about how vulnerable you are, how insecure you are, how impatient you are, how angry you get, how intense or how feisty you can be,” says Khan who came close to winning Khatron Ke Khiladi in 2014, and also starred in Khan Sisters, a spin-off on Keeping up with the Kardashians. “When you reveal the ‘real you’, some people won’t like you and you have to be ready for that,” shares Khan who broke up with boyfriend and co-contestant on Bigg Boss, Kushal Tandon, a year after the show ended.

Spinning a personal narrative can humanise a contestant and make him/her more accessible, but it can’t be a differentiator, says Anu Malik, who clocks 10 years as an Indian Idol judge this year. “Audiences don’t buy sob stories anymore and are impressed by hard work alone,” says Malik. “You cannot say you’re from a gaon and expect sympathy. People from cities are struggling just as much.”

The 57-year-old music director-turned-reality TV judge feels that “technology is the ultimate equaliser today as everyone has access to the same knowledge and information”.

Meanwhile, Narula’s career has come full circle. He now judges Roadies, the show in which he made his debut several years ago. And he recently got engaged to starlet Yuvika Chaudhary, his co-contestant from Bigg Boss. He says that he has always been “himself” with her. “I’ve told her everything I’ve done in previous reality shows, and she knows everything there is to know about me. I’ve been extremely transparent, just like in the shows I’ve won.”