Pick up any season of Bigg Boss, and there is much happening on camera—from tasks to controversies, from flirtations to feuds. But things are equally dramatic off camera too. Do you know what happened after Bigg Boss season 2 contestants Rahul Mahajan and Raja Chaudhary breached the rules and jumped off the set’s outer wall? Or when Imam Siddiqui demanded to walk out of the sixth season? While we’ve seen the on-camera action for many years, this time, we zoom in on the people behind the camera who join forces every year to give us the reality show. From identifying interesting contestants to watching endless hours of footage, from running dummy episodes to setting up more than 100 cameras, they tell us what it takes to orchestrate one of the biggest reality shows.

Deepak Dhar, Founder and Group CEO, Banijay Asia & EndemolShine India, remembers that he watched the original Big Brother, a Dutch show, on DVD way back in 2005. The international team (of Banijay) had a simple ask—would it be possible to adapt the show in India?

“I was shocked when I watched it because a show like this is highly volatile and risqué. I couldn’t have watched the DVD with my family in the room. It was difficult to even fathom something like this could work in India, but I took it up as a challenge,” shares Dhar.

He pitched the adaptation to several broadcasters until Sony TV first picked it up. To date, Dhar remembers that the first contestant to enter the Bigg Boss house in 2006 was Salil Ankola, after which no one entered the house for over an hour due to a technical glitch. In the meantime, Ankola grew anxious, wondering if he was the only contestant on the show. Dhar laughs, “Salil thought it was a con job!”

Early on, the makers figured out that the show was more about emotions than showcasing risqué things. “The minute we see a person with an agenda, we strike him off the list,” asserts Dhar, adding that the idea has always been to rope in people who have stories to tell.

“The fourth season was a standout, where we had Shweta Tiwari, Dolly Bindra, Khali, and Pamela Anderson. That was the turning point of Bigg Boss in the country. It was also the year we got Salman Khan as the host. We even cooperated with the authorities when they wanted to come and monitor if Monica Bedi dropped some evidence,” he shares.

The show’s detractors often speculate that Bigg Boss is scripted. But Tushar Joshi, Editor in Chief (Creative Director), rubbishes the speculation. He notes that often, the contestants provide the drama, while the creative improvises at times, but the makers have never intervened in the proceedings.

“We have never briefed any contestant, or gone in the house,” asserts Joshi, who has been associated with the show from the fifth season. He says the show relies largely on contestants’ personalities and their inter-dynamics.

“If a contestant is my biggest character, I can’t suddenly change my creative. For example, Ankita Lokhande was one of the most talked-about characters in the house. I couldn’t sideline her unless the house decided to sideline her. It’s a chess game between them and us. Whenever we make a move, they will also react.”

The makers also got a few seasons wrong in terms of casting. Abhishek Mukherjee, Head of Project, points to the ninth and 12th seasons. “In the ninth season, 10 out of 16 contestants were failures. So, we pumped up [the show] through various tasks and situations.”

The crew consists of over 700 people, who are then divided into weekday and weekend teams. “One is the reality team, which handles the episode from Monday to Friday, and the other is the weekend team. Despite being the weekend team, they are expected to watch the entire footage during the week. Then there is another team that takes care of my 24/7 live channel interactivity and the Unseen Undekha section,” explains Joshi.

Which brings us to the most important part: the execution of Bigg Boss. It’s known that the show is shot 24x7 with over 100 cameras. While there are cameras stationed inside the house, there are also cameras placed near all the windows, with cameramen trying to capture the tiniest of actions and conversations. Did you know that when the contestants wash dishes at the sink, smoke in the smoking room, and sleep in the bedrooms, they have cameras directed at them from behind the tinted windows? If the cameraman takes a break, there is always someone to take their place.

Taking us around the set, Sarvesh Singh, Head of Production, says, “Everyone who enters the shooting alley around the house is expected to wear an all-black uniform to avoid reflections in the glass doors and windows. Every window is numbered. That way, when instructions are received from the control room, a cameraman can reach the right window to capture the required content. We have three rotational shifts for every crew member.”

Over 62,000 wires are laid down for every connection inside the house, which is later concealed to avoid monkeys disrupting the shoot. Mukherjee says that the pressure in the PCR (production control room) is tremendous. Ahead of a season, the crew has to undergo mandatory 15-day training, where they produce dummy episodes.

“In the first couple of days, my PCR team is taken through the old episodes, where we tell them how to divide streams, what to follow, and where the story lies,” explains Joshi.

“The next day, [a few crew members] go into the house, and start recording their own stories. In the next stage, we get dummy contestants and produce a few 12-hour episodes; we also do one 24-hour episode. It is not only for the crew, [but to ensure smooth functioning of everything]. Once the contestant enters, everything from plumbing to the smallest light needs to work for 105 days, or 45 days if it’s for the OTT. So, everything needs to be checked, including the pipes, flush, and gas. Sarvesh even instructs them to cook, just so that we can see if the stove is working.”

Everything a contestant carries inside the house is scrutinized by the team. Participants are not allowed to carry medications inside the house. If a person has a prescription for anti-anxiety, diabetes, or any other illness, it is delivered on a daily basis. “Senior journalist Deepak Chaurasia is in the house. He is diabetic and unable to walk, so we put inclines in the house for the wheelchair. Every day, his medicines and insulin shots are delivered,” explains Mukherjee.

With a show of this magnitude, the challenges are bound to be tenfold. Singh remembers the behind-the-scenes drama that unfolded when Mahajan and Chaudhary, in the second season, breached the boundary walls, leading the creative team to consider having an early finale.

“They had made a sexist remark, stating that there were no women in the house to cook for them. Bigg Boss told them that they had to make their own food. Rahul removed the mic, and said, ‘I’m not doing anything. If you don’t provide us food, we will jump off the wall.’ We thought he was [bluffing], but they jumped off the wall and started walking towards the main gate. People started capturing them on phone cameras, so we grabbed them, put them in the car, and brought them back.”

Joshi recalls another instance when Siddiqui wanted to leave the show at 3 am. “He said he has a friend in Lonavala and he wants to go to her house. It turned out to be an old bungalow of Smita Patil, which was later bought by Imam’s friend,” shares Joshi.

Shifting from their Lonavala set after season 12 was another challenge. He highlights that despite having a medical team on standby 24x7, they have dealt with problems from “non-declared miscarriages. There were people taking 30 to 40 milligrams of anti-depressants in anger.”

With the world embracing AI, it’s only a matter of time before we have a Bigg-Boss-meets-AI version. Dhar says, “We have started moving in that direction; maybe by the end of the year or early next year, the process will be in place.”

Did you know?

- A season of the Chinese version of Big Brother was shot in India.

- India is the only market globally where Bigg Boss plays out across two platforms (TV and OTT) within the same year.

- The production relocated from Lonavala’s 17-acre set to three acres in Film City.

- Every year, the crucial members of the Bigg Boss team meet their international counterparts worldwide to discuss the previous season.

Recently, BT reported about reality show alum Rahul Mahajan’s divorce from his third wife, Natalya Ilina. Back then, Rahul chose not to speak about the separation. However, the former pilot is now ready to talk.

“It is like a big earthquake took place in my life. The tremors are still somewhere there. There is a lot of trauma, but life goes on. You’ve no choice but to be strong,” Rahul says. We learnt that Natalya left Rahul last July, and the divorce came through in January this year. The 48-year-old has been quiet about what’s been going on in his life since then. “I may not show it, but I am very sensitive. Also, I’ve never discussed my personal life, from my father’s death till date,” he shares.

Rahul continues to choose not to talk about what went wrong between him and Natalya, which led to the divorce. “If I speak about it, it will be a one-sided story, and it will be biased,” he says. He adds that he has no hate for his ex-wife. “I still have love and respect for her. The love never dies. I’m not in touch with her and I don’t even know where she is. But love doesn’t go away just like that,” he shares.

Meanwhile, netizens were quick to speculate that the two parted ways because Rahul wanted a baby and Natalya - alimony. He’s quick to clarify, “I did not want baby ever in this relationship. We never tried. Only Dimpy and I tried having a baby and we had a miscarriage. Natalya and I did not have plans for a baby, and neither did I ever desire it. I am 48, I don’t want a baby now.”

About the alimony, he explains, “I’ve never paid a single rupee as an alimony in any of my divorces - Shweta (Singh), Dimpy (Ganguly) and Natalya. All my divorces have been by mutual agreement.”

Talking about his failed marriages, Rahul confesses that he never expected them to end this way. “I never grew up thinking that I would get divorced multiple times. No one wants relationships to end. It is painful. My soul has been torn. Sometimes relationships do not work and it is beyond your scope. People always look for faults. Sometimes, things happen and there are no reasons. It is not anyone’s fault. Sometimes s**t happens,” the former Bigg Boss contestant elaborates.

Rahul is currently taking therapy to deal with his current state of mind, “I have therapists who are helping me deal with my feelings. There’s too much stigma around seeking help through therapy in India, but I see no shame in doing that.”

Ask him if he is ready to fall in love again, and he quickly replies, "I'm emotionally unavailable at the moment. I have not healed properly. I recently started taking counselling. I have to fix and update my software first. I can meet someone, talk to someone, but pyaar main nahi kar sakta because mujhe darr ho gaya hai. I’m working on that fear with my therapist. I need to heal, I’m not fit."

Right after he got evicted from Bigg Boss 14, Abhinav Shukla left for Kolad, Maharashtra, to beat the fatigue. “I made a short trip to a friend’s farm. This was a much-needed break. I wanted to swim in the river and unwind in the lap of nature,” he tells us.

The actor, who is now back in Mumbai, says he is still getting used to life after Bigg Boss. “When I was inside, I was only communicating with my housemates, and now, suddenly I’m getting so many calls and messages and there’s so much happening on social media, thoda confuse ho raha hoon (laughs!). But I will adapt to it again anyway,” he says.

The last couple of weeks in the BB house were quite eventful for Abhinav. “Maine socha tha Ruby (Rubina Dilaik) aur main finale mein saath mein stage par honge and Salman sir will be holding our hands. I was a little upset because I was so close to the finale. But I guess it’s okay. The best part is that my fans didn’t vote me out,” he shares.

Abhinav was voted out by his co-contestants’ connections, who are currently in the house. While fans called his eviction unfair, the actor feels it’s a part of the game. “It is what it is, one can’t question the design of the game. You have to play it by the rules. There was a task and somebody had to go. Unfortunately, it was me. It’s a game and people get evicted, no hard feelings,” he says.

Abhinav and Rubina’s (aka Rubinav) relationship became the talk of the town when the latter revealed on the show that their marriage was on the brink of a divorce. Talking about it, he says, “Everything is fine now. There’s no divorce happening. The show made us stronger and strengthened our bond. When we were discussing the show before giving it a nod, I jokingly told Rubina that once you see the fights inside the BB house, you might forget the little fights we had. Jo tab humko badi lagti thi, woh actually bahut choti-choti ladaiyaan thi. During our stay in the house, we realised that we were making a fuss about minor issues. Now, when she comes out of the house, hopefully after the grand finale, we will look into our issues and resolve them.”

He adds, “I haven’t discussed our personal issues with our families yet. But I will talk about it, I am waiting for the right time. They are also very understanding, so there is no issue here.”

Ask him about his current equation with Jasmin Bhasin, and he says, “To cut a long story short, I don’t know Jasmin (pauses), I don’t know her anymore.” What about Rakhi Sawant? “Rakhi is very smart, she knows what she is doing. But whatever happened inside the house, I have left it there. I have no grudges against her, I will try to move on and erase that memory,” he says, adding, “I have made a few good friends — Naina Singh, Rahul Mahajan, Sara Gurpal — inside the house and will be in touch with them.”

Abhinav says that he is overwhelmed by the support he received, during his stint on the show. “Mujhe life mein itna appreciation, pyaar aur support kabhi nahi mila. This is the first time. I wasn’t expecting this, but I am very thankful,” he signs off.

Bigg Boss 14 has been following a simple mantra so far - the more, the messier. The makers of the Salman Khan-hosted reality show recently amped up the drama by bringing in Rahul Mahajan, Kashmera Shah and Vikas Gupta as wild card entries. Encouraged by the audience's interest, the team has now decided to extend the latest edition to February instead of winding it to a close on January 9.

A trade source says, "Thanks to Salman's star power and his banter with the contestants, Weekend Ka Vaar has grabbed eyeballs. So, the makers have decided to cash in on it. They are torn between wrapping it up on Valentine's Day or February 20 as the latter will give them the advantage of having a Weekend Ka Vaar."

To keep the momentum going, six wild card contestants will be added to the fray. "Rakhi Sawant, Aly Goni, Rahul Vaidya and Nikki Tamboli will enter the house again tonight. In adherence with the safety protocols, the new entrants were tested and quarantined ahead of joining the housemates."

Dimpy Ganguly, who married Rahul Mahajan on a reality show in 2010 and divorced him four years later, is set to begin a new chapter in her life with her Dubai-based structural engineer beau Rohit Roy. She will tie the knot with him on November 27. “The roka will happen in the first week of November,“ says Dimpy. Life has come a full circle for her as Rohit and she happen to be each other's school crush. She says, “We were from different schools and would meet only during fests, but we could never talk about our feelings for each other. And then, I moved on. Strangely, I bumped into him in Dubai in 2013, almost a decade later, and that's when we confessed our feelings to each other. I couldn't believe that the guy who I crushed on, liked me too. The innocent school charm brought us closer, apart from the fact that we belonged to Kolkata. After I moved out of the city, my parents bought a new house which turned out to be just a few kilometres away from Rohit's house. It was as if destiny was trying to bring us together.“

“He was there when I was going through a difficult time during my divorce proceedings. So, when he proposed to me with a commitment ring on October 12, I did not hesitate one bit before accepting it. He has put up with me when I was in the worst phase of my life,“ she adds.

Both Rahul and Rohit know each other and have spoken on various occasions. How did Rohit react to her crying inside the Bigg Boss house last year when she saw Rahul, who entered the show, for a few hours? “Rohit could sense what I was going through. It was a hostile environment and Rahul was a familiar face. More than it being a weak moment, I would say I was overwhelmed,“ she reveals. Ask her if she will invite Rahul for the wedding and she replies, “I never thought about that, but now that you ask, why not? I believe in appreciating good things in a person and relationship. We were two different people trying too hard to make the marriage work, but it fell apart. Neither of us was at fault.“

Dimpy will be shuttling between Dubai and India post marriage. Is she looking to do more TV shows? “Yes, of course. I won't be taking a break till I become a mother. I would love to become one soon,“ she signs off.

Bigg Boss will organise a date for the new couple, Upen Patel and Karishma Tanna, in the house and the estranged couple Rahul Mahajan and Dimpy Ganguly Mahajan. The men will be given a chance to buy a gift for their respective partners. Upen bought a ring for Karishma, while Rahul chose a sari for Dimpy. Says a source from the show, “Rahul mentioned that the sari reminded him of Dimpy's attire from their wedding.“ Apparently, Upen will leave the house immediately after the date.

Speculations are rife over which inmates from previous seasons of Bigg Boss will join the five finalists of the ongoing season. Joining Rahul Mahajan and Sambhavana Seth (season two) will be Mahek Chahal, who was seen in the fifth season of the show. We hear Imam Siddique, who entertained the audiences with his antics during the sixth season, will also join the inmates as the final contestant. Says a source from the show, “There will be no winner from the existing lot. They (the final five) will be joined by these five contestants, who will fight for the cash prize.“ Both Mahek and Imam did not revert to our text message.

Meanwhile, Farah Khan will take over as the host.

The inmates of the Bigg Boss house have invited their celebrity friends to party with them and one of the invitees is Rahul Mahajan, estranged spouse of Dimpy Ganguly Mahajan. “I am going for my friend Gautam Gulati,“ Rahul told us. But isn't it awkward for him with Dimpy in the house? “No, we are on cordial terms. It would have been a little awkward if she had invited me.“ Will he share any tips with Dimpy? “My tips will be exclusively for Gautam. Dimpy is playing her game and I wouldn't want to comment whether it's good or bad. I wish her all the luck.“ he signs off.

Dimpy Ganguly Mahajan, who recently filed for divorce from her husband Rahul Mahajan, is the latest to join Bigg Boss. Interestingly, Rahul had participated in the second season of the show in 2008. So, is he aware of her entering the Bigg Boss house? “We are not in touch on a regular basis. But Rahul is aware that I'm going inside the house. I haven't taken any advice from him as he was dealing with a different set of people and circumstances. He just told me to be careful and that nobody is a friend inside,“ she says.

Even though her family members have been avid watchers of the show, they didn't take news of her participation too well. She explains, “They aren't sure if they would be able to see me break down on TV . I'm a soft person and tears are my way of expressing emotions. But when someone steps on my tail, I lose my calm.“

Insisting that she has no game plan, she adds, “There is no strategy because the game and people inside change with every passing day. I want to become everyone's favourite inside the house. Among the contestants, I like Pritam because he has a sense of humour and knows how to tackle a situation without getting into conflict. I also find Sonali (Raut) amusing. And I think Gautam (Gulati) is the entertainment king. It can be annoying to stay with someone who has attitude problem, but you enjoy watching him on the show.“

The show has often been in news for its inmates indulging in physical violence. Dimpy, on her part too, has reportedly had a history of domestic abuse in her marriage to Rahul. Has that experience helped her emerge stronger? “I learn from every experience and it has made me more mature as a person. Coming back to the show, I don't think there has been any physical violence. Puneet (Issar) used a martial art technique during a task. But if anyone raises his hand on me, necessary steps will be taken to counter that. I'm sure Bigg Boss will himself look into it,“ she replies.

Coming to her personal life, Dimpy remains tight-lipped about what led to the separation. Ask her when the divorce is expected to come through and she says, “I don't know the final date, but it will happen soon.“ The reality star relocated to Dubai following trouble in her marriage and buzz is that she is dating a Dubai-based businessman. “I am separated, not divorced. I am both legally and emotionally not available,“ she concludes.