'Gaurav Khanna may not have had the most inspiring journey like his predecessors, but he has clearly been one of the most well-behaved contestants and winners in Bigg Boss history. So kudos to that!'
Judge me as you want, but every season, I look forward to the Bigg Boss lineup.
I personally feel Season 1 was the most entertaining thanks to the presence of Rakhi Sawant, Carol Gracias, Kashmira Shah, Ravi Kishan and Bobby Darling who ensured every frame, every task, including the live feed was entertaining.
Over the years, we have seen various hosts, but Salman Khan has easily been the most loved and respected celebrity. When he speaks, rarely has a contestant ever thrown a tantrum or misbehaved with him.
In the past, I have also written about how Bigg Boss is a reality show that offers us a slice of our reality. When dozens of camera stalk your every move, in the initial weeks you are bound to feel the pressure to look and sound perfect.
But as you perform tasks, face nominations, and deal with different temperaments of people, the show tests your patience and brings out your true personality.
The show's tasks are designed to pull out your best and worst behaviour.
It has also helped identify raw talent and shaped so many careers.
Most importantly, it is a treat to watch celebrities shed their larger-than-life image, engage in house chores, and discuss their life experiences with strangers in the most organic way.
Though I skipped watching the seasons where influencers like Elvish Yadav and MC Stan emerged winners, I was hooked to the 19th season from Day 1.
The lineup was nothing extraordinary, but there was a lot of hope. The mix of millennials, influencers and GenZ was interesting.
The makers kept insisting that Bigg Boss 19 has been the most loved season; so here are my takeaways from the show that lasted for 106 days.
1. Season 19 was supposed to be competitive given the healthy mix of contestants. However, the smartest and most competitive contestants -- Baseer, Zeishan, Abhishek -- were eliminated early on.
This made it easier for celebrity contestants like Amaal Malik and Gaurav Khanna, who literally slept through half the season to end up in the grand finale.
2. Tanya Mittal, easily the most trolled and talked about contestant, conveniently hid her sultry GRWM videos and entered the show as a spiritual influencer.
It is surprising how the makers allowed her to re-promote her fake identity throughout the show.
From exaggerated stories about her mansion and bodyguards in Gwalior to her never-ending career struggles, Lies, Lies, and more Lies -- that's all this girl sold on the show during her entire screen time.
When Salman called her one of the most viral contestants at the grand finale, you have to also remember that the show was secretly encouraging a 'fake' content creator to misuse the platform and audition for Ektaa Kapoor.
In the show, she manipulated Amaal, dishonoured her friendships, body-shamed a younger contestant, even kicked a fellow contestant during a task. And the irony?
She instigated the usually well-behaved Ashnoor who ended up losing her cool and get evicted a week before the grand finale.
And for the record, Tanya never apologised to Ashnoor for bodyshaming her and never got called out for her physical violence.
Seriously, Tanya has to be one of the most undeserving contestants of the season to have been pushed as a finalist, a new low for the show.
3. It is not unusual for contestants to use the romance angle to elongate their stay in the reality show.
We've seen it before, how fellow contestants flirt and act coy as a part of the strategy to stake the TRPs.
However, for the first time, Baseer and Nehal's gameplay was cut short even before they got to milk it for the audience.
4. Those who are calling Pranit the underdog clearly don't want to admit that he played a smart, but cunning game and earned a spot in the top 5.
His silly reasoning to choose Ashnoor over a strong competitor like Abhishek revealed his true intentions.
Pranit was equally cunning and calculated as Shehbaz who used Amaal as his cushion to side-track Malti.
The standup comedian clearly hid his insecurities through his roasting sessions that were not always in good taste.
5. Farhana Bhatt, another actor who tried to sell herself as a peace activist from Kashmir, only created chaos in the name of entertainment.
If there is any credit she deserves, it is for waking up her sleeping contestants, and triggering them to show some competitive spirit.
That said, her equation with her mom who raised her single-handedly would go down in BB history as one of the purest forms of love in a mother-daughter relationship.
The way her mother greeted everyone in the house and left behind smiles and laughter was aww-dorable.
6. And finally, Gaurav Khanna, the green flag husband, the superstar of daily soaps, decided to wake up several weeks later, only when his ego was challenged.
The backseat driver who enjoyed gossiping under the blanket was forced to reveal his competitive side.
When he challenged Farhana and said: 'Tu mere naam se jaani jayegi. Tu mere, Gaurav Khanna ke season me aayi thi' call it overconfidence or pure agenda, but honestly, it felt like the winner was pre-planned.
The way he was denied captaincy until the finale week and made to struggle for basic tasks was a dead giveaway.
He clearly disrespected his wife's decision to not have kids, by asking the astrologer for her opinion on a public platform.
Who better than GK to turn a personal moment into a spectacle and then defend it in front of the media? Farhana, Malti, kudos for seeing through the act.
But if there is one thing GK showed us, it was THIS: He never abused, never got physical, never uttered a bad word, even when he was provoked or denied the rightful captaincy.
By his own admission, he'd said: 'Mujhe kam dikhna chalega, but sahi dikhna zaruri hai.'
Gaurav Khanna may not have had the most inspiring journey like his predecessors, but he has clearly been one of the most well-behaved contestants and winners in Bigg Boss history. So kudos to that!
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
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