READERS' CHOICE: Sreesanth, Mayawati, Laloo in Bigg Boss

It’s heartening to see just how full of surprises you are, dear readers. 

We asked you which ‘celebrities’ (using the term very loosely indeed) you’d like to see in the Bigg Boss house this time around, and your replies made for very interesting reading indeed. 

Here are your results -- and why we think they’re such fine picks.

Pat yourselves on the back and carry on reading.

Priya Rai

If the formula’s worked once, why not keep working it? 

That seems to be the thinking as many of you have voted for Priya Rai, an Indian-origin porn star, to come and follow in the footsteps of Sunny Leone.

Leone, now a mainstream movie star in Bollywood, is a tough template to match, but Rai is clearly woman enough for the job.

Seems like you think the slapped and disgraced cricketer will fit right in with the rest of the Bigg Boss regulars.

He gets slapped, he whines, he cries -- it’s exactly what people like Vindoo Dara Singh won the show on.

And the best part about having Sreesanth in the Bigg Boss house is that if he doesn’t win, it’ll always look like the winner fixed the competition.

The portly politician from Uttar Pradesh finds a place on your list, dear readers, and we suspect this selection might have something to do with wondering just how Madame M will manage with those skimpy meals in the Bigg Boss house.

That, plus how she’ll bark orders at frightened b-list celebrities around her.

Reality TV, almost by definition, attracts those who used to, once upon a time, shine brighter on regular TV, but now must hawk the slight familiarity they enjoy.

Shekhar Suman, at one point of time the highest paid actor in Indian TV, may well embrace his current obscurity with a trip to the show.

Well, so long as he doesn’t try showing us his biceps again. *shudder*

It’s hard to explain exactly what makes a member of the audience want to watch a group of disheveled people sharing beds and yelling at one another, but a surefire comedic entertainer is always a good idea.

Now, Kapil might not be a subtle funny-man, but at least he’ll get to pull everyone’s leg a lot.

There is only one Laloo Prasad Yadav (and thank God for that.)

The hairy-eared politician is an orator with a hilarious turn of phrase, a man with a fantastic deadpan delivery, and a truly indefatigable personality.

If he came aboard everyone would end up glued to the shoe -- including his political allies and rivals.

As for the man himself, he could treat it like yet another jail-term, just with peskier inmates than usual.

What good is a show like Bigg Boss without a resident exhibitionist?

And Poonam Pandey, the young lady who threatened Sri Lanka into losing the World Cup and regularly posts pictures of herself in the bathtub on Twitter, would fit right in with the shor and shenanigans. 

The General Secretary of the Congress party, Mr Singh is best known for making spectacular verbal gaffes and stirring up much controversy with his statements -- qualities that will serve him well in front of SMS-sending voters revelling in his incompetence.

He might even win.

She came, she screeched, and she made such an impression on you, dear readers, that you’d like to see her back for more. (Either that or your significant other is hooked on to the show, and you’re being mean to his/her eardrums.)

Son-in-law of the pirate chief Srinivasan who sits atop the BCCI throne, Meiyappan is -- apparently -- a well-meaning Chennai Super Kings groupie who stalks the team and suffers from an extreme identity crisis.

Of course, the danger with Meiyappan on the inside is that cricketers on the outside may well start betting on who will win Bigg Boss.