Bigg Boss Kannada Season 9: Fifth newbie contestant eliminated; is show favouring veterans?

When Bigg Boss Kannada Season 9 was announced, the contestant pool was rather interesting. For starters, it had been said that an undisclosed number of participants from the first Bigg Boss Kannada OTT season would get direct entry into Season 9 of the TV show. Eventually, this was revealed to be 4 contestants. The ninth season of the popular reality show was to have a total of 16 contestants, four of who came from the OTT season – Rakesh Adiga, Roopesh Shetty, Saniya Iyer and Aryavardhan Guruji. For the remaining 14, another five were also to be veterans who have been on Bigg Boss earlier. The remaining 9 were rank newbies, as far as Bigg Boss is concerned.

Herein lies the catch. The five seniors who were included as participants were Arun Sagar (Runner-up, Season 1), Anupama Gowda was eliminated just shy of the finale week in season 5 having stayed in the house for 98 days, Deepika Das was in fourth place in season 7, Divya Uruduga was the second runner-up of season 8, while fellow contestant and fourth runner-up Prashant Sambargi was the most controversial contestant of season 8. The four OTT season winners finalists were immensely popular and had the benefit of having been in the house for 42 days prior to returning for season 9. The veterans also had the advantage of having been in the house for long periods and know how to be in the house, perform during tasks, etc.

In the five weeks since the ninth season began, every contestant who has been eliminated has been from the newcomer list, which, fans say, suggests that they are at a disadvantage. Fans of the show are familiar with one half of the contestants and are more likely to vote and save them, than the others who are still trying to make a mark in the house. In week 1, it was biker Aishwarya Pissay who was voted out, followed by youtuber Nawaz, actors Darsh Chandrappa, Mayuri Kyatari and now, Neha Gowda. This leaves Ravi Gobargala, Rupesh Rajanna, Amulya Gowda and Kavyashree Gowda from the newcomers.

Now that the contestants have been in the house for over a month, it remains to be seen if the newcomers now stand a fighting chance. However, if they are the ones to get the axe week-on-week, it would prove the theory that the veterans have an advantage over them.