Don’t be surprised if that’s what they start demanding next. Mumbai Mirror reports:
While Congressman Sanjay Nirupam made it into reality television show Bigg Boss, Republican Party of India (RPI) MP Ramdas Athawale is miffed that he didn’t.
Athavale, who is being sidelined by his coalition partner NCP, has now threatened legal action against show producers and the television channel ‘Colors’ for not including him as a contestant. He alleged they discriminated against him since he is a Dalit. [My emphasis.]
While Athawale made the announcement at a press conference in Mantralaya on Monday, he admitted that he did not have an acceptance letter or a contract from the show producers.
Another report tells us that Athavale’s supporters attacked the office of the television channel. Dev, the reader who sent me the link, astutely commented: “I wonder if he was selected and got voted out, would the other contestants’ houses get smashed?”
Having said that, I’d have loved to see Athavale share a bed with Sanjay Nirupam. One gets used to strange bedfellows in Indian politics, but that would be quite a sight, especially if one of them got horny in his sleep and reached across the bed because of muscle memory.
As for the show itself, I’m enjoying it. They’ve changed the voting mechanism this year, which transforms the dynamic of the show. Last year, as I wrote in my post “Rahul Roy and the voting mechanics of Bigg Boss”, viewers had to vote contestants out; this year, they vote to keep them in. Last year’s format favoured the low-profile contestant who didn’t inspire strong emotions from viewers; this year, if you’re low-key, you could be in trouble—you have to get viewers to like you.
Er, why am I blogging about Bigg Boss? That’s supposed to be a guilty pleasure…