Baba Ramdev has turned down the offer to be a contestant in the third season of Bigg Boss. The channel just couldn’t afford the fussy Baba. This, despite the fact that the season boasts of super-celebrity host Amitabh Bachchan, whose fee according to channel’s reliable sources is 4 times of what earlier host Shilpa Shetty got.
Curiously though the contestants are expected to be upscale according to the host’s stature, the prize money remains unchanged.
Politicians, musicians and actors are under negotiation. But the names that they want don’t find the lure of the prize money to be irresistible.
Baba Ramdev, it seems, almost said yes. And then opted out because the discipline at the Bigg House didn’t match with his regimen.
Says Rajesh Kamat the CEO of Colors, “Yes we were negotiating with Baba Ramdev. But it didn’t work out.”
Was it because of his strict Yogi’s regimen?
Says Kamat,
“We were ready to let him get up at 3 am in the morning and do his yoga if he wanted. The only thing the participants can’t do is sleep beyond 8 am.”
Frantic negotiations are on to get A-listers to participate. The lure being the Bachchan brand.
Says Kamat,
“All I can say at the moment is; we want to get in people who have an image to further or revamp. Look at what Bigg Boss did to Rakhi Sawant.”
— By Subhash K Jha
