TV reality show celebs flee jungle

Contestants get the heebie-jeebies

The show was being shot in the rain forests of Malaysia and was featuring nine celebrity actors and singers.

The contestants were to stay in the jungles for two months where they would have been engaged in adventurous tasks that would have enabled them to stay on in the contest.
Among the participants were television stars like Chetan Hansraj, Akashdeep Saigal, Shweta Tiwari, Aman Verma and Mona Wasu. It also featured pop singer Anaida and Fiza of Chand Mohammad fame. The show was being telecast live for past one week and the winner winner was to be crowned king or queen of the jungle.

What happened was that Akashdeep Saigal was asked to perform a task called “Fill Your Face” during the show.

It involved Akash putting his head into a jar full of insects, bugs and mealworms. Akash managed to stay put for almost nine minutes and every time the anchors Mini and Yudi had become so nervous that they were asking him whether he was ok.
Akash earned nine stars for his side but when he returned to his fellow contestants, his face and neck had swollen up with the insect bites. It shocked all the celebrity contestants and they lost their cool.

Career at stake

“We are all actors and if I had gone for this task and suffered bruises what would have happened... my entire career would have been at stake,” Shweta fumed.
Chetan said: “This is not fear or adventure but this has been done to add the wow factor to the show.” Marc Robinson said: “This is traumatic and sadistic.”

The contestants then decided to demand an explanation or walk out of the show.
In the meantime, a doctor came in and treated Akash for the bites, but by then the celebrities felt “enough is enough” and made up their minds to leave the camp.
With their bags packed, they walked through the dense jungle to the jetty they needed to cross the river before they could reach the resort, on the other side.

No amount of coaxing and cajoling from producer Nivedit Alva could calm them down. Ironically, amid all this hustle and bustle some celebrities demanded more money to stay on in the show.

Sony TV’s spokesperson Shola confirmed the incident to Deccan Herald and said only two celebrities — Fiza and Palak — did not join the race to leave the show. The remaining seven just walked out of the show and reached the jetty.

She said the participants were told about the rules of the reality show. “It is not that they were unaware of what it is all about,” Shola claimed, adding that the celebrities must have been terrified by the bites on Akash’s neck and face.

“There were complaints about food also, it was not to their liking,” she said.
However, as soon as the show’s monitoring team realised what was happening, it rushed to the spot, but by then the celebrities had already left the place.

Convincing participants

Till late Tuesday night, Sony executives were trying to convince the participants to continue with the show. The participants were not in a  mood to listen but by evening they were at least listening to what was being said to them, Shola said.
She confirmed that some participants even put up conditions such as more pay for continuing in the show.

“We are hoping that we will be able to convince them not to leave and continue with the show,” Shola added.