Bigg Boss (Tamil TV series)

Bigg Boss is an Indian Tamil-language version of the reality television program of the same name. The program follows the Big Brother format developed by Endemol in the Netherlands. Since its premiere on June 25, 2017 the show has rolled out eight seasons and one spin-off version.[2] The first seven season was hosted by Kamal Haasan, followed by Vijay Sethupathi from the eighth season onwards. As of now, a total of 159 contestants have participated in Bigg Boss. Bigg Boss has aired a total of 734 episodes and currently, season 8 is on air.

Bigg Boss
Show's eighth logo featuring host Vijay Sethupathi
Presented byKamal Haasan (1–7)[1]
Vijay Sethupathi (8–present)
Voices ofSasho Sathish Sarathy
Theme music composerArivu
Opening theme"BB Anthem"
Country of originIndia
Original languageTamil
No. of seasons8
No. of episodes734
Production
Production locationChennai
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time
  • 90 minutes (seasons 1,2; weekdays)
  • 120 minutes (seasons 1,2; weekends)
  • 60 minutes (season 3 to 8; weekdays)
  • 90 minutes (season 3 to 8; weekends)
Production companyEndemol Shine India
Original release
NetworkStar Vijay
Release25 June 2017 (2017-06-25) –
present

Overview

Concept

Bigg Boss is a reality show based on the original Dutch Big Brother format developed by John de Mol Jr.. Unlike original Big Brother, Bigg Boss features celebrity and commoner contestants. The contestants (known as "housemates") live in a house that is isolated from the world. Following anonymous internal voting by the housemates and external voting by television audiences, one housemate is "evicted" (removed) from the house each week. During the final week, the final four or five housemates vote to determine the show's winner. The eponymous Bigg Boss character serves as an omnipresent authority figure and represents the show's producers. He often interacts with the housemates to assign challenges and ask questions.

House

For all of the Bigg Boss seasons the house was located at EVP Film City, Chennai. The house is well-furnished and decorated. It has a variety of modern amenities, but just one or multiple bedrooms and four toilet bath rooms. There is a garden, outdoor seating, pool, activity area, smoking zone, gym, jail and lounge room in the house. There is also a Confession Room, where the housemates may be called in by Bigg Boss for any kind of conversation, and for the nomination process. In season seven, the house was split and there was another added confession room.[3][4]

Rules

Housemates are bound by various rules. For example, contestants must speak Tamil. Tampering with any electronic equipment or other items in the house is strictly prohibited. They may not leave the premises at any time without permission. Physical violence is completely forbidden. Discussing the nomination process with anyone is also not allowed. Housemates must remain awake until the lights go off, and they can only converse outside of the designated smoking area. Additionally, singing is not permitted within the house, nor can they write anything while inside.

Occasionally, housemates may be nominated for various reasons, including being chosen by individuals with special privileges obtained through tasks, for breaking rules, or for other unspecified reasons. In serious cases, a contestant may face expulsion from the house

Airing

Daily episodes present the main events of the previous day while weekend episodes focus on discussion of the main problems of the week and interviews with evicted contestants. On the Sunday episode the host announces the evicted contestant.

Eviction

Contestants are nominated for eviction each week by their housemates. Viewers cast their votes in favour of the contestants they would like to save from eviction. Each viewer is entitled to cast one vote per day (used to be 50 votes for S1 -S4, 10 votes for S5). The contestant with the fewest votes is out. Contestants who break the rules or who leave the house for medical reasons are evicted. During week 14 or 15 (before finale), Contestants get an option to be evicted from the game by their own decision by accepting the cash prize eviction and self evict themselves.

Broadcast

Bigg Boss is aired on Star Vijay and also available on Disney+ Hotstar. Everyday episodes contain the main happenings of the previous day. Every Sunday episode mainly focuses on an interview of an evicted contestant by the host. The unseen episode will be available as Bigg Boss Unseen on Vijay Music (sister channel to Star Vijay).

From Season 6 onward, "Bigg Boss" introduced a 24/7 Live Channel for Disney+ Hotstar subscribers. This allowed viewers to enjoy direct engagement with the show’s happenings.

Series details

SeriesHostLocationHouse ThemeTaglineEpisodesOriginally airedHousematesDaysLaunch TRP RatingsFinale TRP RatingsPrize MoneyWinnerRunner up
First airedLast airedNetwork
1Kamal HaasanChennaiMiddle Class HouseOdavum Mudiyadhu, Oliyavum Mudiyadhu!9825 June 2017 (2017-06-25)30 September 2017 (2017-09-30)Star Vijay19988.2 TVR14.25 TVR50 lakh (US$60,000)Arav Nafeez Snehan
2Steampunk GearNallavar Yaar? Kettavar Yaar?10617 June 2018 (2018-06-17)30 September 2018 (2018-09-30)171059.7 TVR13.25 TVR50 lakh (US$60,000) Riythvika Aishwarya Dutta
3Chettinad MuseumIdhu Verum Show valla, Namma Life!10623 June 2019 (2019-06-23)6 October 2019 (2019-10-06)171059.80 TVR15.05 TVR50 lakh (US$60,000) Mugen Rao Sandy
4Indian Flora & FaunaThappunna Thatti Ketpen, Nalladhuna Thatti Kodupen!1064 October 2020 (2020-10-04)17 January 2021 (2021-01-17)1810511.61 TVR16.60 TVR50 lakh (US$60,000) Aari Arujunan Balaji Murugadoss
5Nature & Five Elements of EarthInga Veedum Perusu, Galattavum Perusu!1063 October 2021 (2021-10-03)16 January 2022 (2022-01-16)201058.60 TVR10.50 TVR50 lakh (US$60,000) Raju Jeyamohan Priyanka Deshpande
6Luxury MansionVeedu Ready. Vettaiku Neenga Ready ah?1069 October 202222 January 2023211055.54 TVR5.40 TVR50 lakh (US$60,000)[a] Mohammed Azeem Vikraman Radhakrishnan
7Fantasy HavenRendula Onnu Paathuralam!1061 October 202314 January 2024231059.90 TVR8.67 TVR50 lakh (US$60,000) [b] Archana Ravichandran Manichandra
8Vijay SethupathiEnchanted ForestAalum Puthusu! Aatamum Puthusu!1066 October 2024 (2024-10-06)TBA241059.00 TVRTBATBATBATBA

Reception

Season 1

The Bigg Boss Tamil program is regarded as the most expensive Tamil television show. [6] The show continued to scale new heights, with exceptional ratings averaging 8.4 TVR over the first 6 weeks. It received a 14.25 TVR on the grand finale day. [7]

Season 2

The launch of season 2 opened with 9.72 TVR.[8]

Season 3

The launch of Season 3 achieved an impressive opening with a 9.8 TVR, maintaining strong viewership throughout with weekly TRPs ranging between 7.8 TVR and 8.8 TVR. [9]

Season 4

The launch of season 4 opened with the highest ever 11.61 TVR, benefited from the impact of season 3 and lockdown, and also broke the records for viewership for Bigg Boss Tamil on a grand opening day. [10]

Season 5

Season 5 received a generally mixed response from the audience for the way they conducted Ticket to Finale week without any proper tasks, and it was one of the few seasons with a low viewership.[11] The TRP ratings for this season went down in the first three weeks.[12]

Season 6

The launch of season 6 received a TRP rating of 5.54 TVR, which is considered below average for a season premiere. [13] Season 6 recorded the lowest viewership for a season finale in Bigg Boss Tamil franchise.

Season 7

The launch of season 7 received a TRP rating of 9.9 TVR, which was seen as a comeback for the franchise. [14] The season finale had a TRP rating of 8.67 TVR. In its season finale, it was reported that this had been the biggest season in the Bigg Boss Tamil franchise in terms of viewership and number of votes. Throughout the season, the show consistently registered high ratings [15] reaching a peak in the later weeks with a TVR of 7.0 across Tamil Nadu [16]

Season 8

The launch of season 8 received a TRP rating of 9.0 TVR, which is seen as a continuous success of the Bigg Boss franchise. [17] In its first week, the show attracted over 32 million viewers on TV, while total watch time soared to 4.4 billion minutes across all platforms, including digital and Hotstar. [18]

Bigg Boss Ultimate

The series is also set to roll out a digital version of the show called Bigg Boss Ultimate which is also going to be hosted by Kamal Haasan and broadcast by Disney+ Hotstar for 24×6 coverage. The series was eventually hosted by Silambarasan after Haasan had to opt out due to scheduling conflicts with his latest release, Vikram.[19]

Bigg Boss Fun Unlimited

Bigg Boss Fun Unlimited is an Indian Tamil-Indian language Reality Talk show with former housemates from the previous season of reality television series Bigg Boss Tamil. The show features former housemates talking about the present contestants in the current season, its aired on Disney+ Hotstar. However this show was only for Bigg Boss 2 and later discontinued from Bigg Boss 3.

The show once again continued from Bigg Boss 8 however with a change of the concept with the evicted housemates of that season being interviewed and speaking about their journey. The show aired on Vijay Super and Disney+ Hotstar.

Year Season Show Host Notes
2018 2 Bigg Boss Fun Unlimited Rio Raj Future Contestant in Bigg Boss 4
2024 8 Bigg Boss 8 Fun Unlimited R Sabarinathan

Housemates pattern

Occupation Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7 Season 8
Film actor/actress Anuya Bhagvath Aishwarya Dutta Fathima Babu Aari Arjunan Abhinay Vaddi Maheshwari Chanakyan Akshaya Udayakumar Sachana Namidass
Bharani Daniel Annie Pope Kasthuri Gabriella Charlton Ciby Bhuvana Chandran Sheriina Cool Suresh Ranjith
Bindu Madhavi Janani Iyer Reshma Pasupuleti Jithan Ramesh Sanjeev Venkat Vikraman Radhakrishnan Maya S. Krishnan Soundariya Nanjundan
Ganesh Venkatraman Mahat Raghavendra Sakshi Agarwal Ramya Pandian Varun Kamal Pradeep Antony Shiva Kumar
Harish Kalyan Mumtaz Saravanan Rekha Vichithra
Kaajal Pasupathi Ponnambalam Sherin Shringar
Namitha Riythvika Vanitha Vijayakumar
Oviya Shariq Hassan
Shakthi Vasudevan Vijayalakshmi Feroz
Sri Yashika Aannand
Suja Varunee
Comedian Aarthi Dhaadi Balaji Jangiri Madhumitha Aranthangi Nisha Imman Annachi Amudhavanan Annabharathi
Ganja Karuppu Sendrayan
Vaiyapuri
Choreographer Gayathri Raghuram Sandy Amir Robert Raj Manichandra
Shanthi Arvind
Model Arav Meera Mitun Balaji Murugadoss Akshara Reddy Riya Thiyagarajan
Raiza Wilson Tharshan Thiyagarajah Samyuktha Shanmuganathan Nadia Chang Raanav V C
Sanam Shetty Niroop Nandakumar
Suruthi Periyasamy
Radio/video jockey Vaishnavi Prasad Ram Ramasamy RJ Bravo RJ Ananthi
Kathirravan
Vocal coach Ananth Vaidyanathan
Singer/Rapper/Song Writer Snehan Ramya NSK Mohan Vaidya Aajeedh Khalique Chinnaponnu Dinesh Kanagaratnam Nixen Jeffry
Mugen Rao Suchitra Ramadurai Isaivani Asal Kolaar Yugendran
Velmurugan Iykki Berry Gana Bala
Dancer Ayshu ADS
Vijay Varma
TV personality Mamathi Chari Abhirami Venkatachalam Anitha Sampath Pavni Reddy Mohammed Azeem Archana Ravichandran Dharsha Gupta
Kavin Raj Archana Chandhoke Priyanka Deshpande Rachitha Mahalakshmi Raveena Daha Deepak Dinkar
Losliya Mariyanesan Rio Raj Raju Jeyamohan Myna Nandhini Saravana Vickram Sathya SK
Shivani Narayanan Ayesha Zeenath Vinusha Devi Sunita Gogoi
Suresh Chakravarthi Janany Kunaseelan Vishnu Vijay Pavithra Janani
Manikandan Rajesh Dinesh Gopalsamy Arun Prasath
Nivaashiyni Saravanan Tharshika
Queency Stanly VJ Vishal
Anshitha Akbarsha
Arnav Amjath
Jacquline Lydia
Raanav
Varshini Venkat
Rayan
Director Cheran
Martial artist Som Shekar
Fashion Designer Madhumitha Raghunathan
YouTuber / Instagram fame Abishek Raaja GP Muthu Ananya Rao Ravindar Chandrasekar
Poornima Ravi Muthukumaran Jegatheesan
Writer Bava Chelladurai
Orator Manjari Narayanan
Transpeople Namitha Marimuthu Shivin Ganesan
Non-Celebrity Maria Juliana Nithya Balaji Thamarai Selvi Dhanalakshmi Jovika Vijayakumar
  Winner   First runner-up   Finalist   Ticket to finale   Cash walkout
Winner Arav Riythvika Mugen Rao Aari Arjunan Raju Jeyamohan Mohammed Azeem Archana Ravichandran TBA
Runner-up Snehan Aishwarya Dutta Sandy Balaji Murugadoss Priyanka Deshpande Vikraman Radhakrishnan Manichandra TBA

Controversies

Notes

  1. ^ The winner won 50 lakh and was also awarded the new Suzuki Brezza car.[5]
  2. ^ The winner won 50 lakh and was also awarded the new Maruti Suzuki Nexa grand Vitara car and a plot worth 15.

References

  1. ^ "Bigg Boss Tamil 4 finalist Rio Raj shares his fanboy moment with actor-politician Kamal Haasan; see pic". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 13 March 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Salman Khan, Kamal Haasan, Mohanlal and Sudeep: How hosts impacted their Bigg Boss versions". The Indian Express. The Indian Express. 20 February 2021. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Bigg Boss Tamil 6: House of Kamal Haasan Hosted Reality Show Is Vibrant AF; Check Inside Pics!". latestly.com. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Inside Bigg Boss Tamil Season 6's house. See photos". Indian Express. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  5. ^ India Today (22 January 2023). "Azeem lifts Bigg Boss Tamil Season 6 trophy, wins Rs 50 lakh and a new car . Undeserving winner of bigg boss season 6". India Today. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Bigg Boss Tamil and Telugu top the charts". The Times of India. 11 August 2017. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Bigg Boss Tamil and Telugu top the charts". Times Of India. 11 August 2017. Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  8. ^ "Kamal Haasan's Bigg Boss 2 Tamil TRP ratings are impressive". www.hindustantimes.com. 28 June 2018. Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  9. ^ "#BiggBossTamil3 #TRP reaches new heights!". X (formerly Twitter). Archived from the original on 24 April 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Bigg Boss most-watched show in 3 regions, including Tamil & Telugu speaking markets: BARC - Exchange4media". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. 23 October 2020. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Bigg Boss Tamil 5: From failure of wild card entries to eviction of Akshara and Thamaraiselvi, why this season is less exciting than the previous one". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  12. ^ "#BiggBossTamil5 TRP Rating chart comparison (Week 1 to Week 3)". X (formerly Twitter). Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  13. ^ "Kamal Haasan likely to quit Bigg Boss Tamil 6: Reports". India Today. 22 December 2022. Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  14. ^ "An overwhelming response for the Launch episode of Bigg Boss Tamil Season 7, Garnering a massive viewership of 9.9 TVR!". X (formerly Twitter). Archived from the original on 24 April 2024. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  15. ^ "Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan's Bigg Boss Tamil 7 breaks all TV viewership records with unprecedented ratings - Tamil News". IndiaGlitz.com. 29 November 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  16. ^ https://x.com/kamalmaniac/status/1730789252290789801. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. ^ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=1065289172264013&id=100063488209533&_rdr. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. ^ "Bigg Boss Tamil Season 8 Opens With 9 TVR Ratings and 4.4 Bn Mins Watch Time". 19 October 2024. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  19. ^ "Kamal Haasan to host Bigg Boss Ultimate on Disney+ Hotstar from January 30. Read details". India Today. 17 January 2022. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.