Road to rebellion

They have earned a notorious reputation for pushing contestants to their very extremes both during the auditions and the show itself. But all the varied and mixed reactions that Raghu Ram,the creator of Roadies and host Rannvijay Singh are subjected to,leaves them unfazed. The duo,who will host the first auditions for the tenth season of Roadies on Wednesday,spoke extensively about the new changes that have been introduced.

This time around,there will be two teams,each headed by Ram and Singh. Ram’s team will comprise contestants who have featured in prior seasons of the show,while Singh’s will have eight new contestants selected from Pune,Delhi,Hyderabad and Chandigarh. Amidst mild leg-pulling and thrash-talking,Ram says,“While discussing the format for this season,both Rannvijay and I had a difference of opinion. While he wanted performance to be the key factor,I wanted all natural emotions that include politics,jealousy,teamwork to play a major part. Hence we decided to focus the format on our difference.”

The show will combine some new tasks as well the best tasks from previous seasons. The judge for the Pune auditions on October 31 along with Singh and Ram,is Arjuna award winner Deepa Malik. “We will travel to the far North East this time. We are going back to the first four seasons,where we used to explore India,” he says.

In its tenth season,the popular reality show is already on telecast in Pakistan and Ram says producers from Bangladesh have also begun talks with them to make a show on a similar format. Speaking about his return to the show,Ram says,“To be honest I feel like the boy who cried wolf. Every year I keep telling this is the last season but I return to make one more. This time,I have come back to prove a point. If my team wins I will not return but if we end up on the losing side…”