Apurva and Shilpa Agnihotri on their Bigg Boss 7 journey: We didn’t enjoy, had seen people taking psychiatric help after coming out of the house

TV couple Apurva and Shilpa Agnihotri opened up about their Bigg Boss 7 journey in one of their recent vlogs. The couple spoke in detail about how they were not made for the show, how Shilpa got bullied, Apurva lost out on a project because of a task in the show and more. Shilpa and Apurva shared that for them, the reality show wasn’t that great of an experience.

Apurva says, “Honestly, I wasn’t very kicked about it. I had the feeling that whatever name, fame and respect you have earned in your life, it can be washed away in a snap. And it has happened with people. I know many friends, who after the show went through severe depression and took psychiatric help.” Shilpa added, “Bahut logon ko leni padti hai help, by the way.” Apurva said, “No matter how thick-skinned or confident you are, it is difficult to digest all the trolling and negative comments that people talk about you outside the show. Kitna bhi aap kaho farq nahi padta, when you read those comments, you do get affected.”

Ever since Bigg Boss started, we had been offered it individually and we kept declining the offer. We were offered it ‘either or’ but every season we were offered. In the 7th season we were finally invited as a couple. There might be many people saying that they had a good journey, but personally Apurva and I didn’t enjoy our journey. We are thankful to God that we were together in the show. We were very clear and certain about the fact that we won’t do it individually. We were also certain that we won’t last long in the show.

Apurva shared, “There were many contestants in the vanity, crying before entering the house. Everyone was nervous and stressed.” Shilpa added, “After entering the house, I understood that if I sit idle, you can go crazy. Very smartly, I took the cooking job in the house and everyone else felt relieved. In a day, I would make 50-60 paranthas. I immersed myself in cooking. I was busy. The atmosphere in the house is so toxic.”

Shilpa said, “Bigg Boss is not scripted but everyone is aware and knows that if I want to be the ‘THE’ person then what is needed to be done. They have prerequisites – react karo, content do, fight, give your point of view, be assertive. If the personality is not like that, then what to do.” However, Apurva disagrees saying, “It is scripted. The channel knows who will react and how. And that’s why people have started predicting in recent seasons. And the makers at the end, kind of forcefully have to turn tables and surprise all with the winner name. We saw it in the recent season too else everyone would have said, ‘She (hinting at Priyanka Chahar Choudhary) is channel face so she became the winner’. So the show is scripted to a certain extent.

When I got eliminated, for the longest time I was told by people that they thought I would win. Even for Apurva, many people for months and years said that wished to see him as the winner. I feel, to be on this show, you need to be a certain prototype. Gauahar Khan was a very deserving winner of our season.

Apurva shared, “Our main takeaway from the show was Kushal Tandon. He is my family, he is my brother. And Gauahar was 10,000 per cent deserving. But also, I would have been very happy had Kushal won. The day Shilpa left, I was so low and I nominated myself. Only Kushal was unhappy about my decision.” Shilpa said, “It was Karwa Chauth and I prayed for him to get eliminated as a gift.”

We have done many reality shows but Bigg Boss 7 was not joyous at all. It was not one of our favourites. We aren’t Big Boss prototype. We have learnt a lot specially how not to go crazy even after reaching the breaking point. We came out with flying colours.

In one of the tasks, Apurva had shaved off his hair, which angered Shilpa. Shilpa shared the reason behind her anger saying, “Nobody knows this but Apurva was signed for a show as the lead actor. He was supposed to play a business tycoon. He went to shave off his head and I kept thinking doesn’t he remember that he signed the contract for a show after this? You won’t believe, after he got eliminated, the makers very respectfully told Apurva that they won’t be going ahead with him because of his look and he couldn’t wear a wig.”

Shilpa said, “I was bullied a lot. Through the season I got bullied a lot for being a ‘pati vrata’. That I don’t see right or left, I am always standing by my husband. People, who met for a brief period and became girlfriend/boyfriend, others are supporting them. But when I am supporting my husband of years, I was called ‘pativrata’. My marriage is my identity and if anyone poked me about it, I wouldn’t keep quiet.”