Bigg Boss Telugu 5: Host Nagarjuna’s rumoured fee hike to contestants, all you need to know about the upcoming season

Bigg Boss Telugu season 5 is all set to entertain the telly audiences from tomorrow (September 6). Nagarjuna Akkineni will return to host the upcoming fifth edition of the reality TV series in Telugu. He has successfully hosted two consecutive seasons of the series. Ahead of the grand gala launch on Sunday, here's everything you need to know about Bigg Boss Telugu season 5.

Bigg Boss 5 is set to have a grand launch at 6 PM on September 6. It is going to be a three-hour long special show which will introduce the season, its theme, the BB house and also the 16 contestants of the season.

Like every year, various segments of the premiere episode were already shot. While host Nagarjuna has shot for the introduction of BB house on Thursday, he will shoot for the rest of the sequences including interaction with the contestants today (Saturday). The show will be telecast on Sunday evening. The introductory sequences of the contestants were already done.

Just like the previous season, all the 16 contestants were sent to mandatory two-week quarantine at a posh hotel in Hyderabad. While their health is under regular clinical surveillance, a few replacements have also been sent to quarantine, as per close sources. Other COVID-19 protocols are also being followed.

This season has an interesting celebrity line-up with a good blend of popular faces from film, TV, music and social media. From Ravi, Sreerama Chandra to Shanmukh and Anne Master, several lists of probable contestants have been doing the rounds on social media for a long while. Fans are slamming the makers of the show on social media for the alleged early leakage of the list of contestants.

Bigg Boss Telugu knocked the door of several celebs yet a few of them couldn't make it into the final list due to various reasons. Besides celebrities like Payal Rajput who refused to be a part of the upcoming season, there are a few who considered but later opted out of the show, as per sources. If the insider reports are to be believed, TV personalities Navya Swamy and Varshini Sounderrajan have opted out of the season. An official confirmation on this is awaited at the moment.

Host Nagarjuna has apparently hiked his fee for the upcoming season of Bigg Boss Telugu. As per close sources, Nagarjuna is apparently charging around Rs. 9 crore for season 5 which is set to launch this Sunday. He was reportedly paid Rs. 8 crores for the previous season.

Bigg Boss Telugu season 5 is set to entertain the telly audiences in a new time slot. The upcoming season of BB Telugu will air at 10 PM on weekdays while the weekend episodes will continue to air at 9PM. Notably, the previous seasons were aired at 9:30 PM on weekdays. However, this change in time slot has evoked a mixed response from netizens.

Bigg Boss Telugu season 5 is scheduled to run for 15 weeks with a finale tentatively on December 19 (Sunday). The previous season was launched on September 6 and concluded on December 20 (Sunday) with a grand finale crowning Abhijeet Duddala as a winner.