Grand finale of the second season of Bigg Boss OTT, the digital version of controversial reality show Bigg Boss was held on 14th August. Popular Youtuber Elvish Yadav became the first ever wild card contestant to win the show, defeating Abhishek Malhan (another youtuber) and Manisha Rani (a social media influencer).
Elvish Yadav, entered the Bigg Boss house in 4th week as the wild card contestant along with Aashika Bhatia (also a social media influencer who was seen in tv series Parvarish and has also played the role of Salman’s younger sister in Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo). This season gained huge popularity as this time it was the public “Janta ” who played the game along with the contestants. The viewers who were watching the live feed 24/7 had the power to vote out or save any contestant and twist the game. Popular actress Pooja Bhatt was also amongst the top 5 contestant who reached the finale along side Bebika Dhurve, Manisha Rani, Abhishek Malhan and Elvish Yadav.
This season saw a mix of contestants with popular faces from entertainment industry such as Avinash Sachdeva, Jiya Shankar, Falaq Naaz, Cyrus Broacha, international model Jadd Hadid, actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s wife Aliya Siddiqui, actress Palak Purswani (Avinash Sachdeva’s ex-girlfriend) and Akansha Puri (winner of reality show Mika Di Vohti). Besides Elvish and Abhishek, youtuber Puneet Superstar was also seen in the show but was evicted from the house on the first day itself.
While the first season of Bigg Boss OTT was hosted by director Karan Johar, season 2 of OTT was hosted by actor Salman Khan. The actor has been associated with the franchise for more than 12 years and is known for schooling the contestants for their objectionable behaviour during weekends ka vaar episodes.
Like every season of Bigg Boss, OTT 2 also had many controversies throughout. From Jadd and Akansha Puri’s liplock, to Pooja Bhatt secretly carrying a mobile inside the house, to Jadd showing his butt to Bebika and Jiya mixing liquid soap in Elvish’s drinking water. There were also rumours of Salman Khan quitting the show as he received not just backlash but also death threats for reprimanding Elvish Yadav in one of the weekend episodes on using derogatory language towards women.
24 year old YouTuber enjoys a loyal fanbase of about 13 million on his YouTube channel and is known for his comedy videos and daily vlogs where he is seen showing off his expensive possessions. Before YouTube, Elvish was a famous Tiktoker but in 2020, his roast video against some Tiktokers started a YouTube vs Titktok war. Elvish also has a case of cyberbullying going on against him after he made a roast video on Punjabi singer Thara Bhai Joginder earlier this year. More recently, Elvish got into an internet brawl with yet another popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and roasted him for the video he posted about the film Kerala Story. Elvish who openly supports Hindutva ideologies, accused Dhruv Rathee of spreading false information.
After the finale, Elvish quoted that he has a crush on Pooja Bhatt but was seen age-shaming her by addressing her as “Taiji” when he entered the show. He then got into a brawl with Avinash and called him “bewakoof ka bachcha” in one of the episodes. Elvish also boasted about roasting “feminists type” people on his channel hinting towards Jiya Shankar and made some extremely nasty and derogatory comments about Bebika Dhurve for which he was reprimanded by host Salman Khan.
Elvish has been infamous for using abusive language, making misogynistic comments, body shaming, racial & communal discrimination in his videos and also for his affiliation with a particular political party that propagates fascists ideologies. Apart from Elvish Yadav, another famous youtuber and first runner up of Bigg Boss OTT 2 Abhishek Malhan, popularly known as “Fukra Insaan” is also infamous for creating cringe content on his YouTube channel. Indulging in silly challenges and pranks, giving out prizes worth lakhs. Abhishek also shows off the luxurious things he owns through his videos. Another contestant named Puneet Superstar, a social influencer who is famous for making crazy videos like shouting at camera and smearing different things like toothpaste, shaving cream, chilli powder etc on his face was also seen in Bigg Boss OTT2 but was kicked out of the show within 24 hours.
The makers clearly aimed to increase the viewership of BIGG BOSS OTT 2 by bringing in YouTubers and social media influencers like Elvish Yadav, Abhishek Malhan aka Fukra Insaan, Manisha Rani and Puneet Kumar. The OTT platform, Jiocinemas has certainly leveraged from the fanbase of these influencers which is in millions and this season became far more popular than the previous one. However, it is deeply concerning that people like Elvish who openly speaks against feminism, makes hateful videos and communal remarks are becoming the role models for today’s youth. It is alleged that Elvish received a record break 28 million votes in last 15 mins of live voting on the Jiocinema app and with celebrities like Badshah and Alia Bhatt supporting him openly, the 24 year old Youtuber is gloating over his success. The media has also been extremely supportive towards Elvish which makes one question is this really the kind of influencers we would want today’s youth to follow?