Bigg Boss Season 2 in 2008 is the second season or version of the Indian reality TV programme Bigg Boss. The show started on 17 August 2008 on Colors Viacom 18. Shilpa Shetty is seen as the host of the show. Fourteen handpicked housemates have entered during the launch and were described as `newsmakers` rather than celebrities. Majority of the contestants were associated with Bollywood or Indian TV channels and other realities shows. The housemates are considered as strangers for each other and are eligible to spend 98 days or nearly 14 weeks locked out together under one roof under the 24x7 supervision of 32 cameras built-in around the Bigg Boss house at Lonavala, a hill station that lies about 100 KM east of Mumbai.

On the second day of the show, the British guest of the house Jade Goody walked out of the Bigg Boss house due to certain medical reasons. And on Day 30 of the show, Diana Hayden who was the fifteenth contestant of this reality game show made an additional entry to the house. The season is set to last for 98 continuous days in total, and the finale is scheduled to be on 22 November 2008.

Housemates of Bigg Boss Season 2

• Ahsaan Qureshi is a stand-up comedian and finalist of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Season 1. He has also acted in a Bollywood movie.


• Alina Wadiwala is a non-celebrity contestant who appeared on the show in this series.


• Ashutosh Kaushik was the winner of MTV Roadies season 5 and is now seen in Bigg Boss Season 2.


• Debojit Saha is a well-known singer, and winner of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005.


• Diana Hayden is a model and former Miss World of 1997 who was also the runner up for Miss India. She appeared in the movie AB-BAS with Shawar Ali.


• Jade Goody is a British television celebrity who participated on Big Brother 3 in the UK in 2002, and Celebrity Big Brother in 2007, where a suspected racism scandal took place between her and Shilpa Shetty. On Day 2 of the Bigg Boss Season 2 show, Goody left the House after it was revealed she suffered from cancer.


• Ketaki Dave is a TV actress who became popular with her character in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. She also worked in some Bollywood movies.


• Monica Bedi is a former film actress and the ex-girlfriend of underworld don Abu Salem.


• Payal Rohatgi is an item girl who has worked in few movies including 36 China Town and Corporate.


• Rahul Mahajan is the only son of late politician Pramod Mahajan.


• Raja Choudhary is a TV actor and ex-husband of TV actress Shweta Tiwari.


• Rakhi Tandon/Vijan is a TV actress famous for her role as Sweety in Hum Paanch.


• Sambhavana Seth is an item girl and worked in the movie 36 China Town with Upen Patel.


• Sanjay Nirupam is a politician and a distinguished member of the Congress (I) Party.


• Zulfi Syed is an actor and model and also starred in an Urdu movie to be released in Pakistan, Akbar Khan`s Taj Mahal.

Sana is a twin-sister of housemate Alina and both are identical twins. At the end of week five on day 33 when Alina was later evicted from the house, her sister Sana went into the house for a while by replacing Alina. Abhishek Bachchan entered the house for a while as a guest during the false eviction process on day 40 at the end of week six. He came aiming at the promotion of his upcoming Bollywood film Drona.

Many tasks are to be fulfilled by the housemates while staying in the house of Bigg Boss Season 2 and in exchange of the task, they are allotted specific budget for the week`s expenses for food. The better the task more will be the budget. During the 1st week, the task was Truth or Dare, where the housemates were asked by Bigg Boss to sit and form a circle and spin an arrow to point the person while paying the game Truth or Dare. The person towards whom the arrow points, has to either do a daring task set by him/her or answer a question posed by the opposite person.

In the second week, the housemates did the task related to the festival Janmashtami and celebrated the birthday of Krishna. Rahul and Payal were appointed as Krishna and Radha respectively, and the rest were to respect them and provide all merriments. In the third week, the housemates carried out the task Sarkar and formed a false government within the house by contesting an election between any two housemates with the help of one supporter each. The members selected the two candidates as Sambhavna and Raja. Rahul became the supporter of Sambhavna and Ahsaan was chosen as a supported by Raja. The task was successfully completed and Raja got elected as the Sarkar Raja.

The Bigg Boss Song was also one of the tasks to be completed. All housemates composed a song for Bigg Boss Season 2 where Ahsaan, a poet and stand-up comic, was asked to write the lyrics and Debojit composed and sang the song along with the rest of the housemates.

In the fourth week, the housemates had to complete the task of Pathshala, where the housemates created a Pathshala (school) in the house. Alina, Rahul, Raja, Sambhavna and Zulfi were the school children, while the other housemates were to play the role of teachers. All teachers unanimously selected Sambhavana as the best student. In the fifth week, the housemates played Kabaddi as the task and they had to make two teams with four members each and select one person as a referee. Sambhavana was the captain of the team comprising of Raja, Zulfi and Debojit. Rahul was the captain of the other team comprising of Payal, Ashutosh and Alina.

Another interesting task performed by the housemates of Bigg Boss Season 2 was Paani Bachao that was a weekly and 24 hours task. A tank full of water has been provided to the housemates in the garden area and the tank has 4 holes and four stoppers. Once the stopper is removed, the same stopper will not be put back again. The duty of the housemates is to stop the water from leaking by putting their fingers inside the holes.

Few other tasks done by these housemates are to play pool volleyball in a game of three sets, to arrange for a dancing competition by creating three teams, one each under the three female housemates and so on. The Bonfire was conducted on the evening of day 40; the housemates were asked to arrange for a bonfire party in the garden area around a campfire and dance according to the tunes played by Bigg Boss. The housemates spent their time by fulfilling such tasks, as they do not have any other entertaining medium like TV, radio or even newspaper.

Releasing Balloons with Messages, making the statue of Bigg Boss, Eid celebrations were some of the joyous moments spent by the housemates of Bigg Boss Season 2. In the eighth week, Bigg Boss gives the housemates weekly task to perform a "Modern Family Drama" for an audience in the age group of 12-50 years. The housemates named their drama Shaq Ki Sui that means "A needle of doubt". On the occasion of Dusshera, Bigg Boss gives the housemates opportunity to play dandiya.

On the occasion of Diwali - the festival of light, Bigg Boss assigned the housemates the task of lighting 1500 diyas. The housemates were given oil and cotton to complete the task properly. The diyas should be kept alight for the whole night. As a gift on the occasion of Diwali festival, Bigg Boss declared to the public that for week 11, no housemate would be evicted from the Bigg Boss house at the end of week.

Zulfi Syed, Rahul Mahajan, Raja Choudhary and Ashutosh Kaushik were the finalists in Bigg Boss, Season 2. After a controversy related to escaping from the Bigg Boss house, Rahul preferred to quit the show because he thought himself responsible for the trouble his mates faced. After Rahul left, the tree finalists living in the house were Zulfi Syed, Raja Choudhary and Ashutosh Kaushik. The grand finale votes were counted on 22nd November and declared Ashutosh Kaushik as the winner. Ashutosh Kaushik won Rs One crore. Rahul Mahajan won a Hyundai Yuva I 10 for being the "Bade Dilwala" as voted by the housemates. Bigg Boss Season 2 became a reality show in India that has acquired steady popularity throughout and till its last day was one of the most eye catching show in the channel Colors.