I did my schooling from Meerut and played basketball in school. I moved to Delhi for my graduation and through the sports quota got admission in Ramjas College for a degree in economics. Relocating to Delhi from Meerut was a huge turning point for me as I got to meet and interact with students from all over the country.

After my final year exams, I joined IBM as a quality manager — my very first job. During my stint at IBM, I hosted the annual functions of different business units within the organisation as well as their parties. But a year-and-a-half later I quit this job. I began hosting road shows for different brands and 50 shows later I approached events management companies and began anchoring corporate events. I have hosted 750 shows to date.

My other turning point came in 2007 when I shifted to Mumbai and decided to get into modelling. After preparing for six months I participated in the Mr. India contest on the insistence of my friends and won the competition.

Around this time I was surfing the Internet one day and found that a hunt was on for a ‘common man’ to make an entry into Bigg Boss 3. I felt that it was a good opportunity to connect with the masses and decided to give it a shot. I got selected, beating over 1,00,000 hopefuls who auditioned for it. This gave me a foothold into television and opened the doors to other shows.

Soon I bagged the chance to anchor the dance reality show Chak Dhoom Dhoom. I also hosted the curtain-raiser of the prestigious Commonwealth Games this year. The reality show Emotional Atyachaar 2 that I am anchoring has received the award for the Best Non-fiction Show by Indian Telly Awards. Now, I am all set for Chak Dhoom Dhoom 2. I intend to host shows and act in movies in the future. But I’m not too keen to act in television serials as I feel that they allow very little scope for creativity.

(As told to Lubna Salim)