Rajiv Lakshman and Raghu Ram

The plot sickens: My phone didn’t stop ringing for days after the first journey episode of Roadies Hell Down Under was telecast. The episode was universally liked (or maybe people are too polite to me…). Generally, first episodes tend to be a little boring, as a lot of time needs to be spent on establishing the characters and plot. But this one was completely packed with action and took everyone, the roadies and the viewers, by surprise.

Though everyone loved the unexpected twists, the one question I kept getting asked was why the vote out happened amongst the winning five and not the other 10, who anyway didn’t have to do the task. Well, here’s why…

The reason there was an elimination task was because we did not want a repeat of last year, where the roadies did not perform, and instead played politics to survive. So we sent a clear message to the roadies that, this year, not taking the tasks seriously would be fatal. The other message we wanted to send out to the roadies was that even though you work together as teams and form bonds, each roadie stands alone. There can be only one winner. And personally, it was interesting for me to see them plotting against each other after working so well as a team.

END OF THE ROAD?

The second thing people reacted to was my “leaving” the show, as was shown in the Roadies “Behind The Scenes” right after the episode. Let me explain. It’s not like I’m not a part of the show any more. I’m still integral to Roadies, even though I couldn’t be part of the complete shoot. It was just that, after 92 consecutive episodes, I would not be a part of the episode shoots.

It was an extremely emotional moment for me though, especially when the crew got a cake for me that said “Roadie no. 1”!

The twists continue in the next episode, as the remaining 14 roadies are divided into two gangs, who will then compete with each other for money and immunity. A few characters will also be more clearly established, like Palak with her bossy, bullying ways. And Devarshi will show everyone exactly why Rajiv and I felt he lived in a world of his own. He epitomises cluelessness.

The tasks are hardcore too, with the boys getting repeatedly hit hard between their legs. Now this is what I call “Hell Down Under”! Heh heh!