Big Switch 4 contestants on location in Dharamshala

What happens when rich (and lazy) youngsters are made to work in trying conditions to earn their basic necessities? A ‘Big Switch’ takes place in Dharamshala where the fourth season of the survival Bindass TV show is being shot.

The first two seasons got rich kids to stay in slums. Brats who complained about their parents, were made to stay with parents of others in the third. This time they have been pushed out of their cities.

In the upper reaches of Dharamshala is the old British hill station McLeodganj. This is where the Dalai Lama lives. The shooting took place in Norbulingka, in lower Dharamshala.

“These (six) brats are good for nothing except blowing their parents’ money. We have taken away their homes and their wallets and are making them toil like aam aadmi,” says show host Gaurav Chopraa, of Colors show Uttaran fame.

This means even if they want a blanket, they have to earn it.Trying to chop wood for fire with an axe in unpractised hands, Abhimanyu Thapar, 22, looks straight out of the film Wake Up Sid. “We are used to being called lazy and nalayak. We are doing this show to earn respect,” says the Mumbai boy.

Big Switch 4 beams on Bindass every Sunday from January 13 at 7pm.