Arjun Kapoor hosts again

Arjun Kapoor, who made his small screen debut as the host of Khatron Ke Khiladi — Season 7, is set to return  this year for the next season. There was talk of former host Rohit Shetty returning, but it can now be confirmed that Kapoor’s still on board. 

A source in the know reveals, “Colors, the channel the show airs on, was happy with Arjun and have talked to him about continuing as the host. Last year, when the season ended, Manisha Sharma, programming head, said, ‘He has been a surprise package and a superlative host.’ Arjun got a younger audience to the show, which has been missing in the previous seven seasons. While Rohit and Akshay (Kumar) were more authoritative in their interaction with the  contestants, Arjun was casual and friendly, which the producers feel is the direction they want to continue in. The TRPs were great and the newer audience also began warming to the action-based reality show.”

Last year’s  ‘kabhi keeda, kabhi peeda’ format was humorous. Arjun knew that he couldn’t bring to table what former hosts Rohit (action director) and Akshay (action star) did. And so he proved himself to the contestants and audiences, by doing many of the tasks himself and earning their respect. It was a positive experience for the actor as well as the channel.

The source adds that Season 8 will return to South Africa and not last year’s location (Argentina) because “South Africa has the best safety measures and also there won’t be any language issues like in the last location. The shooting won’t start before the end of the year. Arjun and the channel are yet to sit and discuss the technicalities. He has told them that he is ready to return as host.”