Fair or Unfair? ‘Outsiders’ decide to eliminate Abhinav Shukla from Bigg Boss 14

‘Bigg Boss 14’ contestant Abhinav Shukla’s mid-week eviction just two weeks before the finale, at the behest of ex-housemates Jasmin Bhasin and Jaan Kumar Sanu, and Bigg Boss 3 winner Vindu Dara Singh, came as a shock for viewers. 

Abhinav, who entered the controversial reality show with much-less popularity and fan base than other contestants such as Rahul Vaidya, Jasmin Bhasin, Sara Gurpal, Shehzad Deol and his wife Rubina Dilaik among others, kept getting saved every week to everyone’s surprise as he developed a certain ‘not-a-poky’ friend/housemate relationship with housemates early on. 

And by the time the power of eliminations shifted from the hands of Toofani Seniors Sidharth Shukla, Hina Khan and Gauahar Khan to public votes, there were other contestants who already had showcased (read not) some aspects of their personality to the viewers that their elimination, before Abhinav’s was inevitable. 

As someone who has played the game with much more dignity and almost no use of foul language, Abhinav had gradually started to find a place in the hearts of audiences. His ‘not-a-celebrity’, relatability’ factor worked in his favour. 

Unlike a lot of fellow housemates who thought Abhinav never spoke his mind, he, on several occasions did and was seen privately at loggerheads with his wife over several issues. He may have taken his time to adapt to the ways of the show, but he got a hold of how it’s played and did so well. A lot of credit must be given to the viewers who gave him a chance again and again to showcase his personality. 

Having said that, his elimination at the hands of a few ‘outsiders’ came across as rather unfair. 

I would like to call them ‘outsiders’ because first, obviously, they are not a part of the game anymore, Vindu was never a part of Bigg Boss 14, and second, because all three had entered the show after watching it thoroughly as ‘connections’, not as ‘participants’. 

When we use the word ‘connections’, it automatically means there will be some amount of bias. Especially with Jasmin, one can say that she truly had a grudge against Abhinav and saw him as one of the strongest contestants who could ruin Aly Goni’s, television actor and her boyfriend, chances of going to the finale or even winning the trophy. 

Even before she entered the show again earlier this week, in her video message Jasmin had made it clear that she was hurt and the reason was Abhinav! 

On the Weekend Ka Vaar episode, she said Rubina Dilaik’s act of throwing water on Rakhi Swant was uncalled for. Well, really! What was uncalled for was Jasmin throwing water on Rahul Vaidya and overreacting. 

She said Abhinav should have drawn the line when Rakhi came to him and asked if he could help her drape a saree. 

Well, guess what! The man did it in good faith, as a friend and most viewers, the janta who actually make or break a show, believe that it did not come across as gross or crossing a line from either Rakhi or Abhinav’s side. In fact, it was just cute entertainment. 

Coming back to drawing a line. When Rakhi had written Abhinav’s name with lipstick and Devoleena helped her do that, he did cross a line saying it wasn’t entertaining and she should not do it. 

And well, talking a little about how host Salman Khan roasted Abhinav and made the word ‘tharki’ appear casual, Mr Khan should know that not all men are ‘tharki’ unlike what he said and complimenting a beautiful woman and having ‘roving eyes’ isn’t the same thing. 

Being an individual, if Abhinav had a problem with Rakhi calling him ‘tharki’ and he objected to it, he was within his rights. 

Wasn’t the show all about voicing an opinion and showcasing individual personalities?! 

Abhinav had been unfairly taken to task. 

Talking about showcasing personalities. Well, we saw Abhinav go from a contestant who was in the house to support his wife to one who wanted to win the show for himself. A contestant who listened more and spoke less to one who spoke more often and still made sense. And for a change, Abhinav could have been that one contestant who could have gone on to win the show without having played it ugly with the help of abusive language, unnecessary reactions and uncalled for heated verbal spats.

Lastly, Abhinav’s eviction seems unfair because we thought elimination was in the hands of the audience and they had to power to vote out the one they thought was unfit to be in the finale or win the title. But guess who got to decide if Abhinav was deserving or not. A few ‘outsiders’!