Bigg Boss 2025-2026| Auditions, Application & Dates

Bigg Boss is an Indian reality television game show produced by Endemol Shine India through Viacom 18 and Star India. Subsequently, it was syndicated internationally and available through Voot and Disney+ Hotstar OTT platforms. It has been extended into seven languages spoken in the Indian sub-continent. It is the Indian version of the Dutch-British show Big Brother.

Overview

There have been seven versions of the show in different languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The first show of the franchise was Bigg Boss in Hindi which debuted in 2006 through Sony TV and from season two onwards it moved to and continues on Colors TV. In 2013, the franchise extended its presence in Kannada through Colors Kannada and Bengali through ETV Bangla, later rebranded into Colors Bangla. In 2017, it extend its presence in Tamil through Star Vijay and in Telugu through Star Maa. In 2018, it ventured into Marathi through Colors Marathi and in Malayalam through Asianet.

Though only celebrities were selected to be as housemates in the initial seasons, members of the general public have been auditioned to be on the show in the latest seasons of Hindi, Kannada and Telugu versions of the show.^[1][2]

Synopsis

Contestants called “housemates” live together in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world. Housemates are voted out, usually on a weekly basis, until only one remains and wins the cash prize. During their stay in the house, contestants are continuously monitored by live television cameras as well as personal audio microphones.

The program relies on techniques such as a stripped back-to-basic environment, evictions, weekly tasks, competitions set by Bigg Boss, and the “confession room” where housemates converse with Bigg Boss and nominate the housemates they wish to evict from the house. The housemates with the most nominations are then announced, and viewers are given the opportunity to vote via SMS or online through social media and smartphone applications for the nominee they wish to save from eviction. The last person standing is declared the winner.

The contestants are required to indulge in housework and are assigned tasks by the omnipresent authority figure known to them as Bigg Boss. The tasks are designed to test teamwork abilities and community spirit of the housemates. The luxury budget is a weekly allowance to buy luxury food items other than the supplied essentials which depend on the outcome of assigned tasks.

History

Creation

Bigg Boss is a Hindi language adaptation of Big Brother created in Netherlands by John de Mol Jr., largely based on the Celebrity Big Brother model owned by the Endemol Shine Group. The show was named Bigg Boss and a house was constructed for the show at Lonavla for seasons one to four and six to twelve, in Karjat for season five and in Goregaon for season thirteen. Bigg Boss debuted on television in 2006 through Sony TV with Arshad Warsi as the host. The show gained popularity after Shilpa Shetty emerged as the winner in Big Brother 5 and replaced Warsi as the host in the second season of Bigg Boss. From the second season, the show’s broadcast moved to Viacom 18’s Colors TV.