Even as Bigg Boss continues to move from controversy to controversy, a shocker of a scandal could rock many in business as well as entertainment industry trade circles.
Celebrity publicist and Bigg Boss specialist Dale Bhagwagar who has earlier handled the media for maximum number of controversial celebrities on reality shows including Shilpa Shetty (Big Brother), Ashmit Patel, Rakhi Sawant, Kashmera Shah and Sherlyn Chopra (Bigg Boss), has revealed that since two weeks, he has constantly been getting calls from a person claiming to be an “affluent businessman from Orissa” indulging in “betting” on the reality show.
“There has been this guy who kept calling and messaging me for two weeks, asking me for updates on Bigg Boss. He wished to know which participant will be evicted, who will come in the finals and who will win the show and so on. When I told him that I am not aware of such things for sure and only guess to predict, he said, he is into ‘betting’ on Bigg Boss and insisted I give him insights on a regular basis for three months,” reveals the publicist.
Dale adds, “I asked him to stay away from such ‘betting’ talks with me and not to bother me, but he persisted, calling me often. Even when my phone was switched off, he’d keep trying my number and I have call data records as well as umpteen missed call alerts of his cellphone number and some SMS’s to prove this.”
Stating that he isn’t aware how many people could be part of such a betting ring on Bigg Boss, Dale discloses, “Whenever this guy got through me, he tried to smooth talk, using different tactics and word play to pressurize me to meet him in Mumbai on some pretext or the other.”
“Ultimately, I stopped speaking to him and messaged him not to call me in future as such things are illegal,” says the publicist, who refused to reveal the person’s identity before consulting his legal team.
Asked if he plans to file a complaint informing the Police about the ‘betting scandal’, the public relations expert admits, he is considering the option.
The current season of Bigg Boss has seen names like Shakti Kapoor, Pooja Bedi, Shonali Nagrani, Nihita Biswas, Shradha Sharma, Mandeep Bevli, Raageshwari, Vida Samadzai, Mahek Chahal, Sonika Kaliraman Malik, Pooja Misrra, Gulabo Sapera, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Juhi Parmar, Amar Upadhyay, Siddharth Bhardwaj, Aksahdeep Saigal and Swami Agnivesh till now, with Sanjay Dutt anchoring the show along with Salman Khan.