Jibran Dar who was blamed for sexual harassment in the show has accused Roadies to be rigged
This weekend, MTV Roadies Rising found its winner in Shweta Mehta. And soon after, ex-contestant Jibran Dar has accused the show to be rigged. The guy from Srinagar, who was held for sexual harassment charges on the show, and thrown out soon after, told indianexpress.com that his ousting was planned to pump up the TRPs and that the makers had already planned that the title would be awarded to a girl this year.
What can be an issue of unearthing a conspiracy or can be sad case of sour grapes, ex Roadies contestant Jibran Dar is making strong statements of the show being rigged. Srinagar born Jibran made his entry in Roadies Rising as a wild card contestant. And soon in few days, he found himself accused of misbehaving and sexually harassing fellow contestants. With the judges strict on such behaviour, he was unceremoniously ousted from Roadies.
Post the show’s end, Jibran spoke to indianexpress.com and shared, “It was all a trap, a planned act to get easy TRPs. They have no proof that I misbehaved with anyone. I was just having fun and if the girls felt offended, why didn’t they confront me then. Why wait till the elimination day and make a scene out of it. And while I cried innocence, no one paid any heed to it. Even the courts take into consideration both parties before giving out a judgement, but I was denied the right to even speak. They crushed my dreams to get content. Post the shoot I got to know that they raked a lot of TRPs with the episode.”
When we questioned Jibran, why was he supposedly made a scapegoat he stated, “From the day I entered the show, I was the most popular contestant. The directors even told us that I was the only one who was giving them the content. This irked the others and they decided to plot against me. What started as a complaint against me by one girl was blown out of proportion and I realised I was completely trapped by these people. If I indeed misbehaved why didn’t they hand me over to the police or file a case. They have no proof against me. My mother, who is scared of me standing against a big organisation, is not allowing me to file a case of defamation.”
The budding actor who is also a trainer of personality development further shared that the makers had decided on a girl winning the show this year. “From the time the show launched, they pushed the girls ahead. I am happy for Shweta but they played with emotions. Rakhi and Shweta would have reached the finale as per the plans had Rakhi not evicted herself out. They offered Baseer (Ali) and Priyank (Sharma) Splitsvilla as a consolation prize. Though they asked me to audition too, they did not select me for they knew I will speak the truth. I have WhatsApp screenshots where the contestants accept that my issue was blown for TRPs and call records where they say I was not at fault.”
Well, these indeed seem like serious allegations. Wanting to present both sides of the story, we reached out to the channel and makers and here is what they had to say. A channel official on account of anonymity said, “Every year we are targetted and it really doesn’t bother us anymore. If the show was indeed rigged, we wouldn’t have been running successfully for fourteen years. Roadies as a show will never tolerate misbehaviour against fellow contestants. Fights are normal but when things go out of bounds, we have always taken a stand and will continue to do so. We would not like to comment on what Jibran claims as that is his perspective. People have followed the show and they can judge best.”
Producer Lalit Sharma, Colosceum said, “I am not aware of the incident so would refrain from speaking. All reality shows are condemned to be rigged every year, so there’s no point justifying it.” Rannvijay Singha, who is in London with his family at the moment, asked us to connect with him once he is back. Roadies Rising that wrapped up this Saturday, had Rannvijay Singha, Neha Dhupia, Prince Narula and Nikhil Chinapa (replacing Karan Kundra) as gang leaders. Neha’s gang member Shweta Mehta won the title this season.
