The third season of the Telugu reality show Bigg Boss kick-started on July 21 on STAR MAA amidst controversy. The show began with much excitement with actor Nagarjuna being the official host. After two successful seasons anchored by actors Jr NTR and Nani respectively, Nagarjuna welcomed all the 15 contestants into the Bigg Boss house constructed at the Annapurna 7 acres studio, a property owned by Nagarjuna himself.
The 15 contestants in the house are familiar faces belonging to the film and television industries and social media. To the surprise of Bigg Boss fans, this season also has a celebrity couple amidst the other 13 contestants in the house. After much speculation on social media regarding the season's contestants, here are the final 15 participants who have made it to the third season of the show.
One of the most popular faces among the contestants this season includes Siva Jyothi, popularly known as ‘Teenmaar Savitri’, on her show Teenmaar on V6. Famous for her Telangana dialect, Siva plays the role of a news anchor along with the popular comedian Bithiri Sathi on Teenmaar.
Sreemukhi is another contestant whose name had been doing the rounds even before the season commenced. A television anchor and actor, she became popular with telly shows like Sa re ga ma pa and Pataas. She has also acted in a couple of Telugu movies. Sreemukhi already had an online fan club to support her even before Bigg Boss began.
Jaffar Babu is another face who is quite popular in the Telugu news circles. A journalist by profession, Babu is famous for his interview show Mukha Mukhi aired on TV9. He has been controversy's favourite child and is one of the most trolled journalists on social media.
Ashu Reddy is this season’s social media star on Bigg Boss. Famous for her lip-sync videos on the internet, she is also known as ‘Junior Samantha’, for her close physical resemblance with the actor.
Having made her film debut at the age of 17, another young contestant this season is Punarnavi Bhupalam. Known for her role in the 2013 film Uyyala Jampala, Punarnavi is also a journalism and psychology student.
Another contestant who doesn’t need much introduction this season is actor Hema. A very familiar face in Telugu households, Hema is popular for her character roles in Telugu films. Having acted in more than 250 films, the actor had also made a foray into Andhra politics a couple of years back.
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Known as ‘Small screen Mahesh Babu’, another telly star this season is Ali Reza. Famous for his television shows Pasupa Kumkuma and Maate Mantramu, he made his Bollywood debut through Mukhbir in 2008. The model-turned-actor also had appeared in a prominent role in Ramchanran’s Dhruva.
Himaja Reddy and Rohini Noni are two other contestants who entered the Bigg Boss house after their characters in the daily sop Koncham Ishtam Koncham Kashtam became a hit with the Telugu audience. While Himaja has acted in small roles in a few Tollywood movies, Rohini is also famous for her role in the show Inspector Kiran.
Himaja Reddy
Rohini Noni
Ravi Krishna is yet another popular TV serial actor who has made it to the Bigg Boss house this season after his stint in popular shows like Bavamaradallu, That is Mahalakshmi and Sundarakanda
Baba Bhaskar made it to the house after becoming a Telugu telly star. He is a choreographer-turned-filmmaker who is popular for his works in Tamil and Telugu and he became famous with his television dance reality show Dhee.
Known for his roles in Nene Raju Nene Mantri, Meda Meedha Abbayi, Padi Padi Leche Manasu, Krishnarajuna Yuddham, comedian Mahesh Vitta is a contestant who is popular both online and in the film industry. The actor rose to fame with his web comedy series Fun Bucket and is quite famous for his Rayalaseema dialect.
Another contestant is Rahul Sipligunj a singer-songwriter best known for his unique style of singing that is derived from Telangana folk music. While he started off his career on YouTube, one of his more recent songs include "Ranga Ranga Rangasthalana" from the Ram Charan-starrer Rangasthalam.
The makers of Bigg Boss Telugu seem to have sprung a surprise by selecting a married couple, actors Varun Sandesh and Vithika Sheru. Varun Sandhesh played the lead role in the popular film Happy Days in 2007, while Vithika has also acted in a few movies. As the couple was introduced, Vithika told Nagarjuna the story behind how she met Varun on the sets of a film and the duo decided to get married.
