The controversial reality show, Bigg Boss, will be back with the third season of the OTT version, but Bollywood superstar Salman Khan will not return as the host of the show. Hindustan Times has heard that the actor has bowed out of the upcoming season owing to his commitment to a film.

Make way for new host

According to a source, Salman is not hosting the third season of Bigg Boss OTT. Instead, actor Anil Kapoor will be stepping into the shoes of the host of the third season.

“At the moment, Salman is focused on the prep work of his upcoming film, Sikandar, directed by AR Murugadoss. That is one the reasons he didn’t take on the hosting duties for the third season of Bigg Boss OTT,” says the source.

The insider adds, “Salman is expected to start shooting for Sikandar in June, and that has made him let go of Bigg Boss OTT. Along with film commitment, Salman also felt that it would also look repetitive to the audience, as he is also known to host the reality show on TV”.

Another source confirms the development, and adds that “Anil Kapoor will be hosting the show this time, and bringing his own quirks and trademark wit” to the set.

Hints dropped

In fact, the makers dropped a hint about the change through a promo. On Wednesday, Jio Cinema released a minute-long announcement promo on their official Instagram account, where they unveiled that Bigg Boss OTT will arrive next month in June. The promo ends with a voiceover saying, “Yeh season hoga khaas ekdum jhakaas”, with the term ‘jhakaas’ which is popularly associated with Anil.

“Anil is excited to take on the hosting studies, and add his own touch to the show. The change of host also comes in sync with the trend of having a new host for every season,” adds the source.

What we need to know about Bigg Boss OTT

Bigg Boss OTT is a spin-off of the popular Indian reality TV show Bigg Boss. The first season was streamed on Voot and it was hosted by filmmaker Karan Johar. Salman replaced Karan as the host of Bigg Boss OTT 2.

The first season premiered in 2021, with Divya Agarwal emerging as the winner.

The show was back with a second season in 2023. Influencer Elvish Yadav was the winner, with Abhishek Malhan as the runner-up. At the moment, the exact premiere date of Bigg Boss OTT 3 is not yet out.

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