Bigg Boss 11: Hina Khan, Vikas Gupta complain but Puneesh Sharma defends Shilpa Shinde

Mumbai: The Top 5 contestants (in no particular order) of Bigg Boss 11 – Hina Khan, Shilpa Shinde, Vikas Gupta, Akash Dadlani and Puneesh Sharma interacted with reporters recently and answered a few tough questions.

While Hina and Vikas expressed dissatisfaction over the way they were portrayed and Shilpa was presented, Puneesh expressed solidarity with the former Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai actress.

Shilpa, who has emerged as one of the strongest contenders to win the season, broke down during the press meet.

Hina, among other contestants, kept complaining about Shilpa's non-cooperative attitude towards tasks.

“I have an objection on Shilpa because she is always spending time in the kitchen. When we came here, Salman Sir told us that participating in the task is one of the most important things. But she never participates in anything, especially in the team games. If cooking is the only skill one required to win people's heart, even I could have learnt it before coming to the show,” Hina quipped.

Vikas added: “Hina cleans the pot of the bathroom, someone is cleaning the pool, and someone is cleaning the floor. We all are taking part in household work as well as in tasks. But it is funny that in an episode of 45 minutes, audiences only get to see that Shilpa is cooking as if we are not doing anything.”

Dismissing the point, Puneesh said: “You know what, Shilpa is representing the condition of the housewives in our country. Like the way we always discredit our housewives saying 'They only stay in the kitchen and cook food, they do nothing otherwise'.

"The fact is, how will you get the energy to do all the tasks if you are not eating good food? Shilpa is silently cooking for us, feeding us to stay energetic so that we can fight."

Hearing his argument, all the scribes clapped in favour of Shilpa, who became emotional.

In her defence, Shilpa said she has always participated in all tasks and simultaneously pursues kitchen work. She feels that is why her fans have supported her survival in the show so far.

Shilpa said: "I know others are saying that I do nothing but only kitchen work, but I want to say that I have no regrets working much harder than others because I think I am the only participant who not only participates in tasks but also continue to carry out the responsibility of cooking for people.

“My fans are supporting me because they can see the hard work. I never take my fans for granted.”

The actress is glad the audience is getting to know her real self.

“I have been working in the entertainment industry for the last 15 years. So far, my fans and audience have seen my screen image of the character that I have played in fictional shows. If they loved me on 'Bhabhi Ji Ghar Par Hai!' they loved me for the character. Here in the show, they are getting to know me as my real self Shilpa Shinde. My purpose of coming in the show was tha.”

Hosted by Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, Bigg Boss went on air October 1 last year. The theme of this season was Padosi (neighbour). Like season 10, the eleventh edition had both celebrities and commoners as contestants. Last year, commoner Manveer Gurjar beat celebrities by a huge margin and went on to win the show. And now it would be interesting to see who bags the winner’s trophy and the cash prize.

(With IANS inputs)