Fed up, celebs demand more money to stay on in ‘Iss Jungle Se…’

NEW DELHI - Celebrity contestants on television reality show Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao have walked out of the show after being made to perform dangerous tasks in Malaysia’s dense jungles. They are now demanding more money to stay put in the adventure show.

The sudden turn of events happened after TV actor Aakashh Deep Saigal was asked to perform a dreaded task that had him cover his head with a jar filled with all kinds of insects, bugs and worms. Though Aakashh performed the task fearlessly for nine minutes, he realised later that his neck and face had swollen up.

Looking at his condition, other contestants on the Sony TV’s show lost their cool and decided to walk out.

“We are all actors and if I had gone for this task and got scratches, what would have happened? My entire career would have been at stake, Shweta, who became popular as Prerna after working in hit show Kasautii Zindagii Kay, said on the show.

“This is not fear or adventure, but this has been done to add the wow factor in the show, said actor Chetan Hansraj.

According to the show’s format, contestants have to nominate one candidate for a task everyday whereby the chosen one has to win some stars through the task, which most often involves creepy crawlies. To add to their agony, the number of stars collected by the nominee determine the quantity of food the contestants would get for dinner - so it becomes necessary to perform the task well.

But when it began to take a toll on the celebrities, they walked out, as shown on Tuesday’s episode.

Now, no amount of coaxing and cajoling from producer Nivedith Alva has helped to bring them all back. If a source from the channel is to be believed, some celebrities have even demanded more money to stay on the show.

As of now, talks for reconciliation are on between the celebrities and producers.

The show is being shot in Taman Negara tropical rain forest, Malaysia’s oldest and largest jungle. Other celebrities who feature on the show are actor Aman Verma, pop singer Anaida, model coordinator and choreographer Marc Robinson, actress Mona Vasu, and ex-MTV Roadie Palak who made a voluntary exit and Fiza, who hit the headlines by eloping with former deputy chief minister of Haryana Chand Mohammed.

Both Fiza and Chand Mohammed, formerly known as Anuradha Bali and Chadra Mohan, respectively, embraced Islam to get married.