Bigg Boss 16: Why are male contestants forced to strip to their bare essentials?

“Sir…I am not fully prepared yet. I have not worked out for [a> long [time>”, said Gautam Vig, a contestant in Bigg Boss 16 when he was asked to remove his clothes - yes, on national television - by a crew member pretending to be Hrithik Roshan on a phone call. “Itna bhi nahi hai, nikaal sakte ho’’, said the person on the phone - shamelessly. A clearly uncomfortable Gautam proceeded to take off his clothes in the living area as girls gathered around him - Priyanka Chahar Choudhary is seen cracking up. The entire scene is played for laughs or, perhaps, to tantalize the viewers and spice up the show - one doesn’t really know at this point. What becomes painfully evident is that the contestant in question - Gautam Vig - was very uncomfortable with stripping. Yet, he had to.

This was preceded by another contestant, Shalin Bhanot , who was fresh out of shower when he got a call asking him to jump in the pool. As he had just showered, Bhanot removed his clothes - stripping to bare essentials - before he took a dip in the pool. The female contestants around were seen covering their eyes. Soon, Twitter was flooded with reactions to Shalin’s striptease. It was clearly a set-up to make Bhanot strip and he took the bait and did exactly that. Thanks to his chiseled abs, Bhanot didn’t face much of an issue while stripping unlike Vig who seemed disturbed by what had happened.

One would argue - why such hoopla around men stripping on reality TV? It is a trope that is commonly seen in shows like MTV Roadies and Splitsvilla - the latter literally humiliates the male contestants and passes it off as entertainment. If a man is participating in Splitsvilla, he has to be okay with allowing women to touch and feel him up without consent, putting on make-up, cross-dressing and even getting spanked by women contestants (which, the male contestants are not okay with - going by some of the episodes available to watch on Voot) - the list of degrading things the boys have to do is endless. MTV kickstarted this problematic trend which has subsequently spilled over to Bigg Boss and other reality shows. What is most abhorrent is that the male contestants, despite looking (and perhaps, feeling) very uncomfortable, are not allowed to refuse and if they do, they are either mocked or silenced - even body shamed.

Take Bigg Boss 16 for instance. During the Hostel task last week, Bigg Boss held a body-building competition in the boys hostel where the boys were expected to strip and show off their bodies. Shalin Bhanot, Gautam Vig , Ankit Gupta - took off their shirts and flexed their muscles. However, Ankit was body shamed by the female contestants and of all people, Sajid Khan (who, for reasons best known to the showrunners, was not put on the spot where he had to strip like others). Shiv Thakare and MC Stan - two male contestants in the hostel were clearly uncomfortable with taking off their clothes. When Shiv - who was wearing a vest - flexed his muscles, a brazen Soundarya Sharma yelled ‘boooring’. Not only did the showrunners force the male contestants to strip and violate their consent, the female contestants added insult to injury by body shaming them. One can imagine this would have led to some outrage.

It didn’t.

It was business as usual. None of the male contestants spoke up and were expected to suck it up - which they did. Men being forced to strip on reality TV has become so common that no one bats an eyelid when it happens. If genders were reversed, would we still be okay with this? Do male contestants or men in general - have no right to privacy or modesty? Don’t they deserve support when they are body shamed? Earlier this year, Ranveer Singh ’s nude photoshoot for Paper magazine caused furor on the Internet. People regardless of their views on gender and politics, stood in support of Ranveer - because, well, it is his right to wear what he pleases - or in this case, not wear anything. However, if a man doesn’t wish to strip, should he be forced to? That too on national television? Let’s not forget that men, too, are a significant chunk of the population struggling with eating disorders and body-image issues.

As viewers of reality TV, we must hold the shows accountable for violating any contestant’s consent and privacy - regardless of their gender. Besides, forced striptease acts and coerced nudity can only take the show so far. The TRPs will shoot through the roof only when the contestants are organic and authentic. They must not be forced to partake in activities - striptease in case of Bigg Boss and straight-up BDSM and abuse in case of Splitsvilla, that they are clearly not comfortable with.

To the showrunners - be better.

Deepansh Duggal is an entertainment, pop-culture and trends writer based in New Delhi. He specializes in op-eds based on the socio-political and gender issues in the world of entertainment and showbiz. He also writes explainers and occasionally reviews shows in the OTT space. He tweets at @Deepansh75. 

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