Karan Kundrra explains his controversial post-Bigg Boss tweet: ‘It was quite disappointing…’

Karan Kundrra has said that one of the worst moments inside the Bigg Boss 15 house for him was when he was labeled as a toxic boyfriend. In a new interview with Hindustan Times, Karan opened up about his journey on the show, his equation with Tejasswi Prakash, and his own disappointment at not winning the reality show. On Sunday’s grand finale, Salman Khan declared Tejasswi as the Bigg Boss 15 winner.

Asked about his worst moments, Karan said it had to be the time when he was called a toxic boyfriend. “A lot of worst moments (were there), bhar bhar ke (in bundles). But, I remember I was very affected when they called me something like a toxic boyfriend. (It is) just that I am not vocal, my expression is different. Only Teja would really know, she is actually the girlfriend. What it looked like from the outside, it is very different (in the house). That was my worst moment. But everybody inside the house stood with me from Tejasswi to Umar to Shamita and Nishant, everybody said, ‘this is not how it is. We spend time with you, we know this is not how it is’. Other than that, obviously, the eviction was quite destroying for my self-confidence and then Umar getting out of the show was also tough. He fought for me more than I did for myself.”

Asked if he had learned any lessons from the mistakes he made in the house, Karan said, “I think it was the fourth or fifth week when I let anger overcome me. Then, I was like ‘I am actually way smarter than this. I cannot let these things happen, I was being hard on people and I worked on that. Other than that, what can you really learn from taking stands on a freaking bhindi (okra)? I was like ‘ok this is what they want to fight about, just let them’. I did what I felt was right. I did not do anything, ever, for the show or to avoid elimination. I never did anything that I did not want to do. I was like, ‘Evict me if you want to but I cannot create issues around a vegetable. I am Karan Kundrra and I will not fight over a bhindi’.”

Soon after he was voted out, Karan tweeted that he was disappointed and needed some time to recover. Elaborating on his much-talked-about tweet, Karan said, “I think I just needed that night. It was quite disheartening and disappointing that I did not make it to the top two. I was disappointed because we put in 17 weeks of this mad, mad, hard work. Otherwise, before entering, I did not really care about winning the show or anything. I was in the space where I know I have a lot to do and worry about apart from this. When you are inside, you do not have anything else to drive you. It was a disappointment that lasted for a few hours.”

He added, “My life and career is not just one reality show. Once you get Bigg Boss out of your system, which happened in a few hours, everything was fine. Even in the house, I would have abuses hurled at me, I would get affected for some time, but the next morning, I would be up strategising. Maybe I would have dwelled on it longer when I was younger, but now I know you cannot change what happened. I prefer looking ahead. At the end of the day, Teju (Tejasswi) did lift the trophy so half my dream was fulfilled. Beyond that, I do not care, and I should not.”

Asked about former contestants claiming Pratik Sehajpal deserved to win the show instead of Tejasswi, Karan said, “Everybody has fans or followers who will support them and believe they win. I believe Tejasswi, me and Pratik were absolutely the strongest people in the house. Umar as well, but unfortunately he was out too soon. I do not blame the fans, it is an emotion. I had more than two lakh tweets when I came out of Bigg Boss. At the end of the day, the result is that (Tejasswi won) and I am not sitting here, asking for a recounting of votes. It is done and now, let us be happy for who won. It was a 17-week-long journey, you cannot focus on the last 15 minutes. I am sure everyone gained a lot from their Bigg Boss journeys, be it for one week or 17 weeks.”

In his interview with Hindustan Times ahead of Bigg Boss 15, Karan had said that even if he liked someone on the show, he will wait till the end to even express his feelings. He started laughing when reminded about it. “I am also human at the end of the day. We met on a show a year ago and nothing ever happened. We never met (till Bigg Boss 15). I think we would have never met again, had it not been for Bigg Boss.”

He then went on to explain how it all happened. “From day one on the show, there was something about her and I was like ‘what is this feeling?’ I used to notice her and I liked her. She was a strong contender on the show and everybody liked her. Then, it became fondness. I really fought against the feeling. I was like ‘this is not what I am here for, I am here for the show. Karan, this is the show where emotions are high and you are probably feeling that. I think for a month I kept fighting against the feeling. Even the makers did not come to know. Perhaps when I fell while watching her (from a distance) and walking, that is when they noticed. I did not talk about it and fought the feeling for long.”

“I started staying away from her. She started thinking that I have too much of an attitude as I was great with everybody else and would always stay away from her. One day she came up to me and asked ‘is this how you want to take it forward?’ I thought we were a little different but fine. But the feeling just kept getting stronger. Then came the part when both of us confessed our feelings for each other and were also doing our tasks. You know, it is a tough time inside the Bigg Boss house. Then you mentally vibe with someone, and you trust and you fall in love. At the time, we were like ‘yea fine. We will see how the relationship goes after the show is over’. (But) we would say one thing and our body language would convey something else. Then I reached the point where I told myself ‘I am not going to fight this and I also said on the show that I loved and did that openly, so did she. At that moment, things changed a little bit and the rest is history. (But let me assure you) I did not flip, it just happened.”

Also read: Karan warns fan with crush on him of his ‘possessive’ girlfriend Tejasswi. Watch

Asked if they’d want to give some time to each other before taking the next step or would simply jump into preparations for marriage, Karan said, “We just came out of an extremely tough environment. We had a beautiful journey inside but also had the fear of what may happen outside. That fear is also gone now. We are out for a few days, we have our phones and friends and work (to distract and take time) but the feeling has only grown stronger. I think we are going to enjoy this. We have to sit and talk about a lot of things and we have no time right now. She has already started to shoot for another show. But I know for a fact that things will only get better from here.”