Abhinav Shukla, Eijaz Khan, Jasmin Bhasin and Rubina Dilaik have literally one missing from the Bigg Boss house! No, they have not been evicted from the ongoing season 14 of the show, but they surely have been overshadowed by contestants of the previous years who have entered the house as challengers.
The week started with the entry of mastermind Vikas Gupta, and he immediately got down to manipulating the game his way. Throughout the week, he was seen nudging Abhinav and Rubina to get into a fight in front of all, trying to finish off a week's ration in three days and waking up housemates late at night -- all to complete challenges to win Joker cards.
Although the housemates have their doubts and are wary of his skills, they are seen agreeing to him, and doing things his way.
Lately, Vikas has been the target of Arshi Khan, who is already grabbing eyeballs with her antics to stay in the limelight.
The moment she entered the house, Arshi began flirting with actress Rubina Dilaik's husband Abhinav Shukla and cooing seductively in his ears. Arshi has also been seen running after Rahul Mahajan, who was clearly uncomfortable. She has also been misbehaving and yelling at Vikar frequently.
Rahul Mahajan adds the fun element, and is often seen making people laugh, but Manu Punjabi has already started manipulating the game in order to put himself in a position of advantage.
The point is, these challengers have wholly robbed the limelight. Good or bad, these antics have helped the challengers outshine the previous housemates, who have been reduced to mere spectators in the house.
Earlier, Abhinav was seen in the kitchen or in the garden area. But, even such scenes don't make the cut in an average over-60 minute episode.
His wife Rubina, who was often seen roaring while fighting with Kavita Kaushik and Rahul Vaidya, is also not doing much these to appear exciting either.
When it comes to Jasmin Bhasin, she was visible because of her fights with Rubina and Eijaz, but that seems to have fizzled out.
Eijaz seems to be the only one among the current season's housemates who is trying to stay afloat with the changing tides. But since he has made a group with the new housemates, he is only seen with them and never alone. His game seems to be dependent on them rather than his own plans.
Earlier in the season, season 13 winner Sidharth Shukla, who was in the house in the initial weeks as a senior, was seen outshining the housemates with scheming deals.
Sidharth along with Gauahar Khan and Hina Khan had entered the house as "Toofani Seniors", and created quite a stir.
Sidharth influenced everyone and was guiding the show towards specific directions, to keep the masala quotient intact. Soon, Gauahar and Hina got into the groove and fluttered many wings with their decisions, opinions and game play. In the initial weeks, the seniors were in the news much more than the contestants.
With Rakhi Sawant coming in and with Aly Goni and Nikki Tamboli on their way back, it will be interesting to see how the original housemates of season 14 survive.