“It was disappointing to see myself being out,” said Umar Riaz while talking about his eviction from Bigg Boss 15. The surgeon, who is also Bigg Boss 13’s runner-up Asim Riaz’s brother, was ousted from the reality show last weekend for flouting house rules and indulging in a physical fight. However, his consolation is the love that he has been receiving from fans from all quarters.
“I was so sad when I was told to leave, especially after being tagged as a violent, aggressive doctor. However, it was so overwhelming to see people shower me with so much love. That helped me to come out of the zone and gather myself up. It was truly a happy feeling,” Umar Riaz said in an exclusive chat with indianexpress.com.
As fans have rightly pointed out, other contestants have earlier also gone physical but were let off by makers. Umar too agrees that since the very beginning, contestants have turned physical because of the nature of the tasks. Starting from the ‘map’ there has been pushing and pulling but none received the harsh punishment like him. “Karan Kundrra had also pushed Pratik Sehajpal during the start of the season, and later even Nishant Bhat but people defended it saying it was a task. Simba Nagpal had pushed me into the pool but no action was taken against him. Even Shamita Shetty had pushed Rakhi Sawant, while Tejasswi Prakash pushed Afsana Khan, yet there was no noise about it. Honestly, while they kept saying I was aggressive no one ever warned me that I could be out. I think the tasks planned this season led to a lot of physical fights. Others have made the same mistakes but given I am not a TV face I had to bear the brunt.”
His followers have also been upset given his profession was time and again made fun of. Upset about the same, the surgeon-turned-actor said that when he was to enter the house, he was briefed that everyone was on the same platform. “They told me to be myself however when I did that I was attacked time and again in reference to my profession. Never has anyone spoken about them being actors? I have been working throughout the pandemic as a frontline worker but everything was demeaned on the show. It was so upsetting that I sometimes even questioned whether I did the right thing by being on the show,” he shared.
Umar also spoke about Salman Khan also bashing him. And while fans feel the superstar was overly harsh towards him, the former contestant has no complaints. Sharing that he was intimidated every time he was on screen, Umar added, “I don’t want to comment much about him but he is a star, and I look up to him. I would be actually scared if I knew I had gone wrong during the week. I will not judge him for what he said as I only have love and respect for him.”
While he doesn’t agree that he would have definitely won if he stayed, Umar Riaz is confident that he would have definitely reached the top five. “When you are inside the house, you don’t know what’s happening. I was bashed every week and that did leave me slightly underconfident. However, I know I have had a good journey and there were chances that I would be sitting on the couch in the finale as one of the top contestants. The rest was up to God and the audience.”
Ask him about what brother Asim Riaz had to say about his eviction and the elder brother said, “He was definitely upset but when we met and discussed, he said you have done your job as fans love you. He asked me to just keep focusing on my work. Asim also said that he was proud of me.” Umar has now planned to utilise the popularity and build a career for himself in the entertainment industry.
Lastly, we quizzed him on his relationship status with Rashami Desai. While the two have been friends for a long time, on Bigg Boss 15, they often spoke about the fondness between them and the scope for a romantic alliance. “We have been friends, and even in the house, we were just good friends. There is definitely a liking towards each other but it’s too soon to even tag it as a relationship. We haven’t moved towards that stage and would prefer to call it still friendship,” Umar Riaz concluded.