'MTV Roadies' stars have made a career of reality TV. Is 'X4' winner Balraj Singh Khehra next?

It’s been 13 years since MTV Roadies became the phenomenon that it is.

In 2003, the first season of the show was launched, and Rannvijay Singha was crowned the winner. On Sunday, Balraj Singh Khehra was announced as the winner of MTV Roadies X4, which Rannvijay was a judge on. The previous season’s Roadies winner — Prince Narula — was also one of the judges.

After winning the 13th season (it is called X4; the producers directly skipped to it from season X2) Balraj — a 27-year-old MBA grad who was part of judge Karan Kundra’s ‘gang’ — indicated that he was interested in acting in Hindi and Punjabi films, and also the reality show Bigg Boss.

Indeed, a career in reality shows seems to have become the obvious career move for Roadies contestants.

Some among them made their career in continuing with Roadies alone. Rannvijay is a case in point. He hosted all the seasons of the reality show, after winning the first one (that was anchored by Cyrus Sahukar) until he was elevated to judge status in 2015. He was succeeded in the host’s role by another Roadies alum — VJ Bani. While Rannvijay was a judge this season, so was Prince Narula, the winner of MTV Roadies X2.

Rannvijay went on to host a whole lot of other reality shows — Splitsvilla, Stuntsmania, Teen Diva, among others. The season two winner in 2004 — Ayushmann Khurrana — had a similar career arc. After Roadies, Ayushmann became a super-successful television show host (most popularly on India’s Got Talent) before he set his sights on Bollywood, and wowed audiences in films like Vicky Donor and Dum Laga Ke Haisha.

Bigg Boss has been a pit-stop for several Roadies winners and runners-up, including Prince Narula, Ashutosh Kaushik (season five Roadies winner and season two BB winner) and Vishal Karwal (also a winner on Splitsvilla).

Some Roadies contestants have managed to make a mark in TV shows outside of reality ones as well. Vishal Karwal has been part of several TV shows, including Jamai Raja. Aanchal Khurana (the Roadies season eight winner) was been in a slew of shows, including Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke, while Shaleen Malhotra (who was a Roadies contender back in 2006 at the age of 18) went on to headline shows like Arjun.

Will Balraj’s career trajectory match those of other successful Roadies alum? Only time, and perhaps a stint on Big Boss, will tell.