Bigg Boss (Telugu TV series) season 9

Bigg Boss 9, also known as Bigg Boss 9: Ranarangam, is a reality show and the ninth season of the Indian Telugu-language reality television series Bigg Boss, produced by Banijay.^[1] Nagarjuna hosts the show for the seventh time in a row.^[2] The season premiered on 7 September 2025 on Star Maa and JioHotstar.^[3]

The teaser featuring the show's Host Akkineni Nagarjuna was released on 29 June 2025 in which the showmakers revealed that commoners can send in applications for the first time to be a participant in the show.^[4]

The concept for the season is "Ranarangam" with two houses, one house for celebrities and other house for commoners.^[5]

The show is streamed 24/7 on JioHotstar and an hour-long episode every day on Star Maa. The episodes will be shown on a 24-hour live stream, from Monday to Friday.

The participants in the order of appearance and entered to the house are:^[26]

• Thanuja Puttaswamy – Actress. She is known for her appearances in television dramas Muddha Mandaram and Agnipariksha. She is one of the finalists in the cooking reality show Cooku with Jathiratnalu.^[27]
• Flora Saini – Actress. She is commonly known as Asha Saini and has worked in various Telugu and other films. Saini is popular for playing the role Asha in Nuvvu Naaku Nachav.^[28]
• Emmanuel – Actor and comedian. He is best known for his appearance in the comedy show Jabardasth.^[29]
• Shrasti Verma – Choreographer. She has choreographed various songs in blockbuster films such Jailer, Vikrant Rona, Game Changer, Rangasthalam, Pushpa, and Maaveeran.^[30]
• Rithu Chowdary – Actress and television presenter. She has appeared in television dramas Inti Guttu and Mounaraagam.^[31]
• Bharani Shankar – Actor. He is best known for the television drama Mahalakshmi. He has also appeared in films like Baahubali, Dheera, Crazy Uncles and Aaviri.^[32]
• Sanjjanaa Galrani – Actress. She is best known for her supporting role in the film Bujjigadu. She was a contestant on Bigg Boss Kannada 1, evicted on Day 14.^[33]
• Ramu Rathod – Singer and songwriter. He is known for folk songs "Bombai Ki Ranu" and "Sommasilli Pothunnave".^[34]
• Suman Setty – Actor and comedian. He is known for his comedic roles. His notable works include Jayam, 7/G Brindavan Colony, Avunanna Kaadanna and Ullasamga Utsahamga.^[35]

All the commoners were selected through Bigg Boss Agnipariksha, a digital pre-show.^[36]

• Kalyan Padala – An army soldier.^[37]
• Harita Harish – Entrepreneur. He is known as "Mask Man" as he wore a black face mask.^[37]
• Demon Pavan – Software employee/ Social media personality.^[37]
• Srija Dammu – Social media personality.^[37]
• Priya Shetty – Doctor and social media personality.^[37]
• Maryada Manish – Entrepreneur.^[37]

• Divya Nikitha Velamuri – Social media personality. Entered the house on day 18 as a wild-card entrant.^[38]

Six housemates entered the house as Firestorm wildcard housemates.^[39][40]

• Ramya Moksha – Social media personality. Famous for her pickles business and online persona under Alekhya Chitti Pickles.
• Sreenivasa Sayee – Actor. He is best known for the supporting role in the film Golconda High School.
• Madhuri Divvala – Social media personality.
• Nikhil Nair – Actor. He is known for the television drama Intinti Gruhalakshmi.^[39][40]
• Aysha Zeenath – Actress. She is best known for the television drama Savitramma Gari Abbayi. She was a contestant on Bigg Boss Tamil 6, evicted on Day 63.
• Gaurav Gupta – Actor. He is known for the television drama Geetha L.L.B.

This season featured two houses: the In-House, designated for the Owners, and the Out-House, designated for the Tenants. Each house came with its own set of privileges and limitations, creating distinct dynamics between the two groups.^[41]

Key:

  indicates Owner (Week 1-4)

  indicates Tenant (Week 1-4)

  indicates Captain

  indicates Danger Zone (Week 5)

  indicates Safe Zone (Week 5)

Notes

  indicates that the Housemate was directly nominated for eviction.

  indicates that the Housemate was immune prior to nominations.

  indicates the contestant has been evicted.

  indicates the contestant walked out due to emergency.

  indicates the contestant has been ejected.

  indicates the house captain.

• ^1 : On Day 1, House owners had to mutually nominate one tenant.
• ^2 : In Week 1, two Tenants competed in a race to grab a hammer. The first housemate to grab it had to nominate one Tenant and then select an Owner to decide whether to accept or deny the nomination. The Tenant who lost the race was automatically nominated. At the end of the nominations, the Owners not chosen were in danger and Bharani as only tenant not nominated had the power to nominate one owner in danger for eviction.
• ^3 : In Week 2, Captain Sanjjana had the power to directly nominate one housemate for eviction. She chose Suman.
• ^4 : Due to an unfair decision by task umpire Rithu, Pavan's captaincy was revoked. A rematch task was held, in which Pavan once again emerged victorious.
• ^5 : In Week 3, the House tenants had to mutually nominate five housemates, ensuring that at least one nominee was a tenant. Then, the House owners had to mutually save two housemates from the nomination board and nominate four housemates.
• ^6 : Captain Pavan had the power to save one nominated housemate from eviction. He chose Srija.
• ^7 : On Day 17, Flora won the Immunity task and secured her safety from that week's eviction.
• ^8 : On Day 18, four contestants from Bigg Boss Agnipariksha - Anusha, Divya, Naga and Shakib entered the Bigg Boss House as Potential Housemates. The housemates had to secretly vote for two contestants to enter. However, in a twist by Bigg Boss, despite receiving the least votes, Divya was granted entry as a housemate.
• ^9 : On Day 19, Bigg Boss introduced Red Seed twist, tasking the housemates with voting to evict one housemate holding it. Sanjjana was selected for eviction by the safe housemates but was instead moved to the Secret Room.
• ^10 : On Day 20, housemates were asked to make personal sacrifices to bring Sanjjana back. Four of the six accepted, leading to Sanjjana's return to the main house.
• ^11 : As Emmanuel sacrificed his Captaincy for Sanjjana's return. On Day 21, a Captaincy Task was held among five new contenders, where Pavan emerged victorious and became the new Captain.
• ^12 : On Day 22, housemates competed to win the Immunity badge. Suman and Thanuja won and secured their safety from that week's eviction.
• ^13 : In Week 4, the nomination process was conducted through a task, where housemates competed in four teams for the opportunity to nominate.
  •   Team Red - Kalyan (C), Emmanuel and Harish
  •   Team Yellow - Suman (C), Flora and Ramu
  •   Team Blue - Thanuja (C), Divya and Rithu
  •   Team Green - Bharani (C), Sanjjana and Srija
• ^14 : On Day 27, Host Nagarjuna introduced Black Star twist, tasking the housemates with voting for one housemates who has least impact in the house. Flora received the most votes and was directly nominated for next two weeks.
• ^15 : In Week 5, Bigg Boss nominated all housemates, except for Captain Ramu. Nominated housemates were given opportunity to win Immunity. Emmanuel won the Immunity task and secured his safety from that week's eviction.
• ^16 : Nominated housemates were given opportunity to win safety in series of tasks. On Day 32, Bharani, Divya and Kalyan won the task and were saved from that week's eviction. On Day 33, Thanuja won the task and was also saved.
• ^17 : On Day 35, Nominated housemates were given one more opportunity to win safety in series of tasks. Pavan, Rithu and Sanjjana won the tasks and were saved from that week's eviction. Srija and Suman remained in Danger Zone.
• ^18 : On Day 35, FireStorm Wild-card housemates had to evict one housemate in Danger Zone.
• ^19 : In Week 6, the wild-card contestants competed in a race to grab a ball. The first housemate to grab it had to give it to a housemate of their choice, granting them the power to nominate two housemates. The wild-card contestant then had to save one of the two nominated housemates.
• ^20 : On Day 39, Bigg Boss announced that there would be two House Captains for Week 7. Gaurav and Suman won the captaincy task.
• ^21 : Nikhil had the Firestorm Power to challenge one of the House Captains — if he won, he would take their place as House Captain. He challenged Gaurav but lost.
• ^22 : In Week 7, Suman and Gaurav had to choose between two pills. Gaurav chose the Blue Pill, which gave him the power to save one housemate, but also made him eligible to be nominated by others. Suman chose the Red Pill, granting him immunity from nominations for the week.
• ^23 : As, Aysha, who had the Power of Nominations, and Emmanuel, who had the Power Astra, competed in a task to earn nomination cards. Aysha received two cards to nominate one housemate each and one card for a direct nomination. Emmanuel received two cards to nominate two housemates each and three cards to nominate one housemate each. Both had the distribute these cards to housemates of their choice.
• ^24 : Madhuri was directly nominated as punishment during weekend Task.
• ^25 : Sayee used the Firestorm Power to keep himself immune from this week's nominations.
• ^26 : In Week 8 nominations, evicted housemates returned to nominate one housemate and select one housemate to get the chance to nominate.
• ^27 : On Day 50, Bharani and Srija re-entered the house as temporary housemates, but only one of them would become an official housemate. After series of tasks, on day 54, Bharani became an official housemate and Srija was evicted.
• ^28 : In this week's nominations, housemates raced to grab a teddy tagged with another housemate's picture and reach the safe zone.
  • In Round 1 & 2: The last housemate, along with the housemate whose teddy remained, had to put points against each other to nominate. Bigg Boss then chose a decider housemate to nominate one of the two.
  • In Round 3–6: The last housemate, along with the housemate whose teddy remained, each had to nominate any one housemate. Then the decider housemate chose to nominate one of the two nominated housemates. (The nominations in Bold are the deciders nominations)
• ^29 : In Week 9, after nominations process Captain Divya had the power to directly nominate one housemate for eviction. She chose Thanuja.
• ^30 : On Day 62, Ramu decided to voluntary exit.
• ^31 : In Week 10, despite housemates being asked to nominate one housemate each, Bigg Boss directly nominated everyone. Housemates then had to decide if Captain Emmanuel should stay safe or also be nominated.
• ^32 : On Day 67, Thanuja won the Captaincy task and was saved from that week's eviction.
• ^33 : In Week 11, Captain Thanuja had to assign the number of nominations each housemate would receive, giving 2 nominations to four housemates and 1 nomination to the remaining four. She also had the power to save one nominated housemate. She chose Rithu.
• ^34 : On Day 77, Emmanuel used the Power Astra to cancel this week's eviction. Therefore, Divya was saved from eviction.
• ^35 : In Week 13, Captain Kalyan had the power to directly nominate one housemate for eviction. He chose Bharani.
• ^36 : Kalyan won the 1st Finalist Task and become the 1st Finalist of the season and was immune from Eviction.
• ^37 : In Week 14, Bigg Boss nominated all housemates, except for 1st Finalist Kalyan. Nominated housemates were given opportunity to take part in series of tasks to win Immunity. _ won the Immunity task and secured his/her safety from that week's eviction.
• ^38 : Since Bharani was the only housemate who had never been a Captain, Bigg Boss selected him as the last Captain; however, he did not receive immunity

Bigg Boss Agnipariksha is a digital pre-show of Bigg Boss 9. It will feature 40 selected commoners compete to earn their spot in the Bigg Boss Telugu 9 house. This show is scheduled to premiere on 22 August 2025.^[60] This pre-show featured fifteen shortlisted commoners compete in tasks, judged by former contestants Abijeet, Bindu Madhavi, and Navdeep,^[61] with host Sreemukhi.^[62] Winners will earn a place alongside celebrities in the main Bigg Boss house.

During the grand launch, Kalyan, Priya, and Pavan entered the house as public vote selections, while Harish, Manish, and Srija were chosen by the jury. Later on day 18, Divya entered into the house as wildcard receiving least votes from the housemates out of Nagaprashanth,Shakib and Anusha.

Bigg Boss 9 Buzzz is an Indian Telugu-language television talk show in which the Sivaji, a contestant of Bigg Boss 7, interviews the eliminated contestants.^[63] The show premiered on 14 September 2025 on Star Maa Music and unaired portions of episodes are streamed on JioHotstar and aired on Star Maa.^[64]