Bigg Boss Ultimate was the first season of the Tamil Indian reality Streaming television of Bigg Boss Ultimate, the spin-off to Bigg Boss Tamil and the first series to be released exclusively on Star India streaming service Disney+ Hotstar. The season launched on 30 January 2022 with Kamal Haasan as a host, but he has exited the show from week 3 onwards, due to scheduling conflicts with his upcoming film Vikram. Later, Silambarasan continued as a host from week 4 onwards.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}

This article may overuse or misuse colour, making it hard to understand for colour-blind users. (September 2023)

Quick Facts Bigg Boss Ultimate, Presented by ...

Bigg Boss Ultimate
Season 1
Bigg Boss Ultimate Season 1 logo
Presented by	Kamal Haasan Silambarasan
No. of days	70
No. of housemates	16
Winner	Balaji Murugadoss
Runner-up	Niroop Nandakumar
No. of episodes	71
Release
Original network	Disney+ Hotstar
Original release	30 January (2022-01-30) – 10 April 2022 (2022-04-10)

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The Grand Finale of the show took place on 10 April 2022 and Balaji Murugadoss emerged as the winner, while Niroop Nandakumar became the runner-up.^[8]

Thamarai Selvi and Maria Juliana became the first 2 commoner contestants to make it to the grand finale and becoming finalists in the whole Bigg Boss Tamil franchise.

This version of Bigg Boss was somewhat successful for the Bigg Boss Tamil franchise and topped trp charts with a high of 6.12 trp on the grand finale night which is impressive for an OTT platform. However it still remains a underrated season in the franchise.^[9]

This version of Bigg Boss only lasted for 70 days (10 weeks) making it the shortest season of the Bigg Boss Tamil franchise.

Teaser
During the finale of Bigg Boss Tamil 5, Kamal Haasan and Sivakarthikeyan unveiled the eye logo for the brand new Digital edition of Bigg Boss Tamil titled as Bigg Boss Ultimate.^[10][11] The teaser of the show released on 17 January 2022, on Disney+ Hotstar.^[12]

Broadcast
Apart from the usual hour-long episode, viewers will also have access to the direct 24x7 camera footage. The show will be telecasted 7 days a week (Monday to Sunday). The episodes will be first telecasted through 24 Hours Live Channel on the paid subscription of Disney+ Hotstar. This version of Bigg Boss Tamil will not be aired on Star Vijay like the main series seasons.^[13][14] Disney+ Hotstar will be streaming a deferred 24/7 live stream with a 24-hour delay.

House
The house for the season is the same design that was used for the fifth season with only minor changes to furniture. Only an additional luxurious private room was added for the Trending Player.

Change of host
Since actor Kamal Haasan was busy with his film's shooting Vikram he stepped down as host at the end of the third week of the show. Actor Simbu was replaced as the host from Week 4 onwards.^[15]

Extension of the show
The makers of the ultimate version decided to extend the show for extra two weeks originally the show only contained 8 weeks, however, later being extended to 10 weeks.

Former contestants
Contestants from the previous seasons of the main Bigg Boss Tamil series would participate as contestants yet again in the first season of the Bigg Boss Ultimate digital version.^[16][17][18] Contestants from the 1st till the 5th season are allowed to participate except the winners in all the season won't be able to participate in this version. However, some new contestants who never participated in the series at all can only join the show as wildcard contestants.

Features
Viewers of the show will get the chance to see live nominations, luxury budget tasks, punishments, and evictions every week.

This version of Bigg Boss contained six finalists. However, every day leading up to the Grand Finale which is known as the Pre finale, each finalist will be sent out of the finale race based on their live voting position. Only the top four finalists who have the highest votes will last till the Grand Finale on the 70th day. While the remaining two finalist out of the six will be sent out only few days before the grand finale which is known as the pre finale days.

These following housemates have received a improvement in their status and overall positions in this version of Bigg Boss compared to when they played in their previous seasons.

Following are the housemates taking part in Bigg Boss Ultimate Season 1, including the regular Bigg Boss Tamil season they had earlier taken part in and where they finished in that season, in order of entry to the Bigg Boss Ultimate house:

1. Vanitha Vijayakumar (Season 3): An actress known for playing the lead role in the film Chandralekha (1995). She won the inaugural season of Cooku with Comali. She is the daughter of actors Vijayakumar and Manjula Vijayakumar. She was evicted twice during the third season of Bigg Boss Tamil, first on Day 21, and then again on Day 84 after re-entering the house as a wildcard contestant on Day 50.
2. Niroop Nandakumar (Season 5): A model. He was the fourth runner-up of the fifth season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
3. Maria Juliana "Julie" (Season 1): An actress, model, and former nurse who shot to fame during the 2017 pro-jallikattu protests and is known for her role in the film Naan Sirithal (2020). She was evicted on Day 42 during the first season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
4. Abhirami Venkatachalam (Season 3): A model, actress and Bharatanatyam dancer known for her role in the film Nerkonda Paarvai (2019) starring Ajith Kumar. She was evicted on Day 56 during the third season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
5. Thamarai Selvi (Season 5): A stage drama artiste. She was evicted on Day 98 during the fifth season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
6. Thaadi Bhalaji (Season 2): An actor who has worked as a comedian in many Tamil films. He has also appeared as a judge in various Tamil comedy shows. He was evicted on Day 98 during the second season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
7. Balaji Murugadoss "Bala" (Season 4): A fitness model and entrepreneur who won the beauty pageant Mister India International 2019. He was the first runner-up of the fourth season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
8. Anitha Sampath (Season 4): An actress, television anchor, and actress who is known for her work in Sun TV's News She has appeared in films such as Kaappaan (2019) and Master (2021). She won the dance reality show Bigg Boss Jodigal with Shariq Hassan Khan as her partner. She was evicted on Day 84 during the fourth season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
9. Suja Varunee (Season 1): An actress and dancer who has appeared in supporting roles in the films Milaga (2010), Pencil (2016) and Aan Devathai (2018). She appeared in the first season of Bigg Boss Tamil as a wildcard contestant, entered the house on Day 52, and was evicted on Day 91.
10. Suresh Chakravarthi (Season 4): An actor, former television host and producer and entrepreneur, known for Sun TV programs such as Chinna Papa Periya Papa and Pepsi Ungal Choice, for which he was the director. He was evicted on Day 35 during the fourth season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
11. Shariq Hassan Khan (Season 2): An actor, model, and dancer known for playing the antagonist in the film Pencil (2016). He won the dance reality show Bigg Boss Jodigal with Anitha Sampath as his partner. He is the son of actors Riyaz Khan and Uma Riyaz Khan and the grandson of actress Kamala Kamesh. He was evicted on Day 49 during the second season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
12. Abhinay Vaddi (Season 5): An actor known for playing the lead role in the film Ramanujan (2014) as well as his role in the film Chennai 600028 II (2016). He is the grandson of the legendary Tamil film stars Gemini Ganesan and Savitri. He was evicted on Day 77 during the fifth season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
13. Suruthi Periyasamy (Season 5): A runway model and actress. She was evicted on Day 35 during the fifth season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
14. Snehan (Season 1): A lyricist, poet, actor, motivational speaker, and politician who has written lyrics for many Tamil film songs. He was the first runner-up of the first season of Bigg Boss Tamil.

Each week contestants who break the rules of the house will be sent to the underground ultimate prison.

  Male

  Female

Each week the audience gets to vote for the housemate who will be exempt from that week's nomination process.

Each week the evicted contestant of the week has the option to give one of the competing housemates a cash reward using "Bigg Boss Ultimate money" and another housemate a bomb punishment which they will be punished for the whole week. However, both rewards and punishments can also be awarded to a single housemate.