He may have not anticipated an entry in Bigg Boss 15, but Raqesh Bapat, the third runner-up of Bigg Boss OTT, believes in the “eventuality of life.” “I’ve never planned my life as such. I’ve taken it hands-on as situations happen for me. So, there was no planning that I wanted to participate,” Bapat says in an exclusive interview with Times Now Digital. Till last week, reports suggested that former BB OTT contestants Raqesh Bapat and Neha Bhasin were going to enter the BB 15 house as wild card entrants, but it only rose speculations.

Returning to the house has flooded an avalanche of emotions for the actor. Though there is a hint of apprehension, Bapat is quite confident and relaxed as he gets to see his ladylove Shamita Shetty. The two, for whom sparks flew just a few months back, will again light up the screens of the audience with their renewed relationship in the Bigg Boss house; and with Bapat’s new strategy, there’s seem to be some treat for their fans.

“Seeing Shamita alone and missing me, as I missed her too, I wanted to go back in, and give her a surprise as well. So, I’m excited about that,” he says.

Adding how BB feels like a familiar territory and a home away from home, Bapat says, “It’s like going back to the pavilion. It’s not strange anymore. I’m not scared anymore. Previously, I was very apprehensive about participating in OTT. But now I think I’ve got the hang of it. Yes, there are new faces and there are more participants as well; so, I’m pretty cool about it. I’m excited to go.”

And when it comes to Shamita, Bapat says she is being “real”. “She’s a very caring person. She wants to connect with people,” asserting that if something is not right around her it will “disturb her.” “She says it the way it is. In that house, you need to voice your opinion – strong,” he says.

Bapat also responds to netizens who routinely end up calling Shamita “arrogant”. “Who is not arrogant in the house? Everybody is at one point in time. When you voice your opinion, your choices, then you can come across as arrogant, because you cannot be a kind-hearted person in that house. If you have a viewpoint that you have to give away then you have to put it across. There’s nothing wrong with it. She’s doing a good job,” he says.

Now that he is the second wild card contestant after Rajiv Adatia, will he and Shamita officially announce their relationship? He laughs and says, “Everybody asks me that. But we both are very private people; we would never do that, not on a game show for sure. It depends on how things progress ahead.”