Vikas Gupta emerged as one of the strongest contestants on Bigg Boss 11 right in the first week itself. He stood out as a person who will survive until the near end of the reality show. Well, with years of knowledge of how the industry works, it would have been a surprise if he didn’t.

Vikas is has been a successful producer for the longest time in the industry. He has worked closely with TV queen Ekta Kapoor and has himself produced some of the most popular youth-based shows. He sure must have learnt the tips and tricks of the industry over the time. And he sure has employed them on Bigg Boss 11. In fact, we believe that he has been calling the shots inside the house. No, seriously, the man is approaching the show in the way that would create the best content for reality TV.

Even many of his housemates are aware of the fact and seek Vikas as an advisor. Case in point, when Arshi Khan wanted to wear a towel and roam around in the house for shock value, she told Akash Dadlani she would consult Vikas about her stunt first.

When Priyank Sharma came back to the house, Vikas Gupta knew the best way to deal with the situation. He kept standing away,  staring at him from a distance – getting enough screen time in the process.

He has gone out of his way to make Benafsha Soonwalla understand that her tactics of the game are all wrong. But she refused to understand and continued her mild flirtation with Priyank and her fight with Akash. She soon got evicted from the house and had to face all sorts of questions once she was out.

Vikas sometimes seems like… is Nostradamus. He knows things before they could happen. Hiten Tejwani was somehow still gullible about Hina Khan and Sapna Chaudhary’s ways despite living with them for 9 weeks. When Sapna fake-promised Hiten that she play according to him in a task, Vikas saw right through her words and called her out. He even warned Hiten to not believe her, but he anyway did. In a few minutes after Hiten made his decision to trust Sapna, the truth was out in open for everyone to see.

The latest example of Vikas calling the shots was last week. His good friend Priyank was nominated for eviction. So, to get him enough screen time to save him, without his knowledge, he picked up fights with him. We saw Vikas instigating Priyank to lash out at him, which he later admitted was a pre-planned strategy, which worked out well.

The best manipulation by Vikas and my favourite one was when he managed to convince Dhinchak Pooja to abandon the task and betray Hina Khan’s team. Despite Hina and other contestants pleas Dhinchak listened to Vikas and did as he said. It was reality TV at its best.

There have been times when there were obvious leaders in the house like Rahul Mahajan in season 2, Gauahar Khan in season 7, Karishma Tanna in season 9, who have called the shots at all times. But for the first time, we see a contestant silently calling the shots and getting his way. This notion was supported by Salman himself on the last Weekend Ka Vaar episode where he suggested while talking to Puneesh that Vikas might be the ‘silence before the storm’ or  ‘sleeping tiger’.

On the same episode contestants were arguing over how Vikas has kept the game in the palm of his hands for the past 12 weeks. Need we say more?