New Delhi: Ashutosh Kaushik, the winner of Bigg Boss season 2 and Roadies season 5, recently opened up about his beef with MTV. In an interview, the actor revealed how his relationship with MTV was ruined after he was told that he owned the company a massive sum of Rs 30 lakh. Ashutosh was reportedly asked to pay Rs 30 lakh out of his Rs 1 crore winnings from Bigg Boss season 2. He questioned this move as Bigg Boss was under the same corporation that owned MTV too.
In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Ashutosh Kaushik alleged that since he was illiterate at the time and did not have help to read his contract, he was stuck in this situation. Here is what really went down.
Ashutosh Kaushik recalls tiff with MTV
After the allegations came to light, MTV and Ashutosh came to an agreement that he would be paid a monthly salary for two years for his role as a video jockey with the company. However, he admitted that the back and forth soured his relationship with MTV. “The contract said that I owed MTV 30% of any earnings for a period of two years. I argued that the Rs 1 crore was a gift and not a salary that I’d earned,” stated Ashutosh Kaushik.
He further stated that he was paid Rs 25,000 per week during his stay in Bigg Boss 2. He added that he was the lowest-paid contestant as he lacked the resources to hire a lawyer to negotiate on his behalf. Ashutosh Kaushik alleged that he approached MTV after his Bigg Boss offer came through, but said that he failed to receive help. “They weren’t even giving me any managerial advice, or securing jobs for me,” claimed Ashutosh. With this fiasco in mind, Ashutosh did not wish to pay the company the hefty sum.
However, the actor clarified that he did recover most of the most during his dummy job as a VJ. Ashutosh Kaushik was paid Rs 1.5 lakh per month for a span of two years. Giving an insight into winning reality shows, he revealed that although he won Rs 2.5 lakh from Roadies 5, he had to end up paying a 33% tax before picking up his gifted bike from the Hero Honda dealership.
