Bigg Boss Hosts of All Seasons: From Arshad Warsi to Salman Khan

Quick answer: Bigg Boss has had four main hosts. Arshad Warsi hosted season 1 (2006-07), Shilpa Shetty season 2 (2008) and Amitabh Bachchan season 3 (2009). Salman Khan took over from season 4 (2010), co-hosted season 5 with Sanjay Dutt, and has hosted every season since, including Bigg Boss 20, which premiered on 6 September 2026. The fees paid to hosts have never been officially published.

Bigg Boss host of every season

This page was first written in 2017, before Bigg Boss 11, when there was speculation about who would host. Salman Khan did host season 11, and every season after it. For each season’s runner-up, see our Bigg Boss winners list.

The hosts, season by season

Arshad Warsi: Bigg Boss 1

Actor Arshad Warsi hosted the first season, which ran on Sony Entertainment Television from 3 November 2006 to 26 January 2007. Actor Rahul Roy won it. It was the only season shown on Sony; the show moved to Colors from season 2.

Shilpa Shetty: Bigg Boss 2

Actor Shilpa Shetty hosted season 2, the first on Colors TV, from 17 August to 22 November 2008. She had won the British show Celebrity Big Brother in 2007, the format Bigg Boss is based on. The season was won by Ashutosh Kaushik, who had also won MTV Roadies 5.

Amitabh Bachchan: Bigg Boss 3

Amitabh Bachchan hosted season 3, which ran from 4 October to 26 December 2009. Actor Vindu Dara Singh won, with Pravesh Rana as runner-up.

Salman Khan: Bigg Boss 4 onwards

Salman Khan first hosted Bigg Boss 4 (October 2010 to January 2011), which Shweta Tiwari won. Season 5 (2011-12) was co-hosted by Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan, and Salman Khan has been the sole host from season 6 onwards. Bigg Boss 20 is his seventeenth season as host. His weekend episodes, known as Weekend Ka Vaar, are where he reviews the week, questions housemates and announces evictions. Read more in our Salman Khan biography.

An earlier version of this page said Salman Khan had announced after seasons 6 and 7 that he would not host again. We could not find a reliable record of that, so the claim has been removed.

Farah Khan: Bigg Boss Halla Bol

Season 8 ended on 3 January 2015 without a winner. Its five finalists, joined by former housemates as challengers, moved into the spin-off Bigg Boss Halla Bol, hosted by choreographer and director Farah Khan, which ran until 31 January 2015. Gautam Gulati won it, and so is counted as the season 8 winner.

Stand-in hosts on Weekend Ka Vaar

On some weekends when Salman Khan was unavailable, a guest host has taken over Weekend Ka Vaar. According to the season records, filmmaker Karan Johar did so in Bigg Boss 16 and Bigg Boss 17, Farah Khan in seasons 16, 18 and 19, and director Rohit Shetty in seasons 18 and 19. Producer Ekta Kapoor also hosted one episode in season 18.

Bigg Boss OTT hosts

• Bigg Boss OTT 1 (2021, Voot): Karan Johar; won by Divya Agarwal
• Bigg Boss OTT 2 (2023, JioCinema): Salman Khan; won by Elvish Yadav
• Bigg Boss OTT 3 (2024, JioCinema): Anil Kapoor; won by Sana Makbul

How much do Bigg Boss hosts get paid?

Neither Colors TV nor the hosts have officially published what any host is paid. Over the years, entertainment media have reported very different figures for Salman Khan’s fee, and none of them has been confirmed. An earlier version of this page listed per-episode amounts for Shilpa Shetty, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan; we could not find any reliable source for those numbers, so we have removed them rather than repeat guesses.

Frequently asked questions

Who was the first host of Bigg Boss?

Arshad Warsi hosted the first season, which aired on Sony Entertainment Television in 2006-07.

Since when has Salman Khan hosted Bigg Boss?

Since season 4 in 2010. He co-hosted season 5 with Sanjay Dutt and has hosted alone from season 6 to Bigg Boss 20 (2026).

Who hosted Bigg Boss 3?

Amitabh Bachchan hosted Bigg Boss 3 in 2009, his only season as host.

Who hosted Bigg Boss Halla Bol?

Farah Khan hosted Halla Bol, the January 2015 spin-off that decided the season 8 winner, Gautam Gulati.

Who hosts Bigg Boss OTT?

Each OTT season had a different host: Karan Johar (2021), Salman Khan (2023) and Anil Kapoor (2024).

For the people who have lived in the house each season, see our Bigg Boss contestants list.

Hosts, dates and winners checked in October 2026 against the Bigg Boss season records. Host fees are not included because none has been officially disclosed.