MTV Roadies is an Indian reality television series. It premiered on 15 August 2003 on MTV India and is also digitally available on JioHotstar.
Following the auditions, a group of contestants travel to different destinations and participate in various tasks that challenge their physical, social and mental strength.
Overview History The Roadies format was created by Nikhil J. Alva, founder of Miditech Studios, which produced the first two seasons of the show. Initially, Alva conceptualized Roadies as a platform to unite Indian youth through social work and acts of kindness while traveling across India.
As the show's popularity grew, MTV took over the production from Miditech after the second season. Former Miditech employees Raghu Ram and Rajiv Lakshman were brought in to present the show. Under their guidance, Roadies shifted from its original social-oriented concept to a more intense and confrontational format. They continued with the show until the eleventh season, after which they exited. In an interview, Raghu and Rajiv stated that they had done enough to popularize the show and wanted to give the new generation a chance to take it forward.
Roadies is one of India's longest-running reality shows.
Format
The first two seasons had a daily budget cap for contestants, encouraging them to experience India's diversity while completing various tasks. However, after MTV took over in the third season, the show adopted a more competitive and aggressive format.
From the fourth season, a new segment was introduced to select wild card contestants, Battleground (2006–2009, 2014–present) and Graveyard (2010–2011, 2013–2014).
In the fifth season, advantage tasks were introduced, allowing winners to gain benefits during vote-outs (e.g., multiple votes or sole voting power). It was also the first season where Roadies traveled international during journeys.
The tenth season featured a mentor-based competition, where a team of ex-contestants led by Raghu Ram competed against a team of new contestants mentored by Rannvijay Singha.
In the twelfth season, the format was revamped with the introduction of gang leaders.
The eighteenth season introduced a "buddy pairs" format, where ex-roadies and new contestants competed. It also marked the return of bikes, which had been a key feature in earlier seasons. Additionally, this was the first season without Rannvijay Singha.
Each season follows a theme and includes various twists, vote-outs, and eliminations. The contestant who survives all challenges and vote-outs is ultimately crowned the Ultimate Roadie in the finale.
Series synopses SeasonYearTitleHostGang LeadersDateNo.of EpisodesContestantsDestinationsPrize moneyWinning Gang LeaderWinnerRunner-upLaunch Finale12003Roadies - Challenges Har Kadam ParCyrus SahukarNo Gang Leaders15 August 2003 8 November 20032710Chennai to Chail, Bikes to all Roadies—Rannvijay SinghaNatasha Gupta22004–05Roadies ReturnsRannvijay Singha21 August 2004 12 March 20053010Kolkata to Wagah border, ₹5,00,000 + Bikes to all RoadiesAyushmann KhurranaCandy Brar32005Roadies 3 - Triple The Danger11 November 2005 3 November 20051713Jaisalmer to Leh, ₹4,87,000 + Bikes to 5 (Parul, Rahul, Shubhi, Shubhendru, Sonia)Parul ShahiRahul Sharma42006–07Roadies - Road To Fear11 November 20063 March 20071713₹3,75,500Anthony YehGurbani Judge52007–08Roadies 5.028 October 200713 January 20082015, & ₹2,30,000Ashutosh KaushikNihal Nikam62008–09Roadies Hell Down Under29 November 200826 April 20092120, ₹3,62,000Nauman SaitLonkiri Timung72009–10Roadies:7 Deadly Sins & 1 Wild SafariRannvijay Singha & Bani J8 November 200925 June 20102215, & ₹90,000Anwar SyedZaid Bin Nazir82011Roadies 8: Shortcut to HellRannvijay Singha19 January 201118 June 20112813, ₹4,00,000Aanchal KhuranaMohit Saggar92012Roadies 9: Everything or Nothing7 January 201230 June 201227, ₹6,17,000Vikas KhokerHimani Sharma102013Roadies X: Battle for GloryBani J colspan="1" 19 January 201311 May 20131716₹4,50,000Palak JohalRamandeep Kaur Dhillon112014Roadies X1: Ride for RespectNo Gang Leaders25 January 201418 May 20141815₹3,20,000—Nikhil SachdevaUtkarsh Khanna122015Roadies X2: Your Road, Your GangEsha Deol26 January 201527 June 20152222, ₹5,00,000Prince NarulaGurmeet Singh RehalThe Producers skipped X3 for the season's title and went for X4132016Roadies X4: Your Gang, Your GloryGaelyn MendoncaNeha DhupiaSushil KumarPrince Narula20 February 201619 June 20162422, Renault DusterBalraj Singh KhehraNavdeesh Singh142017Roadies RisingPrince Narula25 February 201722 July 201726Neha DhupiaShweta MehtaBaseer Ali152018Roadies XtremeRannvijay SinghaRaftaar18 February 20184 August 20182824Kashish ThakurPreeti Kuntal162019Roadies: Real Heroes10 February 201918 August 20192827Droom Used Super BikeArun SharmaAnkita Pathak172020–21Roadies: Revolution15 February 202021 March 202063625Jawa Bike and ₹3,00,000 to Nikhil Chinapa's causeHamid BarkziMichael Ajay27 June 202016 January 202130182022Roadies: Journey in South AfricaSonu SoodNo Gang Leaders 8 April 202210 July 20223420₹10,00,000— Ashish Bhatia & Nandini G Jashwanth Bopanna & Yukti Arora192023Roadies: Karm Ya KaandRhea Chakraborty Prince NarulaGautam Gulati3 June 202315 October 20234033₹6,00,000Rhea ChakrabortyVashu JainSiwet Tomar202025Roadies: Double CrossRannvijay SinghaNeha Dhupia11 January 20251 June 20254237₹10,00,000Kushal Tanwar (Gullu)Hartaaj Veer Singh Gill212026–27Roadies: RebirthNikhil ChinapaBani JAbhishek MalhanBaseer Ali16 October 2026TBATBATBATBATBATBATBATBA Notes
Prince Narula replaced Sushil Kumar for journey due to Kumar leaving the show for his wrestling training. Nikhil Chinapa replaced Karan Kundra for journey after Kundra left the show due to work commitments. Gurmeet Singh Rehal returns as guest gang leader for Gang Nikhil as he wasn't available for a day during journey. Harbhajan Singh was introduced as a judge present during auditions and occasionally during journey who holds powers. Varun Sood substitute Raftaar as gang leader during journey after he leaves for few days due to work commitments.Later he replaced him due to Raftaar being medically unfit. Roadies: Journey in South Africa was played in the format of buddy pairs. Hence there were two winners and runner-ups.
Season 1
MTV Roadies 1 is the first season of the reality series. It premiered on 15 August 2003 and ended on 8 November 2003. There was no winner in season 1 as it had a different format. All 7 roadies who completed the journey were given Karizma bikes
Rannvijay Singha Natasha Gulati Tony Kordolia Ranjit Bajaj Ignoor Bains (1st vote out) Divya Shukla (voluntary exit) Mini Goel (2nd vote out)
Season 2
MTV Roadies 2 is the second season of the reality series. It premiered on 21 August 2004 and ended on 12 March 2005 with Ayushmann Khurrana emerging as the winner.
Ayushmann Khurrana (Winner) Candy Brar (Runner-up) Varun Agarwal (3rd place) Shalin Bhanot (4th place) Neha Bhatia (5th place) Aarti Seth (6th place) Vinod Rawat (7th place)
Season 3 MTV Roadies 3 is the third season of the reality series. It premiered on 11 November 2005 and ended on 3 March 2006 with Parul Shahi emerging as the winner.
Parul Shahi (Winner) Rahul Sharma (Runner-up) Shubhi Mehta (3rd place) Anuj Sachdeva (4th place) Priyanka Bhau (5th place) Stuti Nagpal (6th place) Abhijeet Ghosh (7th place) Krishnesh Nayak (8th place) Sonia Clark (9th place) Amitinder S Deepak (10th place) Meher Ahmed (11th place) Laveen Bhardwaj (12th place) Shubendru Sood (13th place)
Season 4
MTV Roadies 4 is the fourth season of reality game show MTV Roadies that aired on MTV India from 2006 to 2007. Hosted by MTV VJ Rannvijay, the show features 13 contestants who ride Hero Honda Karizma bikes on a journey where they endure "sun, snow, rain and physical and mental stress, while complex challenges are thrown at them from every direction." In keeping with the reality contest format, contestants at each episode can be eliminated from the game with a vote out. At the final destination, Gangtok, the winner is awarded a cash prize of up to 500,000 Indian rupees ( 5,00,000). Bollywood actor Gulshan Grover makes appearances in the season to introduce twists into the game. The show's winner was Anthony Yeh.
Roadies auditions were held in Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Mumbai and, for the first time, Lucknow. A total of 13 Roadies, seven men and six women, were chosen. They are: Poonam Thacker Anthony Yeh Raj Roy Bani J Roopali Anand Sahil Anand Sonam Gupta Swati Ahuja Rishabh Dhir Vishal Karwal Shaleen Malhotra Ankit Mohan Amandeep "Oorja" Narang
Season 5
MTV Roadies 5.0 is the fifth season of MTV Roadies, a reality television show aired on MTV India. The show was created by Raghu Ram and is hosted by Rannvijay. "Roadies has travel, adventure, drama, touch of voyeurism..." said Raghu Ram, when asked about the show. The maximum prize for winning the show was .
Contestants Varun Prabhjot Vibhor Ayaz Ankita (simran) Nihal (Runner up) Sonel Ashutosh Kaushik (winner) Shambhavi Sharma Anmol Singh Vikrant Snehashish Ankita
Season 6
MTV Roadies: Hell Down Under is the sixth season of MTV Roadies, a reality television show aired on MTV India. The season 6 of roadies was also known as "Hell Down Under" because the second half of season took place in Australia and the tasks were reminiscent of Hell. The audition episodes were aired from 29 November 2008 and the journey episodes began airing on 10 January 2009. The actual journey of the selected Roadies started from 11 November 2008. Its auditions were held in various cities of India, like Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chandigarh. Following mob violence during Delhi auditions, roadies from Delhi and Mumbai were shortlisted through online auditions, followed by a Group Discussion and Interview. This is the first time in MTV Roadies history that Nikhil Chinapa was replaced by Raghu's identical twin brother, Rajiv Lakshman.
Roop Bhinder and Palak Johal returned as All-Stars for Roadies X - Battle for Glory. While Bhinder finished in 11th place Johal won the season.
NameAudition taken inGang Notes Nauman SaitBengaluruOm BluesWinner, Won total prize money of Rs. 3,62,000 and A Hero Honda Karizma, Longkiri Timung (Kiri)KolkataRunner-up. Won a Hero Honda Karizma, Gurmeet Kaur Johal (Palak)BengaluruOm BluesWon A Hero Honda Karizma, Natasha SinhaChandigarhBrats Puneet Malhotra (Sufi)MumbaiWon A Hero Honda Karizma, Paulami De KolkataOm Blues Samrat KaushalAhmedabadOm BluesWon A Hero Honda Karizma, Tamanna Sharma (Tammy)ChandigarhOm Blues Sandeep Singh (Sandy)New DelhiBratsBobby ChopraNew DelhiBrats Pradeep SinghNew DelhiBratsSuzanna Mukherjee (Suzi)MumbaiBratsRoop BhinderNew DelhiBrats Devarshi Patel (Dev)AhmedabadOm BluesVarisha HaweliaKolkataOm BluesSonia ChauhanChandigarh Bhanu Pratap Singh RanaAhmedabadNeha KapoorNew Delhi Ankur KhandujaChandigarh Vicky AroraAhmedabad
Season 7
MTV Roadies 7 (advertised as ROADIES) is the seventh season of MTV Roadies, a popular weekly reality television show on MTV India. The season first aired on 8 November 2009 and is airing its annual "auditions" portion in which the contestants of the show are selected. Part of the season took place in Africa
List of Roadies
Ameya R. Kadam: Ameya is 20-year-old student of Commercial Arts. Amritpal Singh: Amritpal is a 24-year-old guy from Mumbai. He is the adventure loving Roadie in MTV Roadies 7. Anwar Syed: The winner of Roadies 7, Anwar is a 24-year-old guy. He is the sports loving Roadie in Roadies 7. Bharti Nagpal: Bharti Nagpal is a 23-year-old girl from Delhi. She is the travel loving Roadie in MTV Roadies 7. Charlie Chauhan: Charlie is a 20-year-old female from Shimla. She is fun loving Roadies in Roadies 7. Eric Roy: Eric is a 20-year-old guy from Kolkata. He is the smart Roadies in MTV Roadies 7. Gaurav Gill: Gaurav is a 21-year-old guy from Mumbai. He is music loving Roadies in Roadies 7.