Bigg Boss Tamil 9, hosted for the second time by Vijay Sethupathi, kicked off with a grand launch event on Sunday, with nearly a 4-hour streaming run. This season, the Bigg Boss house is hosting 20 contestants from various age groups, backgrounds, and genders, with a lot of twists and turns to make the game more interesting.

The very first contestant who was introduced in this season of Bigg Boss was social media fame Dr Diwakar, also known as 'watermelon star'. The contestant is a physiotherapy practitioner who shot to fame through Instagram reels. He earned the name 'watermelon star' after a video of him mimicking Suriya from Ghajini went viral. Diwakar is also known for indulging in various controversies at interviews and press meets.

While many assumed that Diwakar only entered the Bigg Boss house to further achieve his ambition of becoming an actor, the contestant revealed that he has another motive behind his participation in the reality TV competition. In his introductory AV, he revealed that he intends to build a physiotherapy hospital with the money he wins in the show.

The 19 other contestants who have come on board this season are Aurora Sinclair, FJ, VJ Paaru, Tushaar, Kani Thiru, Sabarinathan, Pravin Gandhi, Kemy, Aadhirai, Ramya Joo, Gana Vinoth, Viyana, Praveen Raj Dev, Subiksha Kumar, Apsara CJ, Vikkals Vikram, Nandhini R, Kamrudin, and Kalaiyarasan.

The ninth season of Bigg Boss is set to happen for a total of 106 days, with Vijay Sethupathi returning for the weekend episodes. The very first episode introduced a number of challenges, rules and tasks for the contestants, making the game tough from day one. The TV show can be streamed live on JioHotstar 24 hours.