After 105 days of competition inside the Bigg Boss house, the ninth season of the popular reality show in Tamil has concluded with actor Divya Ganesh lifting the trophy. She was crowned as the title winner by host Vijay Sethupathi and was presented with a cash prize of Rs 50 lakh along with a brand new SUV car. Notably, Divya is only the second wildcard contestant in the show's history to lift the top prize with highest number of votes in the Mainstream TV franchise of Bigg Boss. The first wildcard entrant to win Bigg Boss Tamil was Mugen Rao in Season 3 (2019).
This season stood out for multiple reasons, one of them being the unusually small group of finalists as only four contestants, Divya Ganesh, Sabarinathan, Vikkals Vikram and Aurora Sinclair, made it to the final stage. While Aurora was evicted first, the other contestants made it to the grand finale stage. The competition further intensified as Vikram was later eliminated leaving Divya and Sabari as the final two contestants standing on the stage. As the countdown for naming the title winner ended, Vijay Sethupathi lifted Divya's hand and gave her the prestigious award. Sabari was announced as the runner-up of the season while Vikram finished at the third place. Towards the end of the night, Vijay Sethupathi gave all the contestants special awards to honour and appreciate their journey on the show.
The finale also saw the contestants participating in one final task. The 'Mirror Task' gave the finalists an opportunity to reflect on their time inside the house, their learnings and how they would take it forward.
Outside the Bigg Boss house, Divya is a familiar name in Tamil television. A native of Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu, she began her career as a video jockey before moving into acting. She made her acting debut in 2015 with Keladi Kanmani and later appeared in popular serials such as Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, Lakshmi Vandhachu, Sumangali, Baakiyalakshmi and Chellamma. In 2019, she also stepped into Telugu television with the serial Bhagyarekha.
Bigg Boss Tamil 9 premiered on October 5 with 20 contestants and four wildcard entrants and has concluded after over three months filled with intense tasks, arguments, emotional breakdowns and strategic gameplay. Hosted by Vijay Sethupathi, this season, unlike other the years, saw many controversies erupt inside the house, with hundreds of users expressing their disappointment on social media the alleged deterioration of quality of the games and the contestants' mannerism on the show. It however maintained consistent viewership and strong social media engagement. Bigg Boss Tamil season 9 also saw two red card evictions for the first time with VJ Paaru and Kamarudin getting eliminated for their disrespectful conduct on the show. They however returned for the show's finale to share their experience of being part of the house.
Gana Vinoth, who was considered one of the strongest contenders inside the house, took the controversial choice of exiting the show with a whopping Rs 18 lakh money box.
