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Rex D'Souza was finally the one who bowed out of Fame Gurukul in a long winded episode on Sony on Thursday night, making way for Kolkata based Ruprekha Banerjee and Kashmiri Qazi Tauqeer to emerge as the Fame Jodi.

The climax to 15 weeks of grueling preparation in the gurukul and performances in front of sceptical judges was built up in a special two hour episode that dragged in places, and appealed in some.

Hosts Mandira Bedi and Manav Gohil did their best to keep up the tempo,the show's directors employed a few gimmicks (empty envelopes containing the winners' names ?!?) and the channel pushed its impending shows (Celebrity Fame Gurukul and Deal Ya No Deal, with R Madhavan making an appearance).

Whether the three finalists had indeed whipped up a national frenzy is not quite known, but Mandira and Manav with their frenzied compering towards the end, made it indeed seem so. Indian Idol Abhijeet Sawant too was roped in to make a pitch for the second season of the show.

All the promotions diluted the achievements of the winning duo, Qazi and Ruprekha, who got about five to seven minutes to bask in glory at the end of the episode, which even took a break to accommodate Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin!

Gurukul will never match the hype and hoopla generated by Idol, but one can't fault Sony Entertainment Television for not trying.