Ab yeh bhi Santrowale hain!---SRK

The third season of Kaun Banega Crorepati might be winding up next month, but it seems Shah Rukh Khan wants to ensure he goes out with a bang.

And so, KBC3 contestants are in for a surprise week after week, sometimes taking home his expensive Tag Heuer watches and sometimes, cars!

In tonight's episode, nine contestants in the fastest finger seats (and not the hotseat contestant) will receive the keys to a Hyundai Santro each, from the car's brand ambassador (SRK, naturally).

Something special

Talking about the episode, Shah Rukh says, "It's not a special episode. It's just that KBC3 will be running its course in the next three weeks, so I thought we should do something memorable for the contestants.

For me, KBC is all about people having a good evening and going back home with a smile on their face. The fastest finger first contestants don't get to be in the hot seat, so it's a disappointing time for them. That's why we decided to bring them in on all the action."

Shah Rukh feels that the nine contestants work just as hard as the person in the hot seat. He says, "Some of them come from such faraway places for the show.

They work so hard for five-six months to come here but get eliminated within seconds. So we thought, 'Why not do something special for them too?' It's more like a tribute to those who made it to the hot seat.

Much as I would have loved to, it wasn't possible to do this for all the 52 episodes as that would mean 500 contestants. Siddharth (Basu), Samir (Nair) and I sat together and thought about what we could do. Then Hyundai came forward and thought of the idea of giving away Santros to the nine contestants."

High on emotions

Shah Rukh reveals that this is the first time in the history of Indian television that so many gifts will be given away on a reality show. "Oprah Winfrey had done it on her show, but this is happening for the first time on Indian TV.

We kept it a surprise so that when we gave away the cars, the contestants would be stunned. Santro will even give them their own colour schemes. They can go back to their homes and access them from there.

It wasn't possible to give away nine cars on the sets as the floor is made of fibre glass!" he says.

Now that KBC3 is winding up soon, how will Shah Rukh look back on his experience of the reality show? "It's been fantastic. I'm feeling bad that the 52 episodes will be over soon.

When I started out, I thought 52 episodes would be too long but it's whizzed past so soon. I've thoroughly enjoyed interacting with people who are so simple.

What I love most is that in spite of being a reality show, KBC3 is very high on emotions. The honesty of the contestants lies in the transparency of their emotions. That was special for me," says SRK.