KBC 18: Amitabh Bachchan-hosted Kaun Banega Crorepati 18 featured comedians Varun Grover, Gaurav Kapoor and Gaurav Gupta in a special celebrity episode on September 18. The trio brought their trademark humour to the hot seat and also spoke about their long-standing connection with the show. Whatever they won on the episode was donated to Adarsh Sansthan in Mumbai.

The trio began the game with the sixth question, worth Rs 50,000. Before that, they faced the Mahasawal, a question without multiple-choice options. They answered it correctly and unlocked the MahaFlip lifeline, which allows contestants to replace a question with another one.

Varun and Gaurav Kapoor also recalled their early attempts to get through to KBC. Varun said he was in college in 2000 when he would call the show from a PCO every day, hoping his number would be selected.

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“I was in college in 2000. I used to call from a PCO every day, hoping that my number would get selected, and I would leave disappointed. The PCO owner probably thought I was going through a breakup. I would plead on the phone and say, ‘Give me one more chance.’ That was the KBC line, and today I have reached here, with you actually sitting in front of me,” he said.

Gaurav Kapoor also remembered calling the show when each call cost Rs 6.

“It used to cost Rs 6 per call. I used to call KBC. If a call costs Rs 6, the person on the other end should at least speak a little faster. They were speaking so slowly that it would cost Rs 12,” he joked.

Check this space tomorrow to learn more about the toughest question on the latest episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati 18. We will be bringing you the question and the story behind it.

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Super Sandook and Sooryavansham’s kheer

The trio continued through the questions and used the MahaFlip for the ninth question, worth Rs 3 lakh. They replaced the question and successfully answered the new one.

They then moved ahead to the Rs 5 lakh question before entering the Super Sandook round.

In Super Sandook, contestants get 90 seconds to answer 10 questions. The trio answered all 10 correctly and earned Rs 1 lakh. Instead of taking the money, they chose the 50:50 lifeline.

Amitabh Bachchan had earlier promised that if they answered all 10 questions correctly, he would invite them to his house for dinner.

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After completing the round successfully, the conversation turned to one of the most memorable running jokes associated with Bachchan’s filmography — the infamous kheer scene from Sooryavansham. Gaurav Gupta jokingly asked Bachchan whether they would be served kheer if he invited them home for dinner.

The joke led to Gaurav Kapoor recalling how the film had changed the way he looked at kheer.

“Ever since I watched that film, whenever kheer is made at home, the person who made it has to taste it first,” he joked.

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Gaurav Gupta plays ‘Kaun Banega Baniya’ with Amitabh Bachchan

Gaurav Gupta also brought his own version of a quiz show to the set, turning the tables on Amitabh Bachchan with a game he called “Kaun Banega Baniya”.

Gupta tested Bachchan on the prices of everyday household items. He asked him to guess the prices of vegetables such as potatoes and tomatoes, along with items such as mustard oil and different types of lentils.

The exchange turned into a comic guessing game, with Gupta joking about everyday grocery prices and teasing Bachchan over his answers.

The trio also asked Bachchan to say the iconic Sholay dialogue, “Tumhara naam kya hai, Basanti?” The conversation took them back to the filming of the sequence.

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The trio reaches the Rs 12.5 lakh question

For the 12th question, worth Rs 12.5 lakh, the trio used their Sanket Soochak lifeline and answered correctly.

The question was: What kind of animal was ‘Looty’, found after the looting of the Summer Palace near Beijing, and later presented to Queen Victoria?


The options were:


A. A rabbit


B. A cat


C. A panda


D. A dog

The correct answer was D. A dog.

The trio still had two lifelines remaining, but time ran out before they could use them. Since this was a special celebrity episode, their game did not continue into the next episode.

Who was Looty, the dog presented to Queen Victoria?

Looty was a Pekingese dog taken from the Old Summer Palace, also known as Yuanmingyuan, near Beijing during the Second Opium War in 1860. British Captain John Hart Dunne acquired the dog and later presented her to Queen Victoria.

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The Old Summer Palace was looted and destroyed by British and French forces in October 1860. Several Pekingese dogs were among the animals taken from the palace, with one eventually brought to Britain and presented to Queen Victoria in 1861.

Queen Victoria named the dog “Looty”, referring to the circumstances surrounding her acquisition. The dog became part of the royal household and is often associated with the introduction of the Pekingese breed to Britain.