'I was surrounded by 70 snakes'

Inspired by the hit American television reality show, Fear Factor, India will have its own desi show, Khatron Ke Khiladi. Apparently, it will take the game to the highest level of physical and mental challenge, making it more gritty and edgy than before.

Hosted by Akshay Kumar, there will be 13 beauties putting their fears to rest on this show, including Aditi Govitrikar, Yaana Gupta, Sonali Kulkrani, Pooja Bedi, Anita Hassannandani, Tapur Chatterjee, Tupur Chatterjee, Meghna Naidu, Anjana Sukhani, Diptannita Sharma, Nethra Raghuraman, Vidaya Malvade and Urvashi Sharma.

• Yaana Gupta: No creepy creatures in this Fear Factor

"I enjoyed doing the stunts," Pooja Bedi tells us. "I had to do stunts, which I had never seen in my life before. We [the contestants] are all different personalities -- some are mothers, some are young and there is even a television bahu. All of us have worked hard and have been support system to each other during the show."

Talking about the weather conditions, she says it was not easy to do the stunts in South Africa, where the temperature was minus two degrees. "All of us fell ill one after the other," Bedi continued. "We medicated each other and massaged each other's legs."

Describing the experience, Bedi claimed that the contestants were blindfolded and taken to the sets. Then they would wait to see their reactions.

One of the particularly terrifying stunts were being surrounded by snakes. "I hate snakes. And I was surrounded by 70 snakes. I was almost dead! I screamed at the top of my voice, became hysterical and cried on television, which I have never done before. There were a few contestants, who loved the snakes and were even petting them.

"A lot of stunts were unexpected, and gave us a shock," she says. "But it was a thrilling experience before every stunt. We would always try to figure out by Akshay's costumes what the stunt would be. If he is wearing black, then we would guess it is something to do with scorpions."

When quizzed about whether they troubled Akshay Kumar, Bedi claimed that it was Anita who troubled him the most. "He would be horrified seeing 13 actors without make-up!" she laughed. "Everyday we would put nice make-up. But with one stunt in the water, and all our make-up vanished.

"We were very scared but Akshay was encouraging," she continued. "Everyone has seen the actor in Akshay, now they will get to see the real him. He is the ultimate action guru when it comes to performing these death-defying stunts. He was fun, motivating and a great learning experience to work with."

So did she overcome any fear on the show? "I overcame my fear of heights. But recently, I discovered that I have developed hydrophobia," she says.

"I want the next season of Fear Factor to be in 3D format because the audience should experience the fear that we go through when the stunt is done from a height," she adds.