'Bigg Boss Malayalam 3' winner is Manikuttan; watch his emotional winning moment

The wait is finally over for fans of Bigg Boss Malayalam season 3.  Close to six months after the season aired, and a break of three months, Manikuttan was announced as the winner of the reality show. The actor took home the winner's trophy and a Rs 75 lakh worth flat. 

Manikuttan wins Bigg Boss Malayalam season 3

The announcement was made at a grand event, which featured numerous performances, telecast on Sunday. Manikuttan trumped Sai Vishnu, Dimple Bahl, Ramsan Muhammad, Anoop Krishnan, Firoz Khan Abdul Azeez, Rithu Mantra and Noby Marcose for the title. 

Manikuttan earned a whopping 9.20 crore votes, easily beating the first runner-up Sai Vishnu by over 3 crore votes as the finalist got 6.01 crore votes. As host Mohanlal raised his hand to announce him as the winner, Manikuttan was euphoric. Right from releasing a celebratory shout, to hugging all his co-contestants, there were intense emotions on display as he was presented the winner's trophy.

Manikuttan was among the contestants who competed in the Bigg Boss house from Day 1. The show had aired on February 14. The actor has been associated with the film industry over two decades after the movie Boy Friend, as a lead role in2005 and work in popular films like Pavada, Oppam, Masterpiece, among others.

Dimple Bahl, Ramsan Muhammad, Anoop Krishnan, Firoz Khan Abdul Azeez, Rithu Mantra and Noby Marcose finished in third. fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh and eighth positions respectively.  The other contestants who got evicted before were Majiziya Bhanu, Soorya J Menon, Lekshmi Jayan, Adonay P John, Sandhya Manoj, Bhagyalakshmi, Firoz Khan, Sajna Firoz, Michelle Ann Daniel, Angel Thomas, and Remya Panickar.

The reason for eight finalists in the show was due to COVID-19 bringing an abrupt end to the season. The makers were accused of flouting COVID-19 norms and not just were the sets sealed, they were also fined Rs 1 lakh in the third week of May. The contestants had spent 95 days in the house by then. 

Even the second season of the show had been called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, no grand finale was held to announce the winner. The winner of the first season was Sabumon Abdusamad.