Apart from getting her act right inside, Mandana has a scheming master manipulator in the outside world -- Bollywood PR guru Dale Bhagwagar. Yes, the same guy who handled the international hype and hoopla for Shilpa Shetty, while she faced racism onslaughts in UK's Big Brother.
The publicist's story with reality television stretches over him having handled crisis management and media manoeuvres for a full twenty contestants of Bigg Boss since its first season.
He's managed the publicity for almost every controversial housemate from Rakhi Sawant, Kashmera Shah, Sambhavna Seth, Sherlyn Chopra, Sonali Raut, Vindu Dara Singh, Ashmit Patel, Amar Upadhyay, Aarya Babbar, Rahul Mahajan, Aman Verma to Pooja Misrra.
A month ago, Dale began an aggressive "crowd psychology PR exercise on Twitter", which he also admitted to be "guerrilla PR tactics". Over time, he planned, plotted, plugged and planted ideas and played mind games on the social platform, which helped shift thought processes of hardcore BB fans.
Opinions changed rapidly and fans created various Mandana fan clubs, went ga ga over her. They even started trending her, with Dale creating the now famous 'Mandanite' hashtag.
Result: With the Grand Finale nearing, Mandana Karimi is now giving neck to neck competition to two other housemates Rochelle Rao and Prince Narula who fans are rooting for a win.