The sixth season of the show, which will go on air in November, will be tougher because Raghu Ram, producer of "Roadies", and his brother Rajiv Laxman will come together with host Rannvijay Singh to grill the contestants during the unnerving auditions.
"Meaner because Rajiv and me will 'shock your pants down' and bigger because there will be more money and more contestants to fight for the 'Roadies' badge," said Raghu Ram, at the launch of "Roadies - Hell Down Under" here Thursday.
"The show is travelling to Australia for dangerous tasks involving hungry sharks, lonely deserts, venomous spiders and snakes, ferocious crocodiles and treacherous reefs," he quipped.
Added Ashish Patil, general manager, MTV India said: "No fake people allowed on our show, no scripts, no high on melodrama scenes... just true reality and that's 'Roadies' for you. So, welcome to hell as we hunt for shark bait in six cities across India."
Entering its sixth year, "Roadies" has not only proved to be one of the most popular annually held shows on Indian television, but also the longest reality show.
While in the last few editions of the show, 13 contestants used to take part, this time 20 participants will be kicking off the ride after qualifying the auditions for attitude, tolerance and patience.
The auditions will be taking place in Kolkata (Sep 17), Bangalore (Sep 21), Ahmedabad (Sep 24), Chandigarh (Sep 28), Delhi (Oct 3) and Mumbai (Oct 12).
The selected "Roadies" are given bikes to travel on a pre-decided route and assigned difficult physical or rational tasks. A vote-out takes place at the end of every show and whoever survives till the end is declared winner. And of course it's all captured on camera.
Till now, the winner was rewarded a cash prize of Rs.500,000 and a bike, but now the winner will get Rs.1 million along with the bike.
"The show will have double the twists now and so, the tougher the exam, the better the result. The contestants will have to bear a lot because I love making life hell for them. I like putting ordinary people in extraordinary situations to see how they react," said Raghu.
This time, the production crew of the show has launched a Cheat Code DVD for "Roadies" priced at Rs.599. This DVD has a cache of footage to guide the contestants to crack the "Roadies" auditions.
Also, "Roadies" fans are in for a treat as MTV plans to launch "Roadies" specific merchandise including helmets and stationary. The show has also tied up with Archies to launch products like photo frames, playing cards, sippers, mugs, bags, caps and wall clocks among others.