Akshay, who was known as an action hero before he started doing comedies, first came on a bike wearing a fire-proof suit and said: "I'm doing a stunt like this after five years. I want to tell everyone who is present here that whatever you will see is very risky and it is all real."
Then the actor chanted the Gayatri Mantra and sped away only to return in a car that burst into flames after moving for some distance, but came out safely.
The show that kicks off Friday on Colors, is the fourth season of the show. While the first two seasons were hosted by Akshay, the third had seen Priyanka Chopra as the host.
For this season, the channel has chosen 13 female celebrity participants - each teamed up with a male partner.
The celebrity participants include former Indian women's cricket captain Anjum Chopra, models Diandra Soares, Alesia Raut and Poonam Pandey, actresses Aarti Chhabria, Smita Bansal and Aashka Goradia, item girls Sambhavna Seth and Kashmera Shah, two VJs - Bani and Mia Uyeda, singer Mauli Dave and Dina Singh who is actor Vindu Dara Singh's wife.
"Khatron Ke Khiladi" is the Indian version of the internationally hit show "Fear Factor", and involves dangerous tasks involving at heights and with creepy crawlies.