Mamaraazzi Exclusive: Reality show dynamics often create unexpected equations, friendships and controversies, but sometimes it’s the assumptions surrounding those relationships that hit the hardest. In a recent interview with Mamaraazzi, Akanksha Choudhary opened up about being constantly perceived in relation to Yogesh Rawal and revealed why one particular comment from Rebel deeply triggered her.
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Talking about the moment, Akanksha recalled Rebel asking, “Who is Aakanksha Choudhary without Yogesh Rawal?” She admitted that the statement affected her because, according to her, she has never used her equation with Yogesh to build her career.
Akanksha said that she has never posted a photo with Yogesh, worked with him professionally, or used their situation to gain opportunities. She explained that several projects come her way, but she has consciously stayed away from using their relationship as a career-building tool.
She further clarified that if people believe they entered the show with a pre-planned love angle purely for publicity or career growth, that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, Akanksha revealed that they had discussed exactly the opposite before entering the show.
According to Akanksha, she had told Yogesh that wherever he was, she would consciously avoid being there. She didn’t want to play against him, but at the same time, she also didn’t want to be part of his group.
However, things became complicated when they eventually started developing several mutual friendships. Akanksha revealed that once she noticed that the same people were becoming friends with both of them, she deliberately started distancing herself.
Interestingly, she admitted that even she began questioning her own decision. Why should she distance herself from people simply because they were also friends with Yogesh? For her, that felt unfair to herself as well.
But Akanksha explained that she felt she had little choice because she was worried that people would eventually start questioning whether her relationships inside the show were also being influenced by Yogesh.
She recalled fearing comments like, “Aapke toh dost bhi same hain. Jo Yogesh dost bana raha hai, woh yahan par aa rahe hain. Relations bhi aapke same hain.”
That concern became even more real after the first Judgement Day, when the two were told that Akanksha appeared to be Yogesh’s shadow. Following that comment, Akanksha revealed that she stopped speaking to Yogesh altogether for a period of time.
Their interactions, she said, became extremely limited. Despite being in the same environment, they would sometimes meet for barely an hour or two across an entire 24-hour period. The two even consciously avoided sitting together.
Akanksha explained that this was also the reason viewers saw more of Yogesh and Laila together on the yellow sofa. According to her, it wasn’t necessarily about choosing to stay away from the group, but rather a conscious decision to avoid creating an impression that she was constantly around Yogesh.
She recalled that whenever Ram Sir and others would sit together, she would sometimes get up and leave if Yogesh was already there.
For Akanksha, the entire situation became a delicate balancing act — trying to maintain her own identity while simultaneously avoiding being labelled as someone who was dependent on Yogesh Rawal for her presence or relevance.
And perhaps that explains why Rebel’s question, “Who is Aakanksha Choudhary without Yogesh Rawal?”, hit such a nerve. For someone who claims to have deliberately kept her personal equation away from her professional identity, being reduced to someone’s “shadow” appears to have been precisely the label she was trying hardest to escape.
