Actress Akanksha Puri, who was evicted from Bigg Boss OTT 2 last week, defended her kiss with Jad Hadid on the Salman Khan-hosted reality show, claiming that she did it only to win the task.

Last week, Akanksha and Jad had engaged in a kiss as part of a task, with their team ultimately emerging victorious. However, host Salman expressed anger towards their action on the latest Weekend ka Vaar episode. While Jad apologised for his behaviour, Akanksha remains firm in her belief that she has nothing to apologise for.

In a video shared on her Instagram page, Akanksha expressed her surprise at the negative perception surrounding the kiss. "I definitely didn't think it would be perceived so negatively. When Salman Sir mentioned it on Weekend Ka Vaar, that's when I realised (it was viewed negatively)," she said.

The Calendar Girls actress also mentioned that if she had been asked to kiss someone other than Jad, she would have done it as well, solely for the purpose of winning the task.

Akanksha made it clear that she has no regrets about the kiss. "I'm not sorry at all. I won a task, I did what I had to do, and it was simply a task for me," she said, pointing out that the kiss had been prominently featured in teasers, trailers, and reels, implying that if it was truly objectionable, it would not have been highlighted in such a manner.

“Bigg Boss keeps reminding us to speak in Hindi and wear the mic properly. if this was such a big deal then Bigg Boss should have stopped the task. He didn't say anything like that,” Akanksha said in Hindi.

"After coming out of the show, I saw they turned the kiss into a teaser. It was even promoted as the thumbnail of the episode. The kiss was described as ‘hottest kiss ever’ in promos. I can't understand these double standards,” she added.

Akanksha was the fourth contestant to be evicted from Bigg Boss OTT 2, streaming on the JioCinema app. Avinash Sachdev, Falaq Naaz, Manisha Rani, Abhishek Malhan, Jiya Shankar, Bebika Dhurve, Jad Hadid, Cyrus Broacha, and Pooja Bhatt are the remaining housemates in the BB House.