There were 18 Rise and Fall Season 2 contestants: 15 who started on 26 September 2026 and three wild cards who entered in episode 17. Shehzad Poonawalla won the finale on 6 November 2026 and took Rs 35 lakh, with Priyanka Chahar Choudhary as first runner-up and Gautam Gulati third.
The season ran for 42 days on Prime Video and the MX Player app, hosted by former India opener Virender Sehwag and produced by Banijay Asia. Below is every contestant, how each one left, and how the final vote and the prize money worked. Where no report we read gives an exit date, the table says so rather than filling the gap.
Rise and Fall Season 2 contestants: the full list
The table lists all 18 Rise and Fall Season 2 contestants in finishing order, then in reverse order of exit. “Launch” means the 26 September premiere. Each exit is taken from a dated news report, named in the sections below.
| Contestant | Entered | How it ended |
|---|---|---|
| Shehzad Poonawalla | Launch | Winner |
| Priyanka Chahar Choudhary | Launch | First runner-up |
| Gautam Gulati | Launch | Third |
| Swara Bhasker | Launch | Fourth |
| Karan Patel | Launch | Fifth (reported exit in early October, later back in the game) |
| Niharika Tiwari | Launch | Sixth, first out on finale night |
| Sonam Malik | Wild card, episode 17 | In the Basement in the last week; not in the final six |
| Manish Kashyap | Launch | Evicted in the triple eviction (reported 4 November) |
| Jashwanth Bopanna | Wild card, episode 17 | Evicted in the triple eviction |
| Rishabh Jaiswal | Wild card, episode 17 | Evicted in the triple eviction, on a split vote |
| Irina Rudakova | Launch | Out before the final six; exit date not reported in sources we read |
| Kajal Raghwani | Launch | Survived the week 3 vote; out before the final six, date not reported |
| Sara Gurpal | Launch | Out before the final six; exit date not reported |
| Kaira Anu | Launch | Evicted in week 3 (reported 15 October) |
| Raj Grover | Launch | Evicted in week 3 |
| Tej Pratap Yadav | Launch | Left the show; the host cited legal obligations |
| Anish Bhagat | Launch | Voted out by the Rulers in episode 9 (reported 4 October) |
| Siwet Tomar | Launch | Removed after a physical altercation (reported 28 September) |
Spellings of several names differ from one outlet to the next. Manish Kashyap also appears as Manish Kasyap, Irina Rudakova as Irina Rudakov or Rudokova, and Jashwanth Bopanna as Jaswant or Jaswanth Bopannah. Siasat’s 3 November finalist report calls two contestants “Manish Yadav” and “Sonam Singh”, while The Statesman and Daily Jagran use Manish Kashyap and Sonam Malik.
Who started in the Penthouse and who started in the Basement
Rise and Fall splits its players into Rulers, who live in a penthouse and make the decisions, and Workers, who live in a basement. Positions shift through challenges, votes and the Rulers’ choices, so a player can move up or down several times in a season.
After the first “Ultimate Ruler” race, The Hans India reported on 28 September that eight contestants held the Penthouse: Karan Patel, Tej Pratap Yadav, Shehzad Poonawalla, Priyanka Chahar Choudhary, Swara Bhasker, Siwet Tomar, Irina Rudakova and Raj Grover. The other seven started as Workers in the Basement: Niharika Tiwari, Kaira Anu, Anish Bhagat, Sara Gurpal, Manish Kashyap, Gautam Gulati and Kajal Raghwani.
That starting split did not decide much. Gautam Gulati began in the Basement and finished third, while three of the first eight Rulers were gone within three weeks.
How each contestant left, in order
Siwet Tomar was the first to go. The Hans India reported that he pulled Shehzad Poonawalla by the neck in an argument and tore his clothes, and the makers removed him for physical violence. Swara Bhasker and Karan Patel argued that Shehzad had provoked the fight.
Anish Bhagat, a content creator, was voted out by the Rulers in episode 9, according to Daily Jagran on 4 October. The paper noted that because Siwet had already been removed, Anish’s exit was technically the second.
Karan Patel and Tej Pratap Yadav both left in the first two weeks. Daily Jagran reported on 7 October that Karan’s exit was linked to health concerns, and that Tej Pratap Yadav‘s was connected to his responsibilities outside the show. Our profile of Rishabh Jaiswal notes that Sehwag tied Tej Pratap’s exit to legal obligations in the same episode that introduced the wild cards. Karan was back in the competition later and reached the finale. His personal life is covered in our piece on Karan Patel’s wife, Ankita Bhargava.
The three wild cards arrived in episode 17. Daily Jagran described Rishabh Jaiswal as an actor known from Splitsvilla X4 and Roadies 19, Jashwanth Bopanna as a Roadies runner-up who later won Splitsvilla X5, and Sonam Malik as an actor seen in the series Daak Khana.
Kaira Anu and Raj Grover went out together in week 3, Filmibeat reported on 15 October, while Kajal Raghwani survived on the Rulers’ votes. Kaira had come in as the Splitsvilla X6 co-winner with Kushal Tanwar, better known as Gullu, who was in Bigg Boss 20 at the same time.
Manish Kashyap, Jashwanth Bopanna and Rishabh Jaiswal left in the show’s first triple eviction, reported by NewsBytes on 4 November. Neither Manish nor Jashwanth got a vote to stay. Rishabh went on a split decision. Navbharat Live reported that six Workers had been at risk that week, with Sonam Malik among them, and that the audience saved Priyanka Chahar Choudhary and Niharika Tiwari before the Rulers decided the rest.
Rise and Fall 2 finale: the top six and the final vote
The finale opened with six players: Shehzad Poonawalla, Priyanka Chahar Choudhary, Gautam Gulati, Swara Bhasker, Karan Patel and Niharika Tiwari. Siasat reported on 3 November that Shehzad was the first to reach the finale by winning the ticket-to-finale task, and that he then chose Gautam to join him.
On finale night, Niharika Tiwari went out first in a challenge, then Karan Patel and Swara Bhasker were knocked out at the Tower stage. The last three tied in a vote, so the eliminated contestants cast the deciding votes. Shehzad won, Priyanka finished first runner-up and Gautam third, according to Outlook India’s finale report. Gautam is a former Bigg Boss 8 winner, and readers following the current Bigg Boss season can check who is still in the house on our Bigg Boss contestants tracker.
Fans split on who deserved the top spots. Niharika drew some of the warmest comments for a player who finished sixth:
“Putting the podcast and her friendship angle with Jaswanth aside, I genuinely think Niharika played a good game, especially during the initial weeks. I’m glad she at least made it to the Top 6.”
– r/splitsvillaMTV, November 2026 (87 upvotes)
Even a viewer who disliked her conceded the point in the same thread:
“Although i absolutely despised her in R&f but can’t deny the fact that she did stand out amongst the crowd so GG”
– r/splitsvillaMTV, November 2026 (16 upvotes)
Rise and Fall 2 prize money: where Rs 35 lakh came from
The prize was not fixed in advance. Siasat explained on 3 November that the winner takes whatever remains in the show’s prize pot, and that the pot stood at Rs 22.4 lakh in the Penthouse and Rs 12.55 lakh in the Basement that week. Added together, that is Rs 34.95 lakh, which matches the Rs 35 lakh figure reported after the finale.
For comparison, Arjun Bijlani won Season 1 and a reported Rs 28.1 lakh, according to Daily Jagran. Shehzad, whose family background and marital status we cover separately, said he would give his prize away. Outlook India wrote that it would go to flood relief in Bihar and Assam, while The Statesman wrote that he would donate it to the Chief Minister’s fund for states hit by floods.
What to weigh when comparing contestant lists
Several lists in circulation give an exact “Day” for every exit. Those day counts trace back to a table on Wikipedia that cites no source for them, and they are not tied to any dated report. A list that gives a day for Irina Rudakova, Kajal Raghwani or Sara Gurpal without naming a report is repeating that table.
Two other points trip up readers. First, “first eviction” depends on whether Siwet Tomar’s removal counts, which is why some outlets call Anish Bhagat the first and others the second. Second, Karan Patel appears both as an early exit and as a finalist, because he left in October and later returned.
The safe reading is the one in the table above: the top six and the triple eviction are confirmed by several outlets, the early exits are confirmed by dated reports, and four mid-season exits still lack a reported date.
Rise and Fall Season 2 in brief
Who won Rise and Fall Season 2?
Shehzad Poonawalla won Rise and Fall Season 2 on 6 November 2026 and took Rs 35 lakh, after eliminated contestants broke a tied final vote.
Who came second in Rise and Fall Season 2?
Priyanka Chahar Choudhary was first runner-up. Gautam Gulati finished third, Swara Bhasker fourth and Karan Patel fifth.
Who were the wild card entries in Rise and Fall 2?
Rishabh Jaiswal, Jashwanth Bopanna and Sonam Malik entered in episode 17. Rishabh and Jashwanth left in the triple eviction, and Sonam was in the Basement in the last week.
How many contestants were in Rise and Fall Season 2?
There were 18 in total: 15 at the 26 September premiere and three wild cards. Six reached the finale.
