Saad Khan tragedy, more revelations

This report was posted by Fahad Siddiqui the admin from the Facebook Group Say NO to Reality Shows

As promised, we are now publishing a conversation with one of the contestants / eyewitness of the Clear man show. For confidentiality purpose we can not disclose the names of the people who were involved in this conversation; however, we can assure you that the content of the entire discussion has not been exaggerated nor over-hyped while we are sharing it with all of you.

Read, digest & share your thoughts on this tragic incident which could surely have been avoided if basic precautionary measures could have have been taken while organizing the deadly stunt which took Saad Khan away from us.

Q: How was your relation with saad khan during the time you were together?

Participant: We were good friends since the time we met each other. Saad bhai was a great person; we got close in a very short time. He even told me his life story from his struggle to the upward trajectory of his career. We used to hang out together and have fun and play pranks with other fellows. In short it was a very joyful experience spending time with him.

Q. How was his performance throughout the show?

Participant: He was doing really well in whatever tasks he was given, in fact he was the best in all of us. It seemed like he will win the title of Clear Men, because he completely fitted in the image of the Clear Man which was defined by the sponsors. We were surprised when saad bhai entered the danger zone in the fashion show round.

Q: What kind of tasks were you all given throughout the show? Were there any other dangerous tasks in the game?

Participant: The tasks given were a combination of various stunts & other activities which were more personality driven. One of the task became the casue of participant’s death. How can i say that the tasks given were not dangerous……!

Q. Why did Saad get eliminated after the 4th episode?

Participant: He was eliminated when he was challenged to throw a ball into the basket which was 10 feet above the ground while first walking & then standing on an ice block .He got eliminated as he couldn’t complete the task successfully. We all got very disappointed by what happened. I was sad as I thought saad bhai would leave in a day or two.

Q. Were you aware that he was still there after his elimination? How did you react when you saw him on the wild card entry round?

Participant. Nobody knew that he was there in the same city. They kept him in a separate hotel. They even recorded his best wishes to all of us, they showed as if it was in Karachi sending us his best wishes and his experience with all of us together, and how he missed those days.

On 19th we were preparing for the other task on the set of the show, when we suddenly saw a tall figure coming towards us smiling… it was saad bhai… we hooted and danced in excitement, finally we got to meet him again, it was a big and a pleasant surprise for all of us. He was the life of the whole show; we used to miss him a lot.

Q. Did u know what task will be given for the wild card entry?

Participant: We were never told from before about the tasks we were supposed to perform. We used to be told on the spot what we had to do. At that very day we had been given a task that had 3 stages , first, we were supposed to run through the fire carrying a 7 kg sand bag, second, we had to jump into the pond and cross it and third and the last was to climb a rope.

Q: What exactly happened with saad?

Participant: Saad bhai cleared the first stage, which was running through fire; he jumped in the pond and swam…. When he reached the middle of the pond he suddenly turned and changed his style to backstroke, he looked troubled, we shouted and asked him to open his 7 KG back pack, and he struggled to open it. While struggling he yelled for help and disappeared in the water. When there was no response from him, we dived in the pond to look for him, but couldn’t find him as the water was very muddy and I came out. We started screaming and crying for help but there was no help around. After around 10 minutes his back pack came up floating on the water. The lifeguards came 10 – 12 minutes after the incident occurred and recovered saad bhai’s body.

Q: You mean to say that there was no professional help on the spot? No paramedics, no safety precautions, nothing at all?

Participant: Unfortunately No, there was nothing present over there, we were given the surety that the pond is not very deep. And there was only first aid help in case of injury! No professional divers no life guards and no snorkelers. We only realized it after this incident that during the 10 episodes a similar incident could have happened with any of the participants as pre-cautionary & safety measures were non-existent which we also never realized……!

Q: Were you surprised that brand names like Unilever , Mindshare & an indian and pakistan production house were involved in this show & still safety of the participants was kept as the last priority?

Participant: As i said earlier, we never realized that safety & pre-cautionary measures were not very robust. We never thought on these lines, maybe because of the comfort level we had on the big brand organizers, managers & sponsors which were associated with this show. I wish Saad Bhai would have remained eliminated in order to avoid all what happened. Negligence & carelessness was the cause of Saad bhai’s death.