We often consider reality shows on TV – specially gaming and quiz shows – to be a sure-shot, one-way ticket to fame and wealth… and we equate that to happiness. It makes us want more. It makes us believe everyone loves us (even if they really just want to take advantage of us). 

The story of Sushil Kumar is something similar. 

Sushil Kumar who once won an amount of Rs 5 Crore in the fourth season of Kaun Banega Crorepati revealed that his life had been more complicated and challenging after winning the quiz show. 

Storypedia

In an honest and candid Facebook post that Sushil shared about a year ago, he admitted that while remained to be one of the biggest prize winners in the history of the show, his time after winning KBC was the “worst time” of his life. 

From opening up about his addiction to alcohol and cigarettes to making bad investments, being duped, and eventually ruining his relationships, Sushil Kumar explained how it all went downhill. 

Jansatta

Right after winning the show, he was a local celebrity and was asked to appear for functions and events in Bihar for almost 15 days in a month. Unable to juggle his newfound fame with his simplistic life, he had to put his education in the back seat. 

Rediff

That’s not all, succumbing to interviewers and journalists always asking him for updates on his life, he felt pressurized into making a few business investments so that he would have something new to tell the media. However, most of those ventures didn’t succeed, and he lost his hard-earned money.

The worst time of my life was after I won KBC. From 2015 to 2016, it was the most difficult time of my life and I could not figure out what to do.
Bihar Times

Sushil almost got divorced during this time and decided to go to Mumbai to become a filmmaker. However he was pushed into scripting for soap operas. He further reveals: 

Staying in all day and reading about things made me take an unbiased look at myself and I realised that I didn’t come to Mumbai to become a filmmaker but to run away from my own self. The true happiness is in doing what your heart wants to do. You can never calm down you ego. It’s a thousand times better to be a good human than a famous one. 
India Today

However riding the wave of struggles, Sushi took a minute to think about the miracles that hard work could create. So, he decided to put his life back on track, detox and pledge to sobriety and returned home to become a teacher,

News18

Sushil later on revealed to the media that he is bankrupt. 

“And now, how did I become bankrupt…? You will find the story a little ‘filmy’. While I was strolling one day, a journalist from an English newspaper called me. While everything was going fine, suddenly he asked me something which left me irritated, so I randomly told him that all my money was exhausted and I had two cows and was surviving by selling milk and earning some money off it. And after that, all of you must be aware of the impact of that news.”

Sushil’s story showcases the brutal reality of how the fame and the glamour that we see on TV are not always real; just as the promises and the victories may not be long-term.