MTV Splitsvilla 16 (2026): Winner, Contestants, Format and Timings
MTV Splitsvilla 16, billed as Splitsvilla X6 – Pyaar Ya Paisa, ran from 9 January to 16 May 2026 and was won by Kushal “Gullu” Tanwar and Kaira Anu. Sunny Leone and Karan Kundrra hosted, the season was shot in Mahabalipuram, and it was the first Splitsvilla to hand the final decision to the audience rather than settle it inside the villa. The tables below cover the result, the full line-up and where this season sits in the show’s history.
Splitsvilla 16 at a glance
| Detail | Season 16 |
|---|---|
| Premiere | 9 January 2026 |
| Grand finale | 16 May 2026 |
| Hosts | Sunny Leone and Karan Kundrra |
| Mischief makers | Uorfi Javed and Nia Sharma |
| Theme | Pyaar Ya Paisa – love or money |
| Location | Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu |
| Television | MTV India, Friday to Sunday at 7:00 pm IST |
| Streaming | JioHotstar |
| Launch line-up | 32 contestants across two villas |
| Winners | Kushal “Gullu” Tanwar and Kaira Anu |
How the finale finished
| Position | Pair |
|---|---|
| Winners | Kushal “Gullu” Tanwar and Kaira Anu |
| First runners-up | Yogesh Rawat and Ruru Thakur |
| Second runners-up | Sorab Bedi and Niharika Tiwari |
| Third runners-up | Tayne De Villiers and Soundharya Shetty |
The winning pair took the Splitsvilla X6 trophy and, as reported at the time, prize money of Rs 20 lakh. That figure comes from a single outlet’s finale report and has not been confirmed by the broadcaster, so treat it as reported rather than official.
The audience decided the winner, and that had not happened before
Splitsvilla has always resolved itself indoors. Couples were tested by tasks, and the oracle and the dome sessions decided who stayed and who went. The winning pair emerged from that machinery.
Season 16 changed it. A feature called Pyaar Ka Power let viewers vote for a finalist couple through the JioHotstar app, and those votes decided the winning pair. Coverage at the time described it as a first for the show.
It is worth being precise about what changed and what did not. The audience vote applied to the finale. The rest of the season still ran on tasks, dumping grounds and dome sessions in the usual way, so this was a change to how the season ended rather than a redesign of the format.
Two villas and 32 contestants, roughly double the usual
The Pyaar Ya Paisa premise split the cast into two houses. Pyaar Villa played the traditional Splitsvilla game. Paisa Villa, overseen by Uorfi Javed and Nia Sharma, operated as a power centre that could reshape alliances in the other house.
Pyaar Villa
| Girls | Boys |
|---|---|
| Sadhaaf Shankar | Chakshdeep Singh |
| Akanksha Choudhary | Yogesh Rawat |
| Anjali Schmuck | Sorab Bedi |
| Soundharya Shetty | Anuj Sharma |
| Anisha Shinde | Tayne De Villiers |
| Diksha Pawar | Ayush Sharma |
| Simran | Harshit |
| Suzzane | Himanshu Arora |
Paisa Villa
| Girls | Boys |
|---|---|
| Keona Walke | Aarav Chugh |
| Khushi Rawal | Vishu Bajaj |
| Zalak Gohil | Ayush Jamwal |
| Niharika Tiwari | Kushal “Gullu” Tanwar |
| Preet Singh | Gaursh Gujral |
| Ashmita Adhikari | Ron Kariappa |
| Kaira Anu | Deeptanshu Saini |
| Anushka Ghosh | Mohit Magotra |
One name is missing from that list on purpose. Ruru Thakur finished as a first runner-up but does not appear on the confirmed line-up published at the premiere, which means she entered after the season had started. The sources used here do not give her entry date, so this page does not invent one.
Yogesh Rawat went from this final straight into another one, finishing second runner-up on Lock Upp season 2 on Netflix three months later.
The winning pair is also worth noting against the theme. Both Kushal Tanwar and Kaira Anu came out of Paisa Villa, in a season built around the question of whether love or money wins.
Every Splitsvilla winner, season 1 to 16
| Season | Year | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2008 | Vishal Karwal and Shraddha Haribhai |
| 2 | 2009 | Joanna Magee |
| 3 | 2010 | Parag Chadda and Kriti Sharma |
| 4 | 2011 | Dushyant Yadav and Priya Shinde |
| 5 | 2012 | Paras Chhabra and Akanksha Popli |
| 6 | 2013 | Paramvir Singh and Mandy Debbarma |
| 7 | 2014 | Mayank Gandhi and Scarlett Rose |
| 8 | 2015 | Prince Narula and Anuki Tchokhonelidze |
| 9 | 2016 | Gurmeet Singh Rehal and Kavya Khurana |
| 10 | 2017 | Baseer Ali and Naina Singh |
| 11 | 2018 | Gaurav Alugh and Shruti Sinha |
| 12 | 2019 | Shrey Mittal and Priyamvada Kant |
| 13 | 2021 | Jay Dudhane and Aditi Rajput |
| 14 | 2023 | Hamid Barkzi and Soundous Moufakir |
| 15 | 2024 | Jashwanth Bopanna and Akriti Negi |
| 16 | 2026 | Kushal “Gullu” Tanwar and Kaira Anu |
Three things stand out once the list is in one place.
Season 2 is the only one to crown a single winner rather than a pair. Every other season has ended with a couple.
The show is no longer annual. There was no season in 2020, 2022 or 2025, so the season number and the year have drifted apart – season 16 landing in 2026 rather than 2024 is the accumulated effect of those three gaps.
Sunny Leone has co-hosted every season since season 7 in 2014, which is ten consecutive seasons and longer than any of the men who have hosted alongside her. Splitsvilla has also fed straight into other reality formats: Prince Narula won season 8 and went on to win Bigg Boss 9, and Baseer Ali won season 10 before appearing in Bigg Boss 19.
What this page does and does not claim
Sourcing limits. Splitsvilla is not documented to the standard of an ICC tournament or a network awards ceremony. There is no broadcaster-published contestant register, and no official finale results release was found. Everything here comes from the series record plus entertainment-press reporting, and where those disagree it is flagged rather than averaged.
The finale order. Two independent reports give a consistent four-pair order. One states the third and fourth positions, the other states all four, and they agree. The prize figure rests on a single report and is labelled as such above.
The line-up. The 32 names are the confirmed launch line-up published at the premiere. Contestants who entered later are not in the table, and one of them reached the final. This page carries no eviction dates or week-by-week order, because no source consulted documented them reliably enough to tabulate.
Relationships. Splitsvilla pairings are outcomes of a television format. Nothing here should be read as a statement about anyone’s relationship off the show.
Winners table. Season winners come from the series record. The season 8 entry was blank there and was filled from contemporary 2015 finale reporting, cross-checked across more than one outlet.
Frequently asked questions
Who won Splitsvilla 16?
Kushal Tanwar, known on the show as Gullu, and Kaira Anu. They won the grand finale on 16 May 2026.
Who hosted Splitsvilla 16?
Sunny Leone and Karan Kundrra, with Uorfi Javed and Nia Sharma appearing as mischief makers running Paisa Villa.
How was the Splitsvilla 16 winner decided?
By public vote through the JioHotstar app, under a feature called Pyaar Ka Power. It was the first time in the show’s run that the audience chose the winning couple.
When did Splitsvilla 16 air?
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 7:00 pm IST on MTV India, with episodes streaming on JioHotstar. The season ran from 9 January to 16 May 2026.
How many contestants were in Splitsvilla 16?
Thirty-two at launch, sixteen in each villa. At least one further contestant entered after the premiere.
Will there be a Splitsvilla 17?
Nothing has been announced. The show has skipped 2020, 2022 and 2025, so a gap year would not be unusual.
Sources
- MTV Splitsvilla – season-by-season winners and hosts, and the season 16 premiere date, finale date, location and theme
- Zee News, Splitsvilla 16 confirmed contestants – the 32-name launch line-up by villa, plus timings and hosts
- India TV, Splitsvilla 16 winner 2026 – winning pair, third and fourth placings, the Rs 20 lakh figure and the Pyaar Ka Power vote
- Peddler Media, MTV Splitsvilla 16 finale winner – the full four-pair placement order and the audience vote described as a first
- Filmibeat, Splitsvilla 16 winner – independent confirmation of the winning pair and the four finalist pairs
- Contemporary 2015 finale reporting from India.com and BollywoodLife – the season 8 winners, absent from the series record
If a placing, name or date here is wrong, email connect@starsfunfacts.com with the correction and where your information comes from. Corrections are made to the article and the update date changes – see the Editorial Policy.
