The first weekend episode of Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 8 gave viewers their first look at Mohanlal face to face with this season's contestants. It also gave them something to argue about that had nothing to do with the eviction.

Gayathri Suresh was voted out by the jana sabha during the episode, and a weekly task threw up its usual share of drama. But what dominated social media chatter afterward was a smaller moment involving Shijin, the commoner contestant who entered the house after clearing an entry trial.

Here's what happened, according to Filmibeat Malayalam. During a luxury task, Bigg Boss offered the contestants who played it, along with the house leader and their followers, a chance to sit together and eat luxury food. Everyone else in the house turned it down, arguing that food not available to the whole house wasn't food they wanted either. Shijin didn't. He ate a portion of what he was given and completed the task, drawing open criticism from housemates who felt he'd broken ranks.

Mohanlal saw it differently. When he appeared for the weekend episode, he praised Shijin for finishing the task without playing what the show's audience calls the "nanma maram" card, refusing to perform saintliness for the cameras. As a reward, he handed Shijin a burger and a greeting card written in his own hand.

Then came the twist. Sitting in front of the rest of the house, Shijin said he couldn't eat the food while everyone watched, and tried to get others, including Rahul Eeswar, to share it instead. He also said out loud that he might be a poor player of the game. Mohanlal, watching this unfold, told him that if he didn't want it, it could go straight to the store room, and took the card back along with it.

That reversal is what set off the reaction online. Filmibeat Malayalam reported that a section of viewers called the entire gesture a publicity stunt, staged specifically because it happened in front of the veteran actor. Some described Shijin as someone who had a chance to be the episode's hero and turned himself into its villain within a matter of minutes. Others argued that refusing a gift handed over personally amounts to disrespecting the person giving it, whatever the intention behind it.

Not everyone was unkind. A few comments cited by the outlet said audiences generally like a contestant who plays smart, and that Shijin's instinct to look out for the house wasn't itself the problem. The issue, in their view, was doing it after already accepting the gift in full view of the cameras, and then walking it back once the room noticed.

Whether the moment costs Shijin support inside the house or simply makes him more visible going into next week's tasks is now the open question for Bigg Boss Malayalam viewers tracking this season.