Mandana Karimi Responds To Ali Merchant Calling Her A 'Gold-Digger' In 'Lock Upp'

While talking to a camera in 'Lock Upp,' Merchant said, "I think Mandana is the most fake person inside this house. I am not directly calling her a gold digger. But she has similar traits to a gold digger. They look for a prey, earn their sympathy, get close to the prey, and pretend to be their best friends. She did the same, told sob stories about her family, she pretended to be friends with Zeeshan (Khan) and befriended me as well through him.”

Another contestant Azma Fallah overheard while Merchant was talking and informed Karimi, and she reacted by saying that she spoils herself with her own money. Karimi said, “I may look fancy but I am spoiling myself with my money, what I have earned. As far as my dating is concerned, yes, I have dated powerful men. Not because of their money. It is on record, that on many occasions I have broken up with a powerful man because it wasn't worth my time or life. I have never taken anything from anyone. In fact, many times my things have gone. They ruined my name and my life, as my ex did.”

She went on to say, "It's Ali's way of putting words into my mouth. I know what I have done. I know who I have loved and with whom I have been in a relationship and how it was.”

Karimi also talked to a camera later on, where she said, “People like Ali, who don’t know you, your pain, your life, they go around and talk, gossip. They say things like 'she is a gold-digger, she cusses.' Ali is a person who came to the show, and tried to move forward in the game on his ex (Sara Khan)'s shoulder. And when Sara left, he is doing the same with other people. Such people will reach nowhere.”

Karimi married designer Gaurav Gupta in 2017, after dating for two years. However, she file a domestic violence case against Gupta and his family in the same year but withdrew it the next month. She revealed on the show that she was involved with a known director and even planned a baby with him. Unfortunately, she had to abort it because the director backed out after she conceived.?