New Delhi, Nov 11 (IANS): With the finale of "Kaun Banega Crorepati 5" being aired next week, Amitabh Bachchan says it is hard to say goodbye to the popular game show.

"The recording for the finale for KBC took place today (Thursday) and it took an entire day to do so. It has been an exceptional season this year and when one leaves such environs there is bound to be a deep feeling of not wanting to depart. All the little little things that made up these extraordinary days on set was of a very distinguished quality," Big B posted on his blog Bigb.bigadda.com.

The last episode of season five, which started Aug 15, will be aired Nov 17.

"A routine had been set, people worked to maintain a sense of togetherness in all these days. And today one had to say our 'bye byes'. Tough when you have to do this, but I guess you must bury the old so that the new prosper. The new will indeed take over, and should. But in a most deserving and disciplined manner," he added.

The 69-year-old had made his small screen debut with "Kaun Banega Crorepati" way back in 2000. And since then, the megastar has hosted four out of five seasons. The third edition was hosted by Shah Rukh Khan .

The first three seasons were aired on STAR Plus, but from the fourth season it was telecast on Sony with Amitabh as the host.

With the underlying belieft that 'Koi insaan chhota nahi hota', this season saw people from India's interiors participating. Of them, Sushil Kumar won Rs.5 crore and Anil Sinha Rs.1 crore but there were many others who won large sums of money, fulfilling their lifelong dreams.

Thanks to all this and Amitabh's mass connect, the show managed to generate the highest rating of a non-fiction show by registering 7.2 TVR (television rating) and 8 TVR for two episodes when 'aam admi' Sushil Kumar won the Rs.5 crore jackpot.

It was telecast in two parts and reached out to 25 million people on Nov 1 and 27 million people Nov 2 respectively.