Biggest Loser = Biggest Bullshit

[DianaCox]

Some pretty horrible stories about TBL:

http://www.cracked.com/article_21137_5-details-they-cut-from-my-season-the-biggest-loser.html
In 2006, The Biggest Loser was in its third season. This hit reality show focused on a group of 14 people sent off to live in a complex together, with the goal of losing weight via the fastest possible methods that weren't amputation or amphetamines. However, behind the hasty weight loss, trumped-up drama, and dramatic music, there lurked a dark side. Cracked talked to The Biggest Loser Season 3 runner-up Kai Hibbard, who told us ...
#5. They Hid Real Relationships if the Fat People Were Deemed "Too Fat"
#4. The Results Were Skewed and Took Way More Exercise Than They Showed
#3. The Show Has Absolute Power Over You
#2. You Are Physically Ruined Afterward
#1. You Are Mentally Ruined Afterward

http://www.xojane.com/issues/my-bod...-and-i-deny-myself-nearly-everything-i-desire

http://www.avclub.com/article/whats-it-like-to-be-a-contestant-on-the-biggest-lo-105916

Feel free to add more.

 

[JackieOnLine]

But she injured her leg during filming and couldn't run much, so she refused. The people on the show told her, "We don't care -- run," and she said no. Because she didn't comply, they edited the footage to make her look like the biggest bitch in the world. Without the whole "threat of injury" thing, she seemed like a big ol' entitled wussbasket. And guess what? She got death threats. She got so many death threats that NBC had to disable the messaging function on her part of the show's site. All because she had been injured the previous week and physically could not do what they were asking.

holy crap!!

 

[newanatomy]

Just fat shaming all dressed up with a bow.

 

[DianaCox]

No matter how fat most of their audience is, they can feel better about themselves in comparison to the lard-buckets on the show.

 

[brooklyngirl]

Ugh. I don't even know what else to say

 

[JackieOnLine]

while I don't wish harm on anyone - seems like they are asking for a big ass lawsuit (so to speak) when someone does have a heart attack or something...

 

[Terri]

They probably check and watch heart stuff closely. It's probably stuff like sore knees, hips, etc. that they force them all to use even when injured. I know on my stress test the ole knee started hurting way before the heartbeat got elevated.

 

[Terri]

BTW if that chick was all up in my face screaming at me I would throat punch her. She makes me sick to my stomach. She makes it look ok to be hateful and shame obese people. Like you are obese, you are fat and lazy. I have to be superior than you because I have lower BMI. Fuck her and that show!

 

[Munchkin]

Probably the meanest show I ever saw. Fat shaming on national TV. I would love to see today pics of the whole bunch of them from the beginning.

 

[Larra]

I refuse to watch this show, and wish everyone else would. Unfortunately, there seems to be a sufficient audience that enjoys fat shaming (the last acceptable prejudice in our society) to keep the show going. If no one watched, it would be off the air. As always, it's all about money.

 

[Kate]

I have never been able to watch this show! Fat shaming is the last acceptable prejudice Larra, you are so right, and I can't watch this or any other show where the form of "teaching" seems to be spitting cruel comments at the student. I don't learn that way and it actually is the easiest way to piss me off and make me not listen to you or what you have to say. And it doesn't work we've all seen it. Take the contestants off the ranch and nearly all of them have gained at least some of the weight back...

 

[Sheanie]

TBL is making bullying acceptable because the victim is fat. I am fond of telling fat haters that the "Fat Fairy" will someday come back and bite them in the butt. And I have proof that this actually happens. My Uncle, who shamed his fat wife all throughout my childhood, is now SSMO himself. And my brother, who often shamed all the women in our family indirectly by saying he would never have a fat wife? His wife is obese. My SIL who always made a lot of noise about never being bigger than a size 0? She's well over 250# currently. And the former WW lecturer I grew up listening to trumpeting the dogma of that particular organization? Obese as well.

If TBL actually worked long term, we'd be seeing the contestants splashed all over magazines. We do not see them, because they go home and revert to their old habits, regain their weight, and are made to feel like failures. The real failure here is all on the drill-sergeant assholes and the entire fat-shaming mentality of fat-hating bullies. Shaming has NEVER worked to change behavior. It only forces the behavior to be hidden.

 

[MyNewLife]

When I had to go under the care of a cardiologist after surgery. He told me that he'd rather have one bariatric patient than have 10 BL patients. He said it doesn't last and the co-morbidities just calm down for a bit and return after regain. I was afraid he would be negative about the whole thing but he was so positive about WLS.

 

[Will2014]

The crazy thing is I actually had to endure listening to 2 separate family members, with totally straight faces, trying to talk me into going on that show. After watching 1 episode and seeing how debased and ridiculed those participants were made to feel, I said no way! Such contrived garbage.