The Show With the Oxymoron Title
Entertainment Writer, reality TV junkie, Watching Nutrition, a martial artist
| Pros |
|
| Cons |
|
SEP
14
2007
The Biggest Loser —
IntroIf you're looking for a problem that many Americans have firsthand knowledge on, weight issues is a good place to start. This can include anything from anorexia, bulimia, obesity, bad nutrition, lack of exercise, etc. The Biggest Loser tackles obesity, usually the morbidly obese. It's unclear how they do it, but somehow with each season, the show becomes more and more successful. This latest season, with one show already in the can, seems headed towards the same trend.
Premise
The Biggest Loser pits obese people against each other, originally in teams, and closer to the end they compete as individuals. Losing more weight keeps you safe, but sometimes those doing well can still be seen as a threat and leave just based on that. However, in the end, the winner is always decided on which one of the final three lost the biggest weight percentage.
Challenges
The contestants on The Biggest Loser, whether they're competing as individuals or teams, face off in challenges that either showcase the bad effects of eating what they shouldn't or that showcases their physical fitness. Sometimes they're teased with something desirable, such as forbidden sweets, and if they partake, they get a reward, such as letters from home, but they also suffer the consequence of knowing they ate something that could detract from their overall goal. Sometimes the challenges show what they've learned nutrition-wise, such as guessing how many calories are in a certain meal, or show physical prowess, such as the one this week where teams had to carry suitcases loaded with the weight they need to lose to an airplane, then the team needed to work together to drag the airplane across the tarmac. Their reward was letters from home. Those always make me feel so much for the moms. I can't imagine anything better if away from my kids and doing something to better myself, than getting a letter of encouragement from them.
The Contestants
There are always a few contestants that have such great back stories, you're rooting for them from the get-go, such as the winner from two seasons ago, Matt. He had been a wrestling champion in college and headed for big things, but somehow lost his way and gained a lot of weight and a lot of hair. Along with his lost weight, he found romance on the show with his fellow final 3 contestant, Suzy. They eventually married and had a baby earlier this year. Yet, this year there seems to be an abundance of stories and people to win us over. There's the paramedic that's probably less healthy than many people she's working on, a liver disease sufferer that's afraid her kids will have to bury her soon, a woman that's embarrassed to go to her husband's work Christmas parties because of the way she looks, and a 21-year-old who has never felt she fit in with her thin family. But the one that has the most gripping story is a single mom that have lived in seven different states the last few years because of Hurricane Katrina. We can only imagine the ways she has suffered when she said sometimes she wishes she had washed away with the hurricane. She adds, to top it all off, she's now fat, when she wasn't before. I honestly don't know if you could find a person in need of more sympathy.
The Regulars
The Biggest Loser's host in all previous seasons, Carolina Rhea, has left to return to her standup career. She has been replaced my Days of Our Lives star Allison Sweeney who has had her own publicized battles with weight. On the soap since she was a teenager, she gained weight on TV, then lost weight on TV. So far, I'm not seeing great warmth from her on the show, but I'll give her a little more time. The show started with trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels leading teams, with Bob being the tender-hearted one and Jillian the one that was tough as nails. Jillian left last season, replaced by Kim Lyons, yet another tender-hearted soul. The show needed that toughness back; it needed that do or die attitude of Jillian's. For this season, she's coming back ... secretly. Jillian is leading a secret team that isn't training in a 24 Hour Fitness Gym or living on a ranch. I don't know where they're living, as we only see them working out in an area with sand and hills, as they're pushing truck tires around and doing jumping jacks with them over their head every time they offer up Jillian an excuse. She is exactly what the doctor ordered; the show needs her grit.
Downfall
The only downfall I see to the contestants losing weight on The Biggest Loser is that they don't deal with all those emotions of them beg unhealthy in the first place. It's rare that people are just so ignorant on how to keep fit that they become 100 to 200 pounds overweight. It's usually some emotional thing that has put them in that place, such as a devastating hurricane, living with a disease, or looking around and realizing you're the only one in the family that isn't fit and trim. The show deals with these issues a little, but they never bring any counselors on site to discuses these issues with the contestants. This means they may leave the show 75 pounds lighter, but once they get back home to the same emotional issues they left, they can easily put the weight back on. During the reunion show last week, checking in on the Biggest of Losers, if you will, many of them were still very fit, but you could see where they may have put 10 to 30 pounds back on, which would be easy to do, if you're not doing the hours of training every day required to lose all that weight to begin with. Regardless, they did appear to happy and were still more fit than when the show started. It would just be nice to know that emotionally they are just as fit.
Conclusion
If you're looking to be inspired to lose the weight, you can't do much better than this show. Watching others take off 5-20 pounds ever week makes you want to put down the doughnut and go out there and work your butt off. It will be up to you, though, to figure out the emotions behind it all. I can't imagine how the show manages to top itself every year, but last year the winner posted the biggest weight loss every on the show, more than 200 pounds, and just this week one of the new cast, a 62-year-old grandfather, lost 31 pounds in one week, the most ever lost on the show in that time frame. It's really hard to argue with that type of success.
The Biggest Loser is recommended by LauraBelle
Comments about LauraBelle’s Review
More reviews by LauraBelle
Nature's Source Natural Bathroom Cleaner Review - "Easy Enough For a...
Clinique Superpowder Double Face Makeup Review - "Adds to That Flawless...Lawry's 30-Minute Marinade, Teriyaki with Pineapple Juice Review - "Fruit...Clinique Foundation Review - "End Result Is Flawless"
