I continue to watch NBC's The Biggest Loser in an effort to report back when there's something insightful, and also because I want to be proven wrong about my list of things that bug me about the show. Sadly, between all the pseudo-Survivor alliance bullshit and the questionable product placement, I've just been mentally adding to the list.

Come on, every week a trainer sits down and "raps" to a small group of contestants about the health benefits of a given product that just happens to be one of the show's sponsors? Seriously, last week, when baldy bear ex-husband guy (I don't know all of their names after half a season! This is a problem!) actually said, with a straight face, that chewing sugar-free gum is just like a dessert!

Er, did they brainwash you out there on Loser Ranch? I mean, don't get me wrong, I actually harbor a serious secret addiction to Dentyne's Vanilla Chill and have been known to chomp down when I'm having sweet cravings, but I would never in a million years be able to say with a straight face that it's just like a dessert. You know what is just like dessert? Chocolate fucking cake. Not gum.

But despite the stupid game play and the weird moments when Jillian is actually standing with her feet placed on two contestant's stomachs as they do sit ups, I have to admit that the show has redeemed itself a little bit.

First, I was originally concerned about injuries and guess what, after five weeks, one of the guys has a stress fracture on one leg and two other guys have torn their meniscus, although it's not specified whether it happened prior to or during the competition (although I'm guessing it's not a couch injury). I have been suspecting that the show would edit through all of this, because being frank about the dangers would underline how intensely crazy this competition is on your physical well-being, but they're stepping up to the plate and at least talking about the injuries on air. Sadly, they're not really shouldering any of the responsibility for them, but baby steps. Painfully wounded baby steps.

Secondly, I've been concerned about the contestants' caloric intake. At one point, Baldy Bear mentions having 900 calories to blow on a Temptation Challenge (eye roll), which made me suspect that he was just going to "bank" those calories toward weight loss.

Here's the thing: speaking as someone who has dealt with bouts of disordered eating in the past, I understand this logic. You're told all of your life that you're fat because you're eating too much, and then you start eating less and also, losing weight. Score, right? Except this competition rewards the person who loses the most weight the fastest. Thus, if you cut calories and lose weight, you can cut more calories and lose more weight! Right? Right?

Er, we all know that it doesn't work out that way. Sadly, we've had to get several weeks into the show before it comes out that these contestants have been practically on their own, nutrition-wise. They cook for themselves and monitor their own food. I guess I can justify it, since you wouldn't have a nutritional babysitter at home, but clearly, talking about eating enough veggies and fruits in a day doesn't make for good television. Luckily, this week was apparently nutrition week, with Rocco DiSpirito looking completely awkward and uncomfortable around all of the still mostly fat people, and we learned about pink lentils that cook a million times faster than green ones. Where do I find mofo pink lentils? Rocco's not talking, but whatevs.

And this week, we also get the confession from several team members on Team Jillian that they've been doing these six hour daily workouts on too few calories. Britney, who has had dismal weigh-ins for Biggest Loser-ville (but in reality, it's a sensible 2 pounds a week) admitted that some days, she only ate about 500 calories.

I'm willing to bet that Paris Hilton eats more than 500 calories a day, and bitch doesn't do anything more strenuous than picking up her 3 lb. dog. She certainly couldn't bench press Jillian.

You know, here's the thing: when you're fat, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. When I lived in London, one of my roommates was a perfect little size 2 with an admitted size prejudice against me. She put it aside because what else can you do when you're spending an entire summer sleeping in the same room together, and I was probably closest to her out of all of my roommates. And one day, we spent the entire day together, traveling the countryside, trekking through fields to ancient burial cairns and then out to the theatre that night, and later that night, she came out of the kitchen with a giant plate of steamed veggies and chicken. "Wow!" I said, "That looks delicious! Is that for everyone?" "No, it's my dinner!" she replied. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to bogart. I just thought...there's like no way one person could finish all of that." She laughed and said, "Actually, there's more still cooking but I didn't want to wait until the pasta finished." I must have bugged out my eyes because she got serious for a minute and said, "You know, Weet, when I moved in here, I thought for sure that you'd be eating all of our food and snacking all of the time, but you know, you actually don't eat very much. In fact, today, you ate less than my 6-year-old sister." And it's true. My eyes, as impossible as it seems, are totally bigger than my stomach, and I almost never finish everything on my plate, but try being a fat girl and explaining that you don't eat very much and see who believes you.

So I feel for Britney and I was happy to see Freaky Deaky Jillian give them a lecture about eating no fewer than 1600 calories a day and about how they are working so hard that they have to fuel their machines. It's a good lecture and I don't think enough people hear it. I know that I don't hear it enough. And I was even more pleased to see Britney start eating sensibly and suddenly have her metabolism wake up and start benefiting from the weeks of extreme sports that it had been ignoring up until now.

The show is by no means perfect, but it continues to catch me off guard and chip away at my pessimism.
I just wish that these nuggets weren't buried amidst a million Shock and Awe moments and a truckload of manufactured suspense. But then, I guess, the rest of America probably wouldn't watch it.

Also, in interest of full disclosure, this week while watching, my snack was a few glasses of Moscato d'Asti followed by some Caramel Corn Quakes. And by "some" I mean "an entire bag of." --Weetabix

The comments are sponsored by 24 Hour Gym, which is exactly like going to Disneyland.