Image via NBC.comHaving now watched an entire season of
The Biggest Loser, I wanted to revisit my
initial observations to see if I still felt the same way. And yep, for the most part, I do:
- The voting is still stupid. Entirely stupid. Either it should be performance based or social strategy-based. This weird hybrid of Survivor and some kind of weight-loss American Idol is bizarre.
- The humiliation factor seems to exist as a psychological purpose to keep the viewer watching. After all, we're expected to be content enough to sit on the couch for two hours and watch people who are more motivated than we are work out for marathon sessions that would be appropriate only for professional athletes or Olympians. We know that the odds are pretty good that the average viewer has some poundage to lose, but the show can't afford to alienate or make the viewer feel bad about themselves. Instead they create these vaguely embarrassing and humiliating moments for the contestants. The calorie intake montage, the weigh-in uniform, the long camera pans showing their sweating fat rolls jiggling or showing them on enormous industrial-size seesaws. It's all there to make us feel better about our own weight situation.
- The commercials started out annoying and then got even more annoying. If anything, the product placement really undermines the authority of the trainers. If a corporation selling 100 percent pure unadulterated lard sponsored the show, you get the feeling that Bob would be telling you how a little bit o' lard was an important part of everyone's day.
- The unrealistic weight-loss numbers are just that: extremely
unrealistic. The show never even gives one moment of airtime to explain
to perhaps the less jaded viewer that the amount of weight loss
experienced by the contestants happens under extreme
circumstances and that the healthy rate recommended for permanent weight
loss is 1-2 pounds a week.
- There are a few nuggets of
real information, in drips and drabs, throughout the season. We found
out how many calories the contestants were eating, how fast they were
moving on the treadmill, etc., but placing some charts and guidance on the
website would be the responsible thing to do if the producers were even
a little interested in helping the nation lose weight sensibly.
- The sign off, "I'm sorry, you are not the Biggest Loser," is still incredibly stupid.
Clearly,
a Weetabix-produced version of the show would be very different (and
probably wouldn't have even a quarter of the ratings). The first thing
to go would be the mofo scale. Instead of the number of pounds,
contestants would have their actual fitness measured along the terms of
speed, strength and endurance. In the first episode, all of the
contestants would be bench-marked against a bunch of activities like
swimming, cross-country running, and rock climbing, that balance beam test
and a few other fun sporty things. Instead of working in the gym to
sweat out as many pounds as possible, their fitness routines would be
similar to those designed for top athletes, with the goal of refining
their bodies to best perform in those events. Instead of weigh-in, contestants
would compete in one of the benchmarked activities. They
wouldn't be trying to beat the other players, necessarily, but rather,
their performance would be measured against their own
personal benchmark. The percentage at which they improved could serve as their
measure of success that week. That means the girls would not have an
unfair advantage against the boys and your biggest competition would be
yourself. The person who improves the most would win a fabulous prize (their own pony? Amusement park? Tim Gunn?) and the person who improves the least would have to wear a silly hat or communicate only through the art of mime for the next week. Their weight
would drop as a side effect of their improved fitness and would no
longer be considered the be-all end-all measure of success.
The truth
is, I don't know if it's realistic to impress upon the populace that
you can drop 124 pounds in 4 months, and there is some question as to
whether or not that rate of weight loss is even healthy. How about some
actionable goals that are more spiritual than material? You just can't
deny the emotional benefits of being able to climb a rock wall that you
couldn't climb before. And what's a more fulfilling goal: the ability
to wear an Armani suit or the fact that you can get stronger,
healthier, faster and more bendy? I know what I would pick.
The comments want to hear how you would create the perfect physical fitness reality show.
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The show would not take contestants anyplace. It would film them working healthy living and eating through their normal lives, and give them points for handling tough situations, like being sent out of town on work to conferences for a week at a time, eating road/conference-type food. They would have coaches work with them to find some exercise that fit into their real lives every week. And they would be rewarded for improvements to fitness, as you suggested. It would not showcase big losses, but show people how you can really live with your real-life choices.
It's a TV show people. Yes it's unrealistic, I don't think we would watch it if we said "oh yeah, I could do that!"
Yes, this show annoys me. I used to watch it. I saw the first two seasons. I was frustrated watching this show week in week out, so I just stopped watching it. It is too unrealistic, unhealthy, and commerical. I got so angry at my overweight friend who wants to lose weight because he was comparing everything he does to the show. He was like "well, I can do this cuz it was on the show, I can that cuz it was on the show". He just doesn't get it. Trainer Bob is just too hot sometimes, so I watch it occassionaly, lol. = P
But AfterGirl, these are real people being messed with. The show puts their life through a blender, radically changes their bodies, and says, "Have a nice life." It's like Professor Higgens an Eliza Dolittle. They have been given a radically different life, and waved off with no preparation for how to either realistically keep it or deal with it. If it were only truly a fantasy.
But AfterGirl, these are real people being messed with. The show puts their life through a blender, radically changes their bodies, and says, "Have a nice life." It's like Professor Higgens and Eliza Dolittle. They have been given a radically different life, and waved off with no preparation for how to either realistically keep it or deal with it. If it were only truly a fantasy.
I never understood how these so-called professional trainers could so easily (or maybe not so?) buy into the weigh-in as the way to determine who is the biggest loser. At the very least, wouldn't a body fat measurement be better? They could still call it the Biggest Loser. Also, Linda is on to something in making them do this in real life. They do go home for a bit before the final weigh-in, but as past seasons have shown, many of them revert and gain weight back, sometimes quite a bit.
And what is with using an overweight host? Is that weird or is it just me? (I haven't watched this season, so I don't know who the host is, but I did last). And why don't we get a snapshot of how the trainers train themselves? So many things they could do!!