The Biggest Loser

We are allowed to have tv shows about alcohol addiction, drug addiction, gambling addiction, addictions to drinking gasoline and eating diapers, but the second there is a show that centers around people who are on the brink of death due to food addiction it's an issue? There is no shame in needing help for ANY addiction. People will sit by and watch My 600 Pound life where they show those in need struggle and suffer, but the second we show how to avoid that misery and fate it's offensive.

The few who have been on the show and have claimed it gave them an eating disorder forget that they Already Had An Eating Disorder. Most of them were killing themselves and were ridden with a slew of diseases that they did not have at the end of the show, I get that for some reason shining a light on addictions and disorders that can be helped is somehow wrong, but The Biggest Loser has genuinely helped me fight through depression caused obesity numerous times in my life. It's reputation pisses me off.

What has reality TV come to these days with shows from Real World to Apprentice picking stereotyped characters to appear on them week after week and season after season. The Biggest Loser, however, is a different make-up entirely, featuring normal yet overweight contestants to compete to see who can lose the most weight and be...THE BIGGEST LOSER.

Two teams train and face-off each week in different challenges. Some of the challenges focus around their improvement, such as seeing how far one can ride an exercise bike for a set number of hours. Other challenges focus on the contestants' weaknesses, such as having them build a tall tower out of sugary food. It sounds cheesy, but it's fun to watch as the two teams try their best each week in the competitions. Host Caroline Rhea and trainers Bill and Jillian also provide a nice distraction from the contest and contestants. Caroline even has exciting lines such as "It's time to...CUT THE FAT!" Where do these writers come from...?

After the competition (and watching the winning team with their prize), we then have the weigh-off where each team member sees how much weight they have lost that week. Sometimes inspirational, other times boring, the weigh-in is one of the best moments of reality TV for me. Each week I get to watch as each team member works to try and lose weight and the real payoff comes in these moments. Afterwards, the team that loses the least weight has to vote a team member off, Survivor style. It can be somewhat cheezily intense.

Sometimes the game seems a little unfair...it appears that every week, whoever wins the challenge for that week gets some cushy prize. The team that loses the challenge stays home and gets extra workout time. Does this seem like cheating to anyone else? It always seems to be that the team that wins the challenge loses the weigh-in. Hopefully if this show sees a second season (which I hope), this problem will be addressed.

While some have complained that the show should focus more on maintaining a low weight instead of just shedding the pounds, the fine print at the end of each episode says that they trainers and show mentors DO address this! As well, each contestant, as least as far as I can tell, is dangerously overweight and needed to shed that many pounds, so I don't know where some reviewers on here get off saying that the contestants should be focusing less on rapid weight loss. Rapid weight loss is dangerous for people of AVERAGE body weight. As well, each contestant has been medically consulted.

Lastly, it is important to note that the show is also inspirational in many aspects. It shows that people who are overweight can still achieve things they would not have normally thought were possible. Each and every contestant has stated this, and I feel it is important to reinforce on here. The Biggest Loser shows how much can be achieved in diet, exercise, and self-image, which is important to an overweight America. I highly suggest tuning in!

The only part of the show they changed was the finale, and that was for the worse. I liked it when they came back in dramatic fashion. I love Bob Harper, but not as host.

I agree with the comment that the format needs to be changed. It's amazing that when the weight loss involves "famous people" they stay thru the whole show! As the people involved in The Biggest Loser know, some weeks are better than others because you've had great weight loss in a prior week or weeks; men normally lose weight faster than women; someone weighing 220 pounds will have a tougher time losing "big numbers" than someone weighing 320 pounds - and I noticed most of the women are under 300 pounds! While the team idea is okay, it should be put together by weight - trying to put together, at the beginning an equal amount of weight. But the final competition should be individual and the very final prize should be a year later - who has kept the weight off! In addition, I agree that there should also be a lot of stuff about keeping the weight off in a healthy manner. It has been inspirational to see how well most of these people have done and there is a lot of good about this - showing people they need to combine exercise with dieting.

Hey! Let's watch and see who gets voted off this week!

VOTED OFF???

The format of this "new" show demonstrates the inability, or at least unwillingness, of TV show creators to move beyond established paradigms and old modes of thinking. Why is it that all so-called reality shows have to vote someone off? For this show, the old "Survivor model" just doesn't work and is, indeed, quite out of place.

This whole show, while it has some appeal to the TV watching population who empathize with the need to shed pounds, has some serious challenges which are not addressed. The participants have been split into teams and the team who loses the least total weight is forced to vote a member off. The number of pounds lost, in itself, in a given week is a poor indicator of overall weight management. Weight control is a longer process than a single week and should be measured over a longer time. There also is the fact that losing weight too quickly is NOT necessarily the most healthy way to lose it and often losing weight too quickly tends to result in temporary results! Lastly, I will mention that in a health program, a person may lose fat but gain muscle which results in a lower NET weight loss. Focusing solely on pounds lost is a recipe for poor health.

Most importantly, any dieter will tell you that the challenge is NEVER to shed pounds but to KEEP them off! While this show talks about "healthy lifestyles", the only measure of success in the team competition is pounds lost. The single biggest challenge to weight loss, keeping weight off, becomes an afterthought.

Participants should not be voted off. A new format was needed here. They all should have remained until the final weeks of the show where their overall results and HEALTH, based on medical indicators, fitness and other factors is measured. There could be athletic competitions as well in the final weeks when you finally begin to eliminate those whose overall health has not improved as much. You can never tell each week whose overall success will be greatest in the long run. Also it would be ideal if the finale of the show could have been filmed months after the completion of the initial program to help measure how well people have kept it off.

As it stands, this show only reinforces the notion of crash dieting and scale watching to temporarily lose the greatest pounds without regard for true health or permanent results. An abomination of a show, considering.