The Fattest Loser

A woman, holding up my eating trousers, yesterday.

I absolutely love The Biggest Loser. Particularly the American one, as I haven’t actually seen the UK one. It's so, so, well so American. For those who haven't seen this marvellous piece of TV entertainment (Sky 1 and Sky real lives) it's basically a gameshow where they get a range of the fattest people you have ever seen (largest was just under half a tonne - same as a baby elephant!) and put them on this intensive 12 week course of extreme exercise and diet and challenges. Each week someone gets eliminated, and the winner is the last one left who has lost the most weight. By the end the transformations are amazing, some go from being an overweight hefer to an anorexic waif, well the winner does get $500.000 so you can see why they do it.

Much as I love the show, and particularly the two trainers who keep the contestants on their toes and sweating like buckets (Bob and Gillian), I don’t really agree with the final product. The idea is there, and they do take on extreme cases and generally people do lose a lot of weight and change their lives, as well as go through a lot of psychological issues. But it seems that the final result is so extreme that I’ve heard that a lot of the contestants go back to being fat again.

It’s so hilariously over the top, and the constant product placement is just cringeworthy. Here’s one example:

Bob: Hey Gillian, I see you’re chewing gum.

Gillian: Yes Bob, I’m chewing Wrigley’s new sugar free gum.

Bob: Did you know chewing gum after a meal helps you digest the food quicker and keeps your hunger pains at bay.

Gillian: Yes Bob, especially if you use Wrigley’s new sugar free gum.

Bob: Yes. Wrigley’s sugar free gum, which is new, and great is the BEST.

Gillian & Bob: Ha ha ha, it’s the BEST.

But anything that encourages people to eat healthily and exercise is not a bad thing at all. My favourite part of the show is the ‘transofrmation’ at the end of the episode where they always hold up a pair of old trousers and drop them to show how much weight they’ve lost.

That’s my main aim for changing my diet and exercising, I want to be the person dropping my trousers and smiling vacantly. Although taking that sentence out of context, I could be arrested for doing that.