I’ll admit that this post might be a little bit of a stretch (and I apologize for two Ds in a row), but as I sit here watching Jay Leno and perusing Twitter, I can’t help but notice that both the show and my tweet feed are talking about the same thing: dieting, at least in terms of the dieting done on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser.” As Leno interviews the shows latest cast-off, Allen, who lost about 90lbs in about 10 weeks, I’m reading an article in The New York Times entitled, “On ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Health Can Take a Back Seat” and I am intrigued. I’ve been a big fan of the show and I love seeing the transformations that the contestants have undergone, but at the same time, I’m skeptical. I find it hard to believe that in one week (or over the course of the show), people can as lose as much weight as they do, especially if they are doing it in a healthy way.
The program’s first winner, Ryan Benson, admits that he used dangerous tactics to lose the 122lbs he shed while on the show. I’m not surprised. I’m also not surprised the Benson has declined to attend the upcoming “Biggest Loser” reunion due to his massive weight gain; he is now well above the 300lbs he was when he appeared on season one. Given the fact that contestants are prone to overworking and underfeeding themselves while on the show (essentially, the show is glorified exercise bulimia, where instead of purging, a person exercises their calories off), it’s no wonder that they gain the weight back when the leave The Biggest Loser Ranch and enter the “real world,” where they can’t work out 6 hours a day.
“The Biggest Loser” isn’t the only weight-centered show on television either. Lifetime, VH1 and TLC all have had weight loss/body improvement shows as part of their schedules and while they seem to be helping the lives of their contestants, I can’t help but wonder what kind of impact these shows are having on their viewers, especially the young, females viewers, many of whom may have serious body issues. Seeing contestants lose massive amounts of weight in such short periods of time may inspire viewers to try to do the same, and may do so without the medial and professional supervision the contestants have. I’m honestly surprised that I haven’t heard any horror stories linking back to the show.
If at the end, the contestants are happy and there’s no harm done, then fine. But is dieting really worth it? Morbidly obese people need a change in lifestyle, not a television show that may very possibly be setting them up for failure.
What do you think about “The Biggest Loser” and its possible impact on not just the health of the contestants but on the health of its viewers?
Photos courtesy: NBC.com and Trae Patton/NBC Universal via NYTimes.com
Article source: Wyatt, Edward.”On ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Health Can Take a Back Seat.” New York Times Online. 24 Nov 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/business/media/25loser.html?src=twt&twt=nytimes. Accessed 24 Nov 2009.
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December 1, 2009 at 9:55 am
E: for Eating During the Holidays « The ABCs of my L.I.F.E.
[...] and thus a time to grossly over-indulge, and because I just recently read an article and wrote a post about the contestants on “The Biggest Loser,” I thought I’d give out a few of the [...]