Chit Chat

The Biggest Loser

Do you like this show?

I do, with caveats. I have watched most of the seasons via Hulu, I caught a few of the earlier ones on TV but only been keeping up with it each week during the last two seasons (although we've canceled cable so if they release another season it will be Hulu for me!). 

Caveats... obviously the lifestyle is unsustainable and unrealistic for the viewer at home. They work out like literally 6-8 hours or more per day eating 1200 cals a day for women and 1500 for guys (not anywhere near enough food for that level of physical activity!) and I've read that they do a lot of dehydration prior to weigh-ins to make sure the # is as low as possible. And "weeks" can be 3 days or 17 days depending on production needs. Also, even though the whole point of the show is that if you want to lose weight you have to change your lifestyle, I do think a lot of the contestants treat it as a cure-all and that's why so many rebound after the show ends.

But, a lot of the contestants have kept the weight off and gone on to fitness careers or served as role models for their communities. Overall, I do like the message that weight loss comes with changes in eating and physical activity which I believe 100%. I find the show motivational (although I remember one distinct night many years ago watching the show with a friend and we were sharing a tub of Nestle Tollhouse cookie dough eating it with a spoon!  :D ) and I like to follow the contestants on instagram to see how they're doing.

I also LOOOOVVVVEEE Bob Harper with a passion.

A funny note... because I have seen so many seasons... there was sooo much more drama in the first seasons. You used to have to vote people off, they weren't eliminated by weight loss alone. People would form alliances to sway the voting and have "secret" conversations "off-camera" (even though they know they are mic'd!) and of course if you vote against someone and they end up staying, tensions get high. ESPECIALLY with the seasons where the contestants are family or spouses. Oh LORD there were some dramatic seasons a few years ago! Now with weight loss alone causing the eliminations, the last few seasons have been a bit boring as far as reality TV entertainment goes. 
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Re: The Biggest Loser

  • Nice to know this is on Hulu!  We've had Hulu only for several months, and I never really got the hang of looking for shows.  I've pretty much only seen what Bravo has to offer so far.

    I watched this maybe around 2008 on TV, but haven't really followed it since then.

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  • I like this show, but admittedly I like most kinds of "extreme" shows.  I haven't watched recently but just looked it up and saw it's starting next week - I'll try and tune in.
  • luckya23 said:
    Nice to know this is on Hulu!  We've had Hulu only for several months, and I never really got the hang of looking for shows.  I've pretty much only seen what Bravo has to offer so far.

    I watched this maybe around 2008 on TV, but haven't really followed it since then.
    Upgrading to the Hulu with no commercials was the best thing we ever did! There's all kinds of stuff on there, including the entire series of Seinfeld. Definitely search around some more!
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  • JoanE2012 said:
    I like this show, but admittedly I like most kinds of "extreme" shows.  I haven't watched recently but just looked it up and saw it's starting next week - I'll try and tune in.
    Ha, awesome! I had no idea it was starting again soon. Looking forward to a new season!
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  • edited December 2015
    I'm not a huge fan of the Biggest Loser. I don't know why, though.

    I like Extreme Weight Loss. That show is done with Chris Powell and his wife Heidi working with someone one-on-one. They always seem to try to make a real, personal connection with the client. Also, that show takes place over the course of a year and involves them basically living with Chris for 3 months and being taught how to work out and eat healthy, and then the person is turned loose to workout and cook, etc. in their every day life for 6 months. I find it to be a little more realistic.

    ETA words

  • I really like the Biggest Loser and I love Bob and Dolvett. Looks like they got rid of that other male trainer from last season so now it's just Dolvett and Jen training... wonder if they're just doing two teams?

    Anyone see that Richard Hatch from the first season of Survivor is on this season?
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  • I have watched since season 1 back when Caroline Rhea (aunt hilda) used to host! I have always loved Bob & Jillian. I know it's not realistic to work out 8 hours a day, but you gotta give it to those people who are kicked off in the first few weeks and they come back for the final reveal and have lost like 100 pounds on their own. So the people who are truly committed really do make it a sustainable change on their own.

    @thefanciestbeckler I'm obsessed with Chris Powell's Extreme Weight Loss. He and his wife just seem like such genuine, caring people. There is no pressure about getting kicked off or voted off, you get them and the experience for an entire year (unless you quit) and the milestones are so neat when they bring people to run a marathon in like Paris or Hawaii. I follow them on FB and I love their pictures both of working out and their adorable kids.

                                                                     

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  • I like this show (despite a few of the not-so-healthy happenings behind it), but I really, REALLY miss Jillian's presence. Jillian is my spirit animal. 
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  • I'm not a huge fan of the Biggest Loser. I don't know why, though.

    I like Extreme Weight Loss. That show is done with Chris Powell and his wife Heidi working with someone one-on-one. They always seem to try to make a real, personal connection with the client. Also, that show takes place over the course of a year and involves them basically living with Chris for 3 months and being taught how to work out and eat healthy, and then the person is turned loose to workout and cook, etc. in their every day life for 6 months. I find it to be a little more realistic.

    ETA words
    A girl I went to high school with was Extreme Weight Loss last season - it was pretty neat to see her transformation. 

    I love Extreme Weight Loss. I used to watch a lot of Biggest Loser but it's not the same without Jillian. 
  • I also like Extreme Weight Loss.     It's lasts an entire year.  Which seems more realistic to not only reach goals, but gain healthier habits.

    There feels like something "wrong" about being voted off a show because you didn't lose as much weight as others.  IDK, I just don't like the show.






    What differentiates an average host and a great host is anticipating unexpressed needs and wants of their guests.  Just because the want/need is not expressed, doesn't mean it wouldn't be appreciated. 
  • I totally agree about Jillian. The best seasons are the ones with her and Bob alone. 
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  • luckya23 said:

    Nice to know this is on Hulu!  We've had Hulu only for several months, and I never really got the hang of looking for shows.  I've pretty much only seen what Bravo has to offer so far.

    I watched this maybe around 2008 on TV, but haven't really followed it since then.

    Upgrading to the Hulu with no commercials was the best thing we ever did! There's all kinds of stuff on there, including the entire series of Seinfeld. Definitely search around some more!

    Those commercials were so painful!! When I found a super deal on a year subscription gift card on ebay, I said that's cheap enough - no more of the same commercial 500 times!

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  • I guess the next season is supposed to start Jan 4th.

    I have watched a few seasons but I have a few issues with the show. Ie- not the healthiest way to do things (I am another HUGE fan of Extreme Weight Loss over Biggest Loser). Fi thinks its ridiculous to make a contest out of it . . . if you're going to give that much $$ to someone why not spend the $ on allowing everyone to stay and get healthy together (I can see where he's coming from). And I've actually read articles where Jillian has eluded to leaving because she didn't feel like it was healthy for the contestants. 

    Anyway - I'll probably watch. But I don't know if I'll be as invested as I have in the past
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  • I'm NAF!!!!  I hang around with a lot of fitness industry people (several "in the magazine" types are personal friends as well as their reps) and elite athletes.  Friends of mine have worked with individuals who've been on the show and the eye bulge says it all to bring them back to states of health.  One of the previous season's contestants started at the gym I'm at after being eliminated from the show. 

    1) it sets people up for failure.  The average person on there within four years has gained the weight back and then some putting them far worse off than they were when they started the process.  The diet is an unsustainable starvation diet coupled with insane amounts of cardio.  It's not healthy nor sustainable.  It's also - I get that it's a personal preference but what the diet does to muscle tone/composition just - "great - you lost weight but you look like a kite flapping because there isn't an ounce of tone to the muscles that once were there but the body catabolized during the starvation it's been going through..."

    2) Having met one of the contestants at the same gym I'm a member at - my reaction was "this person was NOT prepared AT ALL for what the show would change in her life, nor should this person be dolling out exercise/fitness advice - EVER!!!" She was white knuckling the diet like a spaced out cult follower.   The show really does the individuals a HUGE dis-service.  Instead of preparing them for success it's "thanks for the ad revenue!  Have a nice life!" they get paid nothing.  It's the entertainment industry, these people should not only get paid for having been on the show, any reruns, but the time that they're away on the shoot.  They should also be rep'd by someone for appearances post-show.  It cheapens the industry and shows the level of desperation that people going on that show experience only to have those issues compounded after they leave.  They're also not given the proper mental end coaching for why they got that large in the first place. 

    3) It's entertainment, it's not reality.  What you see as the finished edited video product is not actually what happens behind the scenes.  This goes with any "reality" TV program. 

    4) Pounds lost DOES NOT equal fat loss!!!  The people on the show aren't going through body composition scans to determine how much fat loss they actually have, the percentage they're saying is complete bunk! 

    5) Injuries and unrealistic expectations.  When you get injured in the gym following one of their plans - it's you who pays for the time off from work, the cost of the doctor visits, and the rehab.  They have a medical team taping them up, icing them, etc.  Say nothing about the "could they pass a WADA/USADA test" factor...  Losing 20+ lbs. in a week is not realistic.  No one sees the timeframe that they're actually there between eliminations which can attribute to having a false sense that it's possible to drop that amount of weight in that short of time.

    6) I could go on for a week - but those are my primary grievances with the show...

  • The new season is out, and on Hulu! Bob is the host which makes me SUPER DUPER EXCITED!!!! The look of the show is really different from past years, a lot more modern. Also, Jessie Pavelka is no longer a trainer. That's sad because he is fine as hell and I loved watching him!

    Here is the link to the episode - http://www.hulu.com/watch/889545#i0,p0,s17,d0.

    I've had a moment already... like 5 minutes in when Bob goes to meet the contestants the lady goes, "Omg, it's Bob! I'm like, Bob! It's you! I have your Biggest Loser DVDs! And now here you are, and here I am!" Sad that ppl have spent money on BL-branded weight loss products but obviously being on the show, they haven't worked...
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