"The Biggest Loser" (2004)TV series 2004-????

Writers:

Trace Slobotkin (writer)
Nathan Taflove (story)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | unknown

Release Date:

19 October 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Game-Show | Reality-TV

Plot Keywords:

Diet | Health | Non Fiction

Cast

Jillian Michaels	...	Herself - Trainer / ... (33 episodes, 2005-2008)
Bob Harper	...	Himself - Trainer / ... (33 episodes, 2005-2008)
Alison Sweeney	...	Herself - Host (31 episodes, 2007-2008)
Kelly Fields	...	Herself (16 episodes, 2008)
Mark Kruger	...	Himself (16 episodes, 2008)
Roger Shultz	...	Himself / ... (16 episodes, 2008)
Hollie Self	...	Herself (15 episodes, 2007)
Jay Kruger	...	Himself (15 episodes, 2008)
J.D. Roth	...	Himself - Narrator (14 episodes, 2005-2007)

Also Known As:

The Biggest Loser 2 (USA) (second season title)
The Biggest Loser: Couples (USA) (fifth season title)
The Biggest Loser: Special Edition (USA) (third season title)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Company:

25/7 Productions

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "30 Rock: SeinfeldVision (#2.1)" (2007)

The wrong idea for a "health" show

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.