So The Biggest Loser episode last night....hmmmmmm

**********spoiler alert---************photo: Daris on left, Koli on right.

if you don't want to know how The Biggest Loser turned out last night don't read this******



So last night, My husband, the gamer, started playing his new game "RED DEAD REDEMPTION" (pretty cool Western videogame) . For the last couple of weeks we've had to watch a few Clint Eastwood movies and The Quick and the Dead to get him in the mood. (I can watch Clint almost any day ) Ma, here, settled in bed with her tissues and Lemon mint Ricolas with the new Sookie Stackhouse book "Dead in the Family" by Charlaine Harris (read half of it in one go).

This means " The Biggest Loser" got recorded and I just finished watching it today. I haven't read any blogs about it, but I have to wonder at the reaction of other viewers. Here's mine. Hmph! Double Hmph! It really gave me a bad feeling, and I really don't know what to think afterward. If you don't watch it , this will not mean much to you. If you do , I would be interested to hear what you think.

Bottom line is that the final 4 went home for a period of time before doing the annual Biggest Loser Marathon and final weigh-in before the finale which is May 25.
The marathon is always inspiring and it was. But before that, they showed the contestants at home. One of the young men, Daris went home and started overeating again--basically he was bingeing and he even recognized it wasn't making him feel better yet he kept doing it. At the end of the show they had the final weigh-in which would determine the top 2 definite finale contestants and the bottom two. Last night Daris actually gained 2 pounds whereas everyone else lost double digits. He and Koli are in the bottom two of percentage of weight lost which means that America gets to vote on which one should be in the final 3 in the running for the grand prize / title of the Biggest Loser.

Different things came up. Daris made excuses, wasn't truly honest or maybe was in denial, said he was just focused on the marathon. Jillian called him out on this. Now they didn't show it, but I hope they really talked with him and helped him work through what was going wrong. What about his mom? Why didn't he reach out to Jillian or Bob or one of the other contestants on the phone? It was just ..icky...and very familiar to me personally about not reaching out for help.

It makes me question what tools or consistent emotional support these contestants are given while they are on the ranch. It is superfast weight loss in just 16 weeks while on the ranch and then I believe more months at home before the finale even though it is shown week to week. I'm sure the mind can't keep up with what the body is doing in that time period. I know I've had issues with body image ,and it's taken me a couple of years to lose 100 lbs. And the loose skin issues that so many of us blog about it. It takes time to process these emotions. For me, I felt self loathing at what I had done to myself when the loose skin sagging started. I felt like maybe I don't want to lose weight if this is the result. Now, I'm working on gaining acceptance everyday and understanding that I'm going to sag even more as this balloon deflates.

I've read that many of the contestants become focused on just winning and that they regain some if not all of the weight they worked so hard to lose. But I totally get how it would be tough for the contestants going home after 16 wks on the ranch. Just having cameras in my face would be driving me up the wall and making me want to comfort with food. Many of us in health / fitness blogland work through stuff everyday and some of us dip back in to old behaviors, use food, regroup, start over, again and again.

Please understand I'm not being hard on Daris or The Biggest Loser show. I think the Biggest Loser has been a great motivator and has changed the lives of so many people . The show has made exercising at over 300+ lbs acceptable and shown us it is doable. Another positive trickle down effect is new equipment and clothing for larger sized people. We all have to start somewhere and sometimes somewhere is over 500lbs. The show has definitely affected my life for the positive, even though I was completely turned off by even the name at the beginning.

It boils down to the end of the episode and how they have set up the finale. It seemed like it would have been better to have shown a little more about how Daris processed what really happened with him. During the last few moments both Koli and Daris made their pleas to America so we would vote for them on line / text or phone to be in the final 3. Koli talked about his growth, his motives, his self esteem, his goals. Daris cried and felt ashamed and seemed to ask for forgiveness and for America's vote despite his setback. It broke my heart and I just hope the producers let him work through that stuff and choose to make those statements.


I'll say it now that I would have voted for Koli no matter what had happened. I saw something in him that reminded me of me- how hurt and damaged he was from the beginning and how his self esteem grew during the show. (same for Daris too) When Koli went home, he kind of freaked at the distractions and realized he needed to isolate and focus . So he went to Vegas to an MMA school and focused on diet / training. That's what I would do. That's how I deal with stuff. Regroup, Focus, work through it. I went to the Nbc website and voted for Koli, because that is what I knew I would do if he were in the bottom two. I felt really jerked around by the producers of the show, and I think it diminishes both Koli and Daris to have presented such opposing pleas.

If I could make a recommendation to the show, it would be to tell us more about the methods for the emotional / mental transformation that is taking place with the contestants on the ranch. What are they doing for that part of this equation? They don't have to get too personal (not that weighing in wearing a sports bra isn't too personal). Just represent that side of things more. Yes, We see Bob and Jillian doing this very dramatically with the contestants, but what else is there ?. Is there counseling or therapy? Education about body image? Behavior training? 12 step? Guided group discussion?

I think back over the seasons of the show and I know the focus is exercise , health education, good eating choices, healthy cooking, working on what got you there and what you have to overcome, and sadly a lot of inside commercials for Yoplait,
Subway, and Glad bags. The show does represent the obstacles that each contestant overcomes, but this is life changing stuff. Literally, changing how you function day to day. Yes, it's the body and it's the mind and the spirit too. Ok, I'm rambling. It's just a tv show and it is edited for dramatic effect. But I think there are a lot of people out there who saw Daris flub up, but not what resources he had or planned to use to work through the problem or what is available to them.
I hope they show that next week.

When I started writing this post I was just irritated with the final scenes of the show, I felt bad for the contestants, and wondered what other viewers thought. Then it turned to being upset with the show . Then it turned to recognizing the good the show has done but where it has really missed the mark. Maybe I'm hoping too much for a tv show to change obesity in America, but it's made a dent so far. Why not make a chunk, Biggest Loser!?