The reality series “The Biggest Loser” was among the most set in the world for over 15 years.
21 years after the premiere, a new Netflix documentary deals with what was going on behind the scenes of the disputed program, where participants competed to lose weight.
The revelations have aroused strong reactions – and one of the series’ most famous profiles is now threatening lawsuits.
The documentary, «Weight and reality on TV – The Biggest Loser“, Premiered August 15.
– want them to vomit
Former “The Biggest Loser” coach Bob Harper talks about disturbing conditions behind the scenes.
He claims that the worse the participants had it, the better TV it was.
– The producers loved it. They said, “We want them to vomit. We want madness, ”he claims in the documentary.
Harper says he did several things he regrets – like claping after participants had thrown up and thus lost weight.
Read what the series creators themselves say below!
Extremely pressure in front of the camera
The reality series was sent to NBC for 18 seasons and was very income -generating the channel.
According to estimates from the business site Fast Company, only advertising revenues generated about NOK 1 billion a year.
In addition, they should have earned tens of millions of NOK annually on “The Biggest Loser” products.
While the NBC and the production company raised, several participants claim that they felt worthless.
After up to eight hours of hard training every day, participants had to be weighed in front of the cameras – surrounded by light, applause, or embarrassing silence.
– It felt like standing naked, even with clothes on. The whole world saw the number. Wasn’t that good enough, I felt worthless, says Kai Hibbard in the documentary.
Hibbard, who participated in season 3, has repeatedly said that the participation was the biggest mistake in her life, and called the program a “FAT-Shaming disaster”.
Hibbard says that participants avoided drinking water for several days, took laxatives and pressed the body to the outermost with minimal food.
She has said in several interviews that she lost her hair, stopped getting her period and only slept three hours a night while the series was recorded.
Life -threatening state
In 2009, participant Tracey Yukich collapsed during a running challenge on the beach.
She was transported to a hospital with air ambulance, and later was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, according to The Independent.
Large Norwegian lexicon describes this as a serious and potentially fatal condition that can occur in extreme physical exertion.
– People took amphetamine, diuretic pills and threw up to the bathroom. I threw up every single day.
Previous “The Biggest Loser” participant
In a Facebook post in 2022, Tracey called the event a turning point:
– I wanted a life in peace and joy – a life of real happiness. I thought weight loss would give me it, but instead everything got worse. Only when I realized that my intrinsic value was not about numbers at a weight or what clothing size I had did things start to change.
– a wonder no one has died
In 2016, The Guardian published a comprehensive revelation on how participants were pushed into health-threatening training and slimming.
Former winners talked about bodily shed, deliberately dehydration before weighing, and training ten times harder than recommended.
“It’s a miracle that no one has died,” the American doctor Ed Tyson, an expert on eating disorders, told the newspaper.
NBC did not answer the criticism that emerged in The Guardian’s article.
Beat all records
A study from the National Institutes of Health showed that 13 out of 14 participants put on everything they had gone down after “The Biggest Loser”.
The researchers followed the participants for six years after the program. Even after so many years, they still had a lower burn than before the weight loss.
Danny Cahill, who won season 8 in 2009, set a record with a weight loss of over a hundred kilos.
Seven years later he had put on just as much left.
Cahill claims that his combustion was destroyed by “The Biggest Loser”.
– I felt fantastic for a couple of years. I was wondering why others put on again. I trained two hours a day and cycled all over the city. When I quit it, the pounds began to sneak again, he told ABC News in 2016.
Trente in rubber district
Ryan Benson, who won the first season of “The Biggest Loser,” has previously told People that he took extreme steps to lose weight before weighing in front of the cameras.
He trained wearing a rubber suit to sweat as much as possible.
“Then I went to the sauna to sweat more,” he said, adding that all the pounds came back quickly.
Breakings, doping and dehydration
Several participants confirm that they threw up to lose weight faster, as coach Bob Harper has claimed.
This can lead to nutritional deficiency, dehydration and imbalance in the salt content of the body. Loss of potassium can lead to dangerous heartbeat disorders, which in the worst case can be fatal.
Frequent vomiting damages both esophagus, stomach and teeth due to stomach acid.
It also increases the risk of bulimia – an eating disorder where vomiting becomes a compulsory act that is difficult to stop.
In the documentary, participant Suzanne Mendonca says that she threw up every day during the recording, and developed an eating disorder afterwards.
– People took amphetamine, diuretic pills and threw up to the bathroom. I threw up every single day. Bob Harper told people to vomit, “Good,” he said, “then you lose more weight,” she says.
– defamatory claims
Robert Huizenga rejects the claim that diet pills were handed out with amphetamine -like substances.
Huizenga was the Profiled Doctor of the Realityeries.
He calls the claim “defamatory”, and emphasizes that the program had zero tolerance for dieting.
He says production took urine samples to uncover cheating, but admits that the series gradually came out of control.
– When the program became popular, things I strongly disagreed with, he says.
– Forced them
Huizenga admits that he did not always have an overview of everything that happened during the recordings, and talks about repeated disagreements with hard coaches.
He says he repeatedly threatened to quit if he was not allowed to join and plan with the coaches.
– They forced the coaches, and I gave my little half hour speech. Maybe something was adjusted, but not as much as I would like, he says.
Strike back
Jillian Michaels, former coach of the reality series “The Biggest Loser”, has engaged a lawyer and is considering suing Netflix.
In the documentary, former participants claim that Michaels broke the rules by distributing caffeine tablets, which supposedly to increase fat burning.
In high doses, caffeine can cause serious side effects such as palpitations, high blood pressure, dehydration and sleep problems, according to the Public Health Institute (FHI).
To TMZ, Michaels says that “everyone” in production helped to distribute the caffeine pills, and that she is considering the lawsuit because the documentary is “so gross” and “so harmful that I do not think I have a choice”.
On Instagram, Michaels has posted emails from 2009 which she believes proves that the caffeine pills were used in consultation with the manufacturers.
– Health and safety first
The Creators of the Realityeries, JD Roth and Dave Broome, both participate in the documentary on Netflix.
Dave Broome points out that many participants were in a life -threatening situation when they started, and that the reality series was often the participants’ “last hope”.
Broome says that health and safety always came first, despite everything that is claimed in the documentary.
After all the criticism, Danni Allen, who won season 14 of “The Biggest Loser”, has gone out and defended the series.
On Instagram, she writes that the experience was extreme, but positive.
In the documentary, programs JD Roth say that the series was absolutely not flawless, but …
– Anyway, you can look back on it and say that “The Biggest Loser” definitely made an impression.
NBC has not yet commented on the criticism in the documentary. They have previously told The New York Post that the participants were always followed up closely and received medical supervision.
