Lose it Channel Ten

I would make a terrible psychologist.

It is beyond me how anyone can find ‘The Biggest Loser’ motivating, inspirational, or even vaguely entertaining.

Let me backtrack, I spent last weekend in my hometown visiting family. When I suggested Gladiators (I don’t wanna love it, I just do) for a bit of light Sunday night entertainment. I was promptly shot down by my nine year old sister who sternly advised me that it was time for ‘Loser’.  

I argued what I thought was a pretty decent case for Gladiators in an all female household…i.e. the Tom Williams factor, however was out voted. So, reluctantly, I settled in to watch my first (and hopefully only) episode of Loser.

Promising Start: I managed not to throw up my dinner listening to lyrical genius Shannon Noll belt out the opening theme song (maybe that’s how they lose all that weight) which goes something like: “I know your stronger then this…you gotta lift, you gottttttta lift….yeah yeah yeah”, to a backdrop of really overweight people gazing out over the horizon with a look of scripted plastic determination.

Over the next hour (yes – they devote a full hour to this trash) I watched in horror as the contestants were stripped of all dignity by their ‘motivational’ trainers. I’m talking grown men and woman being made to parade around in spandex, do push ups in the mud, and yelled at until they cried. All of this to a national audience. 

I’m sorry but I was under the impression that exercise was meant to be fun and food was there to be enjoyed. No wonder we have an ‘obesity epidemic’ and children as young as 5 are getting a food complex. Watching what these people go through does not make me think ‘gee that looks like fun, I too would like to eat only green food for a week and go for daily 10km runs in the rain’.

What’s scary about all this is that the show runs for around about 15 weeks during which some of the contestants lose 50+ Kg’s. This is not realistic. This is not healthy. This should not be tried at home. How are these people going to fair when they leave the house and they don’t have Bob and Jillian screaming motivational abuse at them from dawn to dusk. Also, I wouldn’t imagine that 20 year olds with skin folds (due to losing excessive amounts of weight in an excessively short time) that make them look like 80 year olds would be particularly good for the self-esteem.

I don’t take anything away from the contestants – I think it is incredibly courageous to 1. admit you have a problem, and 2. take steps to rectify it. Having battled my own food demons (on the opposite end of the scale) I understand how serious and emotional a disorder is.

What I take issue with is how irresponsible it is to run programs like Loser. It’s not only irresponsible, it’s dangerous. It is dangerous to exercise people to the point that they look like they are in the early stages of a heart attack. It is dangerous to present these people in a jocular, degrading fashion. It is dangerous to portray food as something to be used as a reward or manipulation device. People who are overweight should see their GP for a gradual healthy eating/exercise plan, not their cardiologist in heart surgery after doing a Biggest Loser style overhaul. Wise-up Channel 10.

I’m sorry but bring on the Gladiators – I know that they are hardly realistic role models (I think half of them could actually meet the weight requirements for Loser) but at least they are promoting physical activity and having a hell of a lot of fun doing it.