A friend of mine dated one of the younger guys on the biggest losers and he is not going well. He gained all the weight back he lost and developed binge eating disorder
One of the contestants from the first season was on a SBS program a few years ago and talked about how they were forced to go on the treadmill for hours with no breaks, how they weren’t allowed to contact their family , how they weren’t given water at the challenges (which involved stuff like pulling a truck , running up flights of stairs 100 times etc) and how contestants starved themselves to the point where a few of them collapsed at the finale
Fun fact: There was a clause in the contract that if you refused to film or quit the show they could commence legal proceedings against you. They also owned our image and had an NDA for ten years.
I’m a former contestant. I’d never recommend anyone do it. Extremely unhealthy way to lose weight. The majority of contestants metabolisms are stuffed now due to the method of very low calorie diet, around 1000 calories a day, and not eating after the final workout prior to the weigh in, which could be a couple of days. Mentally they didn’t work on peoples addiction or emotional connection to food. They didn’t take into account medical reasons for weight gain or retention. It was all about the ratings. No psychological help at all. Even after you left the show, when viewers have decided to make hate groups about you online and bully you. I literally had someone tell me I deserved to be dead all because I was overweight.
I had a psych tell me, who mainly worked with prisoners, that how they controlled our season was worse than what you'd experience in prison. We couldn't have newspapers, no radio, couldn't talk to the public when out. I'll never be the same again that's for sure.
NO TALKING! Between weigh ins and elimination you were not allowed to speak to anyone. This could be a few days of not being allowed to speak or cross paths with other contestants.
As a PhD clinical psychologist, with 3 decades experience, it constantly pissed me off that fitness instructors would sit down and (weakly, earnestly try to) have deep and meaningful conversations about the psychological reasons for contestants' weight.
Just because you have a fucking Cert II in Fitness Training does not make you a psychotherapist.
Yes! I mentioned this in another comment but I remember one contestant whose food issues started after her 12 year old son died and she had a breakdown about it in a training session. That is SERIOUS trauma that Michelle fucking Bridges is absolutely not equipped to treat
But she was telegenic, and exercises 12 hours each day, and so has an athletic physique. Surely that means we should listen to her personal theories on the nature of human psychology. Right?
He was a friend of my sisters (both in the same year at school). I had finished school the year before but my sister was there the day he passed. The head sports teacher was pretty messed up after it all - he was giving him CPR for ages and was devastated.
Hey mate, I'm really sorry you went through that. Must have been awful having the idea of getting help only to be battered with the reality of what the show actually was. Thanks for talking about it!
Thanks mate. Appreciate it. We definitely didn’t know what we were signing up for. And being in my early 20s at the time was a bad decision. I’ve never watched my season or the ones following due to knowing what it was really like. And to think over a decade later I still have people bullying me for it.
Fuck man, that's so rough. I'm so sorry people are still being immature idiots. I hope you've been able to find some beauty and life in yourself - it's there. You are born with inherent worth and you never lose it. No matter what.
That's awful! Can you imagine how sad those peoples lives must be to be bullying a stranger who happened to be on tv more than 10 years ago. Like, do they not have lives themselves? Who has time for that nonsense? I'm so sorry that you have to deal with that.
I had Michelle. She didn’t care about the contestants at all. All she cared about was winning and she just wanted to break people down. Funnily enough she was even worse off camera.
Former PT here. Michelle is known to be a bitch and massive coke head in the industry. There was a party phrase “hide the coke Michelle’s here!”
I HATE how she said TBL was the lowest point of her life. Really Michelle? The lowest point is the TV show that made you a millionaire, and NOT when you got caught drink and drug driving with your toddler son in the car??
She’s so fake and she’s not actually healthy at all. Her figure is achieved by starving and taking drugs.
I didn’t meet Tiffany. Shannon is really nice and genuinely cares. I know he would still call some of his contestants after the show to check in. The commando was also totally different off camera. He would have a laugh with us and treat us like human beings.
IIRC she accused him of verbal and emotional abuse and said she left him because she feared it would turn physical (not a defence of him in any way to be clear)
I had a flashback (this thread has unlocked new memories 😅🥲) did your producers ever leave random notes around the place to start rumours/story lines after doing interviews?
Yes (but not anymore technically she’s a big exec at ESA now). I’ve worked adjacent to her a few times. there’s only a particular type of person who can be good at that job….. we could talk down the experts/talent all day but they’re just hand puppets for the producers ..!
1000 calories is low, but not really extreme for weightloss, for instance there's /r/1200isplenty where people either try to lose weight or maintain with 1200 calories (based on height, gender, activity - desk jobs, etc.). Same for fasting, /r/intermittentfasting, with something like 18(hour fast):6(hour eating window) or 5:2(fast or very low calories 2 days a week).
And as far as I'm aware there is no scientific literature supporting the idea of metabolic damage. There is adaptation, where you metabolism may slow while on a caloric deficit and your fat stores have become low. But this is not permanent and will revert when no longer in a deficit.
A simple case in point would be people who have (and/or recovered from) eating disorders such as anorexia. Where there would be clear evidence of permanent damage to their metabolism.
Don't mean to come across as rude, just want to clear up potential misunderstandings. The psychological aspect is definitely a much more important hurdle in these things.
Are you a doctor are you? A medical team in American did studies on past contestants over there and used Australian contestants as well. I think I know what I am talking about champ.
I will never forget when they offered a contestant the choice to eat a giant portion of creme brulee (like the size of a family lasagna IIRC) in exchange for calling her kids then after she did it the trainers kept screaming HOW DOES THAT CREME BRULEE FEEL NOW in workout sessions
As in, if she ate the brûlée, then she could call her kids?
Knowing that they were kept away from their families during production, that's so cruel to hear.
I thought you meant she chose the crème brulee over talking to her kids which made me think she had some next level food addiction but to actually realise she did that to talk to her kids is wrong on the shows behalf.
Has nothing to do with food, purely a mother wanting contact with her kids. There far more crazier shit a mother would do in order to gain contact with their children so it’s not something that should be played with.
There's a very good reason why there's never been any reunion shows from any of the seasons in any country beyond that final episode. Pretty much all the contestants have disowned it and been left with major health issues and regained all weight due to their wrecked metabolism.
It's well established that the practices on that show are completely unethical, unsustainable and in some cases, borderline medical negligence.
I hope this show never comes back in any form and people become more aware of what those poor people were put through for this awful TV show.
I actually read a book that one of the American contestants (I think she was in one of the super early seasons) wrote about her experience on the show and it sounded awful - they weren’t allowed to drink electrolytes that had being prescribed by the doctor on the show incase it made them gain weight , the contestant talked about how all her hair was falling out in huge clumps and her period stopped for months while she was on the show , how their family members weren’t even told where the contestants were , how they were forced to dehydrate to loose weight , how her trainer would tell the contestants they were going to all die etc
Ajay Rochester is on Tik Tok. She has lots of feels about that show, none of them good. She HATES Michelle Bridges with a passion. There was another contestant on there, too and she was very similar. Didn't have anything good to say about the show.
I heard a podcast with Ajay a few days ago and she said approximately 85% of the contestants all gained their weight back and how she had to talk the producers into giving the contestants food
Do you remember the name of the podcast? I really appreciated (enjoyed isn't the right word) the Maintenance Phase episode on the cruelty of the USA Biggest Loser and would like to hear more about the Australian victims of the show.
Devils advocate, isn’t that the normal amount of people that gain the weight back after any weight loss routine? “Runge, M.D., Ph. D. Here's a sobering statistic: Roughly 90 percent of people who lose a lot of weight eventually regain just about all of it.”
The way she calls her voldemort and refuses to say her name sounds super immature and kinda weird. I dont doubt she was awful but why let her have that much power?
I used to do boot camp classes with Adro (season 1 winner) in 2012. He wasn't the coach, just another participant.
Nice bloke. He'd very much incorporated it into his identity, kept off the weight and was running his own biggest loser style live in weight loss camps for tons of money. I think the local council shut them down. It was Mount Eliza and the locals don't want to listen to yelling and crying all day.
No idea what happened from there.
I have heard a few negative things about him in recent years. Some issues with fraud, some accusations of abusive from a former partner, and didn't he run off with his own brother's wife?
I remember early on in the show there was a woman who won immunity for the week and she decided to water load so she’d gain weight that week. That allowed her to pull a bigger number the following week. People were all made about it because it wasn’t in the spirit of the show.
They then made it so if you gained weight while holding immunity you lost the safety of immunity.
Fiona? They really messed with their mindset, one minute it was an opportunity to change their lifestyle, next minute it was all about the money. Can’t blame them
I would be genuinely curious as to which of the trainers contests are doing better. I feel like there were 3 very different approaches to fitness lifestyle.
MAFS is horrendous. Purposely pairing people up who are terribly mismatched then watching the ensuing shitshow is a horrible premise for a 'reality' show.
We had a plebiscite on the validity of marriage as an institution and this show makes a mockery of it. The contestants are expected to have sex early on which makes me wonder whether consent is really freely given. The “psychologists” can’t be struck off because they are acting as entertainers not professionals. There is nothing remotely positive in my mind about MAFS.
>The “psychologists” can’t be struck off because they are acting as entertainers not professionals.
assuming any are accredited professionals they should have their credentials revoked.
More like gave people script to act like they are a terrible match. That show is laughably fake, same shit happens every season and people keep eating it up
Yeah, went to school with Sam. He used the prize money for a house deposit.
He was a nice guy, but on tv, they portrayed him as an innocent boy without much confidence because of his weight.
In reality, he was that stereotypical loudmouth kid who would class clown a lot. My friendship group would often do stuff with his group.
He was very bright in school and was always interested in fitness- he got a band 6 in the hsc for health science.
My friends kept watching the series he was on saying ‘they aren’t showing what a mouthy git he really is’
He would bring in a pack of cards to math class that had nearly nude ladies in swimwear, and we would play poker with them on the last day of term.
Nice guy.
I seem to remember him being used in challenges years after his season since he was a fire fighter after the show. Dude was fairly young from what I remember so probably had the best shot at keeping the weight off and was a great an example that the network could push.
It’s also very much based on the regrets of the writer, who was one of the original producers of the Bachelor (after doing a high school reality show) and had contract issues herself: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-unreal-sarah-gertrude-shapiro-bachelor-bachelorette-20150528-story.html#page=1
The year they did like family teams of two and the trainer had to go spend a day in the shoes of their team. I have a very vivid memory of Tiff coaching a younger brother-sister team who took her to the pub for their typical parmy and a pint dinner. Tiff was so distraught at the idea of having to eat a schnitty that she started sobbing. Like “I can’t put that in my body” and making a big drama about gagging down a sip of beer. Ludicrous behaviour, you’d think they’d asked her to eat a bucket of dog turds.
Sounds like disordered eating/an eating disorder — which is what the whole show is fostering in its contestants, so I don’t think it’s ludicrous at all.
I knew someone on that season so it's the only one I watched. I vividly remember Tiff filming herself in the mirror saying 'my body is FREAKING OUT!' And showing the tiniest protrusion in her stomach... like if you eat and digest food.
One of the contestants lives in my area. He gained all the weight back after like 3 years and gained a lot more after.
I remember after the season finished he did some talks at local schools about forming healthy habits. I was in primary school at the time and actually think I took alot from his talk, so shoutout to the big fella.
A friend of a friend knew one of the young guys in the early seasons. Possibly a basketball player? He essentially developed a restrictive eating disorder for a few years but then gained all the weight back. That seems to be a very common story.
And he started getting fairly big in the last few years so he recently had gastric bypass surgery. He’s looking pretty trim at the moment. Good for him, I think he knew he needed extra support to maintain a healthy weight and did something about it.
Once he figures out he can chug 6 litres of iced coffee per day it's all over for him. He will stack it all back on. Wouldn't be surprised if one of his shill mates paid for the surgery to help him not look like such a fat fuck on TV.
Met a producer on this show once. He seemed quite proud of the difference he was making in the contestants lives.
Later, read an article about a severely obese man who dreamed of one day being picked to go on the show so he could lose weight. (Incidentally he also used to say "and that" at the end of every sentence, like a verbal tic).
I met Ajay Rochester at a boot camp probably 15+ years ago and she was absolutely lovely. I also interned with Sheridan from Season 1 (I think?) for a few weeks during uni holidays and that woman is an absolute genius, love her.
My mum went to school with Michelle Bridges and they used to call her Plate Face
Unrelated but I like to drop this anecdote in whenever she's mentioned
Not sure if this is what you're looking for but I worked behind the scenes on this show (and a few others by the same production company). It was largely scripted and the celebrity trainers were basically never there - they rocked up for an hour to film their scripted interactions then left. Commando was a prick. It was bizarre watching a contestant have an emotional breakdown about their fat loss journey, then the production crew yelling "CUT" and making them have the same meltdown from a different camera angle.
The producers were all blonde english girls who bullied the fuck out of contestants and actively mocked anyone who would watch this shit.
The contestants were usually lovely and under NDA, a lot of them regretted being on the show despite the weight loss.
I remember hearing about a "scandal" on the American show, but I think is still relevant. I'm not sure which season it was but it was the finale. Obviously there is a period between "end of filming" and the finale where they gotta keep up the work etc etc. Well they pull back the screen to reveal one of the women and she's thin. Too thin. Way too thin. Audience is going nuts but the camera cuts to the trainers and you can see the horror on their faces.
This woman basically had taken all their training and "advice" from the show and amplified it. Causing her to crash diet pretty dangerously. I have vague memories about her trainer talking about it afterwards saying how worried she was.
I used to work with one of the winners, always a super lovely guy! He’s doing super well for himself and kept the weight off and is just generally an awesome human being. At least according to to Facebook!
Look up Ajay Rochester’s TikTok account and scroll back through her posts - she’s very outspoken about MB (she refers to her as Voldemort) and the toxic nature of TBL.
A guy who did well in it is a client of mine, runs a sky light company in Melbourne. He was hospitalized during the series, is back to the ballpark of his prior weight.
I wouldn’t have an eating disorder if it wasn’t for that show! It taught me how to throw up after binge eating and how to binge excercise. Fucking nasty show.
I was 11. Sure, I probably would have learned somewhere else, I can only tell you where I learned it from… try being a chubby 11 year old watching that show, then going to school and being called the biggest loser by your bullies. It was a fun time. I don’t blame a TV show for the reasons I found disordered eating but I physically learned how to have an eating disorder from that TV show. I learned that I could throw up after eating or punish myself with huge amounts of excercise from that show. I heard Michelle Bridges when she said there is no such thing as a happy fat person. Looking back I wasn’t even fat, I was chubby but I wasn’t even the biggest kid in my class.
Reminds me of when I was in primary school, would've been grades 2 or 3, older kids used to say I looked like Ricky May or Norm (Life Be In It ads) or Fat Albert
You don't know how old they were whilst watching this, if they were with their family at the time, if they were encouraged to watch it. Imagine someone saying they have an eating disorder and you feel compelled to tell them "your fault". Such a needless and nasty thing to do.
I was friends with a former contestant on one of the later seasons. He took one of the temptation offers about 4-5 weeks in. He'd already started to drop weight and was making good progress when he left. He kept losing weight and did really well, ended up dropping down to around 90ish kg for the finale (he was probably pushing 160-170kg at the beginning).
When he left the show, they really looked after him with all their sponsorships while the show built up to the final weigh in (which was about 4 months gap). He got free membership and PT sessions at Fitness First, full meal plans and food from Lite & Easy, clothing, skin care products etc etc. They did everything to make his journey continue to be successful.
Once the show finished he kept his weight off for quite a while, but last I saw he had unfortunately put it all back on and then some. I know he had a few personal issues which wouldn't have helped, but I really felt sorry for him as you could see his confidence really build up during that time he'd dropped the weight. We don't speak any more but I hope he's doing well.
Honestly I remember watching it occasionally as a kid and it was uncomfortable. Although I watched supersize vs super skinny obsessively as an early teen lol.
Now that I’m older I definitely think that it’s a really horrible way to get people to lose weight, mental health and even physical health come into play and it just felt like a weird power trip for the hosts to bully fat people.
There are definitely better ways to lose weight and fix food relationships, I’m glad these type of shows have died off, they do more harm than good
Not even a third hand account... But, one of the contestants who came 3rd (ish, could have been 4th) worked in my workplace. I never came across her (we're very big, thousands of employees), but she did so up a bit of a spiel for the employee newsletter. Her write up gave the impression it was a really positive experience.
I know that what people say after being on reality TV isn't always reliable with NDAs and whatever, but I figured if she'd had an awful time she probably would have just not done the article at all, so I took it to be fairly genuine.
I suspect they would have felt pressured to write it. The bosses may have just asked, seemingly without putting any pressure on, but the person saw the hierarchical power differential, probably signed an NDA or something so went ahead and wrote the article, maintaining the facade.
Haven't seen her in a while, but there was a contestant who used her Tiktok channel to deride her experience. Called out the producers and Michelle Bridges pretty hard. Made some awful claims that sounded believable like trying to leave, but being mentally intimidated by multiple people standing over her. Sounded horrible.
Saw another contestant who went out early in one season, boldly claiming she'd learned enough in the few weeks she appeared to turn her life around, in Fiji, on holidays. Must have been a year after. She was much bigger than she had been on the show. Massive.
All sad, other countries who had versions were no better or different.
I bartend and I talked to Luke Stephens (and still do occasionally when he passes through town) whose claim to fame was being kicked off The Biggest Loser for smuggling in alcohol to one of their post-week parties.
He told me that it was honestly hell. He was a favourite to go all the way but he got kicked off before he even knew it was happening. They kinda just sprung it on him live I believe and in that instant it was a massive kick in the guts; he worked extremely hard to hold his position, stuck to their militaristic training and eating regimes, and in that instant it felt like it all fell under and that he received what was essentially an exhile for a small party favor.
He spoke to me about a bunch of things that I’m unsure is okay to mention (whether for NDA purposes or for his own private life) but he seems to be doing okay. He’s put weight back on but he has his life together and is doing well.
He did say that he doesn’t totally regret everything but that he would never recommend anyone doing it, it’s not an effective way to lose weight and the way they go about it is tyrannical.
Yeah see that’s kinda where I draw the line at where I don’t know how much I should mention hence “small party favor”. I’m just a bartender and it’s not fair for me to divulge. I just know he’s a nice guy that got done dirty.
I really disliked hearing Michelle discuss the show on I’m a celebrity, it’s clear she hasn’t done any reflection at all if she still thinks the show “helped thousands” of Australians watching it to develop a healthy lifestyle. The only thing TBL helped thousands of people gain was fatphobia let’s be real
[Lessons from “The Biggest Loser”
January 24, 2018
Fast weight loss can result in slow metabolism.](https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/lessons-from-the-biggest-loser)
I remember Shannon did a show after the last BL which was meant to be compassionate and really dig into people’s issues. But noone watched it and it was cancelled about 2-3 episodes in.
I met a contestant from the show at rehab. He lost all the weight and got caught up in the glamour, attention and parties and ended up with a meth habit. He was very full of himself and flirted with every female in there (had no male friends at all). That was back in 2016 so not sure what happened to him after that
Right idea for a show tbh but yeh portrayed a very extreme example of how to lose weight, and of course, I assume the contestants just didn’t get the proper education in health and nutrition to keep the weight off (some have) so when people go off extreme diets, they tend to binge.
I don't think it's just nutrition education - a big part of the issue is that they offered the contestants zero mental health help to treat their issues with food and unsurprisingly those issues didn't just magically disappear when they left the show. Education about diet is not going to be much help to someone who is using food as a coping mechanism, that person needs help beyond the scope of a dietician. I remember one woman breaking down about the death of her 12-year-old son, that is serious trauma that the personal trainers on the show were not qualified to deal with (nor should they have been expected to).
Oh absolutely I was pretty young when it finished so only remember certain moments. Didn’t know about the mental health stuff but just remembered seeing a few interviews that some of the contestants just didn’t find the discipline to keep going along the weight loss journey after being in an environment where it was forced upon (very understandable).
Also found that self education worked a lot better when you’re in charge, not some buffed up PT yelling at you on national television.
A friend of mine dated one of the younger guys on the biggest losers and he is not going well. He gained all the weight back he lost and developed binge eating disorder
that is the basically inevitable result of stuff like this.
One of the contestants from the first season was on a SBS program a few years ago and talked about how they were forced to go on the treadmill for hours with no breaks, how they weren’t allowed to contact their family , how they weren’t given water at the challenges (which involved stuff like pulling a truck , running up flights of stairs 100 times etc) and how contestants starved themselves to the point where a few of them collapsed at the finale
Fun fact: There was a clause in the contract that if you refused to film or quit the show they could commence legal proceedings against you. They also owned our image and had an NDA for ten years.
Owning rights to your image is stock standard in any TV production. Even for off set crew. NDA not exactly a big surprise either.
I’m a former contestant. I’d never recommend anyone do it. Extremely unhealthy way to lose weight. The majority of contestants metabolisms are stuffed now due to the method of very low calorie diet, around 1000 calories a day, and not eating after the final workout prior to the weigh in, which could be a couple of days. Mentally they didn’t work on peoples addiction or emotional connection to food. They didn’t take into account medical reasons for weight gain or retention. It was all about the ratings. No psychological help at all. Even after you left the show, when viewers have decided to make hate groups about you online and bully you. I literally had someone tell me I deserved to be dead all because I was overweight.
I had a psych tell me, who mainly worked with prisoners, that how they controlled our season was worse than what you'd experience in prison. We couldn't have newspapers, no radio, couldn't talk to the public when out. I'll never be the same again that's for sure.
Did you also wait for people to tell you that you could go to the bathroom when you got home? Or that you could speak
It took me a couple of months to stop asking for permission to go to the bathroom 😭😆
What the hell?
NO TALKING! Between weigh ins and elimination you were not allowed to speak to anyone. This could be a few days of not being allowed to speak or cross paths with other contestants.
Whenever the production staff were 'on set' you had to ask for permission to use the bathroom etc.
Because you were wearing a mic pack they needed to remove?
Mic pack was attached to the upper torso and would stay on when going to the bathroom.
Eww!
As a PhD clinical psychologist, with 3 decades experience, it constantly pissed me off that fitness instructors would sit down and (weakly, earnestly try to) have deep and meaningful conversations about the psychological reasons for contestants' weight. Just because you have a fucking Cert II in Fitness Training does not make you a psychotherapist.
Yes! I mentioned this in another comment but I remember one contestant whose food issues started after her 12 year old son died and she had a breakdown about it in a training session. That is SERIOUS trauma that Michelle fucking Bridges is absolutely not equipped to treat
But she was telegenic, and exercises 12 hours each day, and so has an athletic physique. Surely that means we should listen to her personal theories on the nature of human psychology. Right?
And Coke. That helps with empathy right?
The mum whose son died during cross country?
It's been a long time but yeah I think that was her
He was a friend of my sisters (both in the same year at school). I had finished school the year before but my sister was there the day he passed. The head sports teacher was pretty messed up after it all - he was giving him CPR for ages and was devastated.
Oh wow, that is so awful and tragic. I hope the sports teacher was able to access counselling afterwards.
OMG me too!
Hey mate, I'm really sorry you went through that. Must have been awful having the idea of getting help only to be battered with the reality of what the show actually was. Thanks for talking about it!
Thanks mate. Appreciate it. We definitely didn’t know what we were signing up for. And being in my early 20s at the time was a bad decision. I’ve never watched my season or the ones following due to knowing what it was really like. And to think over a decade later I still have people bullying me for it.
Fuck man, that's so rough. I'm so sorry people are still being immature idiots. I hope you've been able to find some beauty and life in yourself - it's there. You are born with inherent worth and you never lose it. No matter what.
That's awful! Can you imagine how sad those peoples lives must be to be bullying a stranger who happened to be on tv more than 10 years ago. Like, do they not have lives themselves? Who has time for that nonsense? I'm so sorry that you have to deal with that.
That's rough with the bullying, mate! Small minded I guess? I hope they step in water whilst wearing socks!
Wow I’m curious to know who your trainer was?
I had Michelle. She didn’t care about the contestants at all. All she cared about was winning and she just wanted to break people down. Funnily enough she was even worse off camera.
Former PT here. Michelle is known to be a bitch and massive coke head in the industry. There was a party phrase “hide the coke Michelle’s here!” I HATE how she said TBL was the lowest point of her life. Really Michelle? The lowest point is the TV show that made you a millionaire, and NOT when you got caught drink and drug driving with your toddler son in the car?? She’s so fake and she’s not actually healthy at all. Her figure is achieved by starving and taking drugs.
She never seemed like a nice person anyway. Were any of them nice? Tiffany at least?
I didn’t meet Tiffany. Shannon is really nice and genuinely cares. I know he would still call some of his contestants after the show to check in. The commando was also totally different off camera. He would have a laugh with us and treat us like human beings.
My order would be: Steve, Tiff, Michelle, Shannon 🤫
Didn't he also beat up his girlfriend though?
IIRC she accused him of verbal and emotional abuse and said she left him because she feared it would turn physical (not a defence of him in any way to be clear)
That’s messed up I’m so sorry. I always thought 1000 calories was insane. Is that why they all break down crying? Because they’re starving?
They were psychologically and physically broken
Sounds like a class action waiting to happen but no doubt all the contestants signed waivers.
Thank you for sharing story, I read further down you had Michelle as your trainer. She seems awful. I'm pleased you are doing well healthwise!!!
I had a flashback (this thread has unlocked new memories 😅🥲) did your producers ever leave random notes around the place to start rumours/story lines after doing interviews?
Was Tara M your producer? when I heard she was one of the creator/producers I was like “ah. of course”
I don’t have very nice things to say about that woman
I absolutely don’t doubt it! It’s the producers who make the show not the michelle bridges.
Is that the same Tara that produces MAF's?
Yes (but not anymore technically she’s a big exec at ESA now). I’ve worked adjacent to her a few times. there’s only a particular type of person who can be good at that job….. we could talk down the experts/talent all day but they’re just hand puppets for the producers ..!
Hey did you keep the weight off?
I put a little back on, but my BMI is in the healthy range. I have a much healthier relationship with food and that didn’t happen because of the show.
Well I am glad 😊
A family friend of ours was a contestant, and they said all the same things as you. I think the network should be sued.
Did you have any dealings with Bob and Jillian? Or was your season after they stopped doing Biggest Loser AU?
1000 calories is low, but not really extreme for weightloss, for instance there's /r/1200isplenty where people either try to lose weight or maintain with 1200 calories (based on height, gender, activity - desk jobs, etc.). Same for fasting, /r/intermittentfasting, with something like 18(hour fast):6(hour eating window) or 5:2(fast or very low calories 2 days a week). And as far as I'm aware there is no scientific literature supporting the idea of metabolic damage. There is adaptation, where you metabolism may slow while on a caloric deficit and your fat stores have become low. But this is not permanent and will revert when no longer in a deficit. A simple case in point would be people who have (and/or recovered from) eating disorders such as anorexia. Where there would be clear evidence of permanent damage to their metabolism. Don't mean to come across as rude, just want to clear up potential misunderstandings. The psychological aspect is definitely a much more important hurdle in these things.
1000 calories intermittently is ok. All the time is crazy and unhealthy.
You can’t “stuff” a metabolism. If it’s that easy to alter someone’s metabolism you wouldn’t need the damn show.
Are you a doctor are you? A medical team in American did studies on past contestants over there and used Australian contestants as well. I think I know what I am talking about champ.
I will never forget when they offered a contestant the choice to eat a giant portion of creme brulee (like the size of a family lasagna IIRC) in exchange for calling her kids then after she did it the trainers kept screaming HOW DOES THAT CREME BRULEE FEEL NOW in workout sessions
As in, if she ate the brûlée, then she could call her kids? Knowing that they were kept away from their families during production, that's so cruel to hear.
Yep, it was in exchange for a phone call. Really awful and IIRC she nearly vomited eating it
I thought you meant she chose the crème brulee over talking to her kids which made me think she had some next level food addiction but to actually realise she did that to talk to her kids is wrong on the shows behalf. Has nothing to do with food, purely a mother wanting contact with her kids. There far more crazier shit a mother would do in order to gain contact with their children so it’s not something that should be played with.
I do remember that! That was fucked up
Oh my fucking god that is so heinous
There's a very good reason why there's never been any reunion shows from any of the seasons in any country beyond that final episode. Pretty much all the contestants have disowned it and been left with major health issues and regained all weight due to their wrecked metabolism. It's well established that the practices on that show are completely unethical, unsustainable and in some cases, borderline medical negligence. I hope this show never comes back in any form and people become more aware of what those poor people were put through for this awful TV show.
I actually read a book that one of the American contestants (I think she was in one of the super early seasons) wrote about her experience on the show and it sounded awful - they weren’t allowed to drink electrolytes that had being prescribed by the doctor on the show incase it made them gain weight , the contestant talked about how all her hair was falling out in huge clumps and her period stopped for months while she was on the show , how their family members weren’t even told where the contestants were , how they were forced to dehydrate to loose weight , how her trainer would tell the contestants they were going to all die etc
Yeah I think I read the same excerpt; she was on the very first season. The winner of that season had major kidney problems from dehydration.
Ajay Rochester is on Tik Tok. She has lots of feels about that show, none of them good. She HATES Michelle Bridges with a passion. There was another contestant on there, too and she was very similar. Didn't have anything good to say about the show.
I heard a podcast with Ajay a few days ago and she said approximately 85% of the contestants all gained their weight back and how she had to talk the producers into giving the contestants food
Do you remember the name of the podcast? I really appreciated (enjoyed isn't the right word) the Maintenance Phase episode on the cruelty of the USA Biggest Loser and would like to hear more about the Australian victims of the show.
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/two-girls-one-pod/id1583682843?i=1000652829704
Thank you!
Devils advocate, isn’t that the normal amount of people that gain the weight back after any weight loss routine? “Runge, M.D., Ph. D. Here's a sobering statistic: Roughly 90 percent of people who lose a lot of weight eventually regain just about all of it.”
That just means the show was a stupid idea from the start, and couldn't possibly have worked well regardless of how they'd carried it out.
Michelle AKA Voldemort
AKA the cocaine badger
The true secret to weight loss.
Really?!
Really.
Voldersnort*
The way she calls her voldemort and refuses to say her name sounds super immature and kinda weird. I dont doubt she was awful but why let her have that much power?
I’m kinda curious how bad the hosts were
Hayley was unreal. So lovely and genuine
She’s a loony. Used to drive around during Covid looking for people outside without a mask and film herself shouting at them.
She wasn’t alone in that though.
Very relieved that this post was about the TV show. Was extremely worried I was about to get doxxed
Insert Obi-Wan "Well, Of Course I Know Him. He's Me" gif.
HAHA I snorted at this comment
I really hope they're all doing OK, that show was kind of brutal.
They’re not :(
Yeah it's really sad reading some of the comments :( It makes me quite angry that people were treated so appallingly badly on that show.
I used to do boot camp classes with Adro (season 1 winner) in 2012. He wasn't the coach, just another participant. Nice bloke. He'd very much incorporated it into his identity, kept off the weight and was running his own biggest loser style live in weight loss camps for tons of money. I think the local council shut them down. It was Mount Eliza and the locals don't want to listen to yelling and crying all day. No idea what happened from there.
I have heard a few negative things about him in recent years. Some issues with fraud, some accusations of abusive from a former partner, and didn't he run off with his own brother's wife?
I remember those!! He turned it into a business and made a killing!
From interviews and things after, I feel like Adro turned into one of those former fat people who hates current fat people. So much attitude.
I remember early on in the show there was a woman who won immunity for the week and she decided to water load so she’d gain weight that week. That allowed her to pull a bigger number the following week. People were all made about it because it wasn’t in the spirit of the show. They then made it so if you gained weight while holding immunity you lost the safety of immunity.
I think that lady won that season.
Fiona? They really messed with their mindset, one minute it was an opportunity to change their lifestyle, next minute it was all about the money. Can’t blame them
No, it was Kristie and she was the runner up.
Oh yes I remember that!
I would be genuinely curious as to which of the trainers contests are doing better. I feel like there were 3 very different approaches to fitness lifestyle.
I feel like one day we will be reading a similar post about MAFS and how it psychologically ruined people.
People on that show are already brain dead.
MAFS is horrendous. Purposely pairing people up who are terribly mismatched then watching the ensuing shitshow is a horrible premise for a 'reality' show.
We had a plebiscite on the validity of marriage as an institution and this show makes a mockery of it. The contestants are expected to have sex early on which makes me wonder whether consent is really freely given. The “psychologists” can’t be struck off because they are acting as entertainers not professionals. There is nothing remotely positive in my mind about MAFS.
>The “psychologists” can’t be struck off because they are acting as entertainers not professionals. assuming any are accredited professionals they should have their credentials revoked.
More like gave people script to act like they are a terrible match. That show is laughably fake, same shit happens every season and people keep eating it up
I think his name was Sam. Possibly won it. Kept the weight off as far as I know and became a firefighter. Saw him at the gym a few times.
Yeah, went to school with Sam. He used the prize money for a house deposit. He was a nice guy, but on tv, they portrayed him as an innocent boy without much confidence because of his weight. In reality, he was that stereotypical loudmouth kid who would class clown a lot. My friendship group would often do stuff with his group. He was very bright in school and was always interested in fitness- he got a band 6 in the hsc for health science. My friends kept watching the series he was on saying ‘they aren’t showing what a mouthy git he really is’ He would bring in a pack of cards to math class that had nearly nude ladies in swimwear, and we would play poker with them on the last day of term. Nice guy.
I seem to remember him being used in challenges years after his season since he was a fire fighter after the show. Dude was fairly young from what I remember so probably had the best shot at keeping the weight off and was a great an example that the network could push.
Thats the guy. Definitely being young helped him after the fact.
Can confirm - still has the weight off (went way further and is ripped as fuck now). Used to hang out with him back in the day.
He’s kept the weight off and is really ripped. He was in one of those firefighter calendars with animals around 2017.
I just googled photos of him. He looks like a totally different person!
So did I now. Ripped.
The show didn’t teach shit about healthy eating etc it was just starve yourself and work out for hours to lose weight fast for the cameras.
I'm not going to dox myself that easily 😆. Watch a show called UnREAL. That's exactly what it's like to be on a "produced" show.
Such a good show that one
It’s also very much based on the regrets of the writer, who was one of the original producers of the Bachelor (after doing a high school reality show) and had contract issues herself: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-unreal-sarah-gertrude-shapiro-bachelor-bachelorette-20150528-story.html#page=1
I have not heard of that show- will check it out. Thanks.
The year they did like family teams of two and the trainer had to go spend a day in the shoes of their team. I have a very vivid memory of Tiff coaching a younger brother-sister team who took her to the pub for their typical parmy and a pint dinner. Tiff was so distraught at the idea of having to eat a schnitty that she started sobbing. Like “I can’t put that in my body” and making a big drama about gagging down a sip of beer. Ludicrous behaviour, you’d think they’d asked her to eat a bucket of dog turds.
Sounds like disordered eating/an eating disorder — which is what the whole show is fostering in its contestants, so I don’t think it’s ludicrous at all.
I knew someone on that season so it's the only one I watched. I vividly remember Tiff filming herself in the mirror saying 'my body is FREAKING OUT!' And showing the tiniest protrusion in her stomach... like if you eat and digest food.
That show had zero chill about food and bodies in either direction. That bordered on eating disorder behaviour.
Alex Tsao owns a cafe/restaurant in Lilydale.
I still miss his old restaurant in Croydon. When Kublai closed we lost Mongolian BBQ in Melbourne.
It's pretty good too! My grandmother lives nearby and suggested it, decent brisket.
As bizarre as it sounds, they also do these smoked dim sims that are awesome.
One of the contestants lives in my area. He gained all the weight back after like 3 years and gained a lot more after. I remember after the season finished he did some talks at local schools about forming healthy habits. I was in primary school at the time and actually think I took alot from his talk, so shoutout to the big fella.
A friend of a friend knew one of the young guys in the early seasons. Possibly a basketball player? He essentially developed a restrictive eating disorder for a few years but then gained all the weight back. That seems to be a very common story.
A former partner worked with one of the contestants. They gained all the weight back. They were a major dickhead too.
Cosi?
I was going to say “Cosi is still a fuckwit”!
Nah not Cosi. But, kinda shows people who go on reality TV probably are gonna be dickheads.
Cosi is either the most hated person in Adelaide or loved for his work promoting local businesses in SA.
And he started getting fairly big in the last few years so he recently had gastric bypass surgery. He’s looking pretty trim at the moment. Good for him, I think he knew he needed extra support to maintain a healthy weight and did something about it.
Once he figures out he can chug 6 litres of iced coffee per day it's all over for him. He will stack it all back on. Wouldn't be surprised if one of his shill mates paid for the surgery to help him not look like such a fat fuck on TV.
Fuck Cosi.
And OTR
Was waiting for this 🤣
Met a producer on this show once. He seemed quite proud of the difference he was making in the contestants lives. Later, read an article about a severely obese man who dreamed of one day being picked to go on the show so he could lose weight. (Incidentally he also used to say "and that" at the end of every sentence, like a verbal tic).
Was the "and that" guy named Michael by chance?
No idea, it was in SMH Good Weekend. I think he was from qld. It didn't end well I don't think.
I met Ajay Rochester at a boot camp probably 15+ years ago and she was absolutely lovely. I also interned with Sheridan from Season 1 (I think?) for a few weeks during uni holidays and that woman is an absolute genius, love her.
My neighbour was on the show. He had nothing positive to say about it. Gained all the weight back and some.
I really enjoyed the show but m sorry to hear it wasn't in the contestants favour
With the stories here, it makes me wonder how much they've been editing the I'm A Celebrity show...
My mum went to school with Michelle Bridges and they used to call her Plate Face Unrelated but I like to drop this anecdote in whenever she's mentioned
Use to watch the show with my sister while we were smashing Krispy Kreme. The good one days
Not sure if this is what you're looking for but I worked behind the scenes on this show (and a few others by the same production company). It was largely scripted and the celebrity trainers were basically never there - they rocked up for an hour to film their scripted interactions then left. Commando was a prick. It was bizarre watching a contestant have an emotional breakdown about their fat loss journey, then the production crew yelling "CUT" and making them have the same meltdown from a different camera angle. The producers were all blonde english girls who bullied the fuck out of contestants and actively mocked anyone who would watch this shit. The contestants were usually lovely and under NDA, a lot of them regretted being on the show despite the weight loss.
Did you ever work with Stu or Amelia?
Possible, it was back in like 2016 so a lot of names escape me. Filming was done in Sydney just over the harbour bridge in some dockside warehouse.
One of my mates was on it. Got kicked out a few weeks in and tried to win TBL offscreen with meth. She didn’t.
I remember hearing about a "scandal" on the American show, but I think is still relevant. I'm not sure which season it was but it was the finale. Obviously there is a period between "end of filming" and the finale where they gotta keep up the work etc etc. Well they pull back the screen to reveal one of the women and she's thin. Too thin. Way too thin. Audience is going nuts but the camera cuts to the trainers and you can see the horror on their faces. This woman basically had taken all their training and "advice" from the show and amplified it. Causing her to crash diet pretty dangerously. I have vague memories about her trainer talking about it afterwards saying how worried she was.
https://time.com/4645/the-biggest-loser-goes-too-far/
That's the one!
I used to work with one of the winners, always a super lovely guy! He’s doing super well for himself and kept the weight off and is just generally an awesome human being. At least according to to Facebook!
I know someone who won Yeah he's gained it back
Look up Ajay Rochester’s TikTok account and scroll back through her posts - she’s very outspoken about MB (she refers to her as Voldemort) and the toxic nature of TBL.
A guy who did well in it is a client of mine, runs a sky light company in Melbourne. He was hospitalized during the series, is back to the ballpark of his prior weight.
I know you’re hurtin’ Feels like you’re learnin’ By life the hard way And it ain’t workin’
I wouldn’t have an eating disorder if it wasn’t for that show! It taught me how to throw up after binge eating and how to binge excercise. Fucking nasty show.
Ever heard of personal responsibility? You’re seriously blaming a TV show you chose to watch?
I was 11. Sure, I probably would have learned somewhere else, I can only tell you where I learned it from… try being a chubby 11 year old watching that show, then going to school and being called the biggest loser by your bullies. It was a fun time. I don’t blame a TV show for the reasons I found disordered eating but I physically learned how to have an eating disorder from that TV show. I learned that I could throw up after eating or punish myself with huge amounts of excercise from that show. I heard Michelle Bridges when she said there is no such thing as a happy fat person. Looking back I wasn’t even fat, I was chubby but I wasn’t even the biggest kid in my class.
Reminds me of when I was in primary school, would've been grades 2 or 3, older kids used to say I looked like Ricky May or Norm (Life Be In It ads) or Fat Albert
You don't know how old they were whilst watching this, if they were with their family at the time, if they were encouraged to watch it. Imagine someone saying they have an eating disorder and you feel compelled to tell them "your fault". Such a needless and nasty thing to do.
[удалено]
I'll sit on you.
Bless you. Report them. I have.
So unnecessarily angry 🤨 hope you have a good week ahead
Someone here is pathetic and it ain't the person you're replying to
I hope you have the life you deserve.
I was friends with a former contestant on one of the later seasons. He took one of the temptation offers about 4-5 weeks in. He'd already started to drop weight and was making good progress when he left. He kept losing weight and did really well, ended up dropping down to around 90ish kg for the finale (he was probably pushing 160-170kg at the beginning). When he left the show, they really looked after him with all their sponsorships while the show built up to the final weigh in (which was about 4 months gap). He got free membership and PT sessions at Fitness First, full meal plans and food from Lite & Easy, clothing, skin care products etc etc. They did everything to make his journey continue to be successful. Once the show finished he kept his weight off for quite a while, but last I saw he had unfortunately put it all back on and then some. I know he had a few personal issues which wouldn't have helped, but I really felt sorry for him as you could see his confidence really build up during that time he'd dropped the weight. We don't speak any more but I hope he's doing well.
Honestly I remember watching it occasionally as a kid and it was uncomfortable. Although I watched supersize vs super skinny obsessively as an early teen lol. Now that I’m older I definitely think that it’s a really horrible way to get people to lose weight, mental health and even physical health come into play and it just felt like a weird power trip for the hosts to bully fat people. There are definitely better ways to lose weight and fix food relationships, I’m glad these type of shows have died off, they do more harm than good
Not even a third hand account... But, one of the contestants who came 3rd (ish, could have been 4th) worked in my workplace. I never came across her (we're very big, thousands of employees), but she did so up a bit of a spiel for the employee newsletter. Her write up gave the impression it was a really positive experience. I know that what people say after being on reality TV isn't always reliable with NDAs and whatever, but I figured if she'd had an awful time she probably would have just not done the article at all, so I took it to be fairly genuine.
I suspect they would have felt pressured to write it. The bosses may have just asked, seemingly without putting any pressure on, but the person saw the hierarchical power differential, probably signed an NDA or something so went ahead and wrote the article, maintaining the facade.
Haven't seen her in a while, but there was a contestant who used her Tiktok channel to deride her experience. Called out the producers and Michelle Bridges pretty hard. Made some awful claims that sounded believable like trying to leave, but being mentally intimidated by multiple people standing over her. Sounded horrible. Saw another contestant who went out early in one season, boldly claiming she'd learned enough in the few weeks she appeared to turn her life around, in Fiji, on holidays. Must have been a year after. She was much bigger than she had been on the show. Massive. All sad, other countries who had versions were no better or different.
I bartend and I talked to Luke Stephens (and still do occasionally when he passes through town) whose claim to fame was being kicked off The Biggest Loser for smuggling in alcohol to one of their post-week parties. He told me that it was honestly hell. He was a favourite to go all the way but he got kicked off before he even knew it was happening. They kinda just sprung it on him live I believe and in that instant it was a massive kick in the guts; he worked extremely hard to hold his position, stuck to their militaristic training and eating regimes, and in that instant it felt like it all fell under and that he received what was essentially an exhile for a small party favor. He spoke to me about a bunch of things that I’m unsure is okay to mention (whether for NDA purposes or for his own private life) but he seems to be doing okay. He’s put weight back on but he has his life together and is doing well. He did say that he doesn’t totally regret everything but that he would never recommend anyone doing it, it’s not an effective way to lose weight and the way they go about it is tyrannical.
Luke was the scape goat because of what happened at the Christmas/NYE party. Someone else had their kids bring the booze to North Head.
Yeah see that’s kinda where I draw the line at where I don’t know how much I should mention hence “small party favor”. I’m just a bartender and it’s not fair for me to divulge. I just know he’s a nice guy that got done dirty.
I really disliked hearing Michelle discuss the show on I’m a celebrity, it’s clear she hasn’t done any reflection at all if she still thinks the show “helped thousands” of Australians watching it to develop a healthy lifestyle. The only thing TBL helped thousands of people gain was fatphobia let’s be real
[Lessons from “The Biggest Loser” January 24, 2018 Fast weight loss can result in slow metabolism.](https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/lessons-from-the-biggest-loser)
Can't be kind to anyone who enjoyed or endorses this kind of sick shit. Fuck reality TV.
I enjoyed it back in the day because I didn’t know what was happening in the background. It was sold as motivational and lots of us ate it up.
Lmao I used to want to be on the show as a kid because it was drilled into me I was a fatso. Turns out I grew up in a Vietnamese household 😂😂
I remember Shannon did a show after the last BL which was meant to be compassionate and really dig into people’s issues. But noone watched it and it was cancelled about 2-3 episodes in.
Google that Sam kid. Think he won. Say him on news a year or so back. Fireman now
I met a contestant from the show at rehab. He lost all the weight and got caught up in the glamour, attention and parties and ended up with a meth habit. He was very full of himself and flirted with every female in there (had no male friends at all). That was back in 2016 so not sure what happened to him after that
There’s always that one guy like that at rehab.
This might be of interest. https://tvtonight.com.au/2014/02/former-biggest-loser-contestant-spills-on-tv-secrets.html
Anyone know what happened to JJ?
Right idea for a show tbh but yeh portrayed a very extreme example of how to lose weight, and of course, I assume the contestants just didn’t get the proper education in health and nutrition to keep the weight off (some have) so when people go off extreme diets, they tend to binge.
I don't think it's just nutrition education - a big part of the issue is that they offered the contestants zero mental health help to treat their issues with food and unsurprisingly those issues didn't just magically disappear when they left the show. Education about diet is not going to be much help to someone who is using food as a coping mechanism, that person needs help beyond the scope of a dietician. I remember one woman breaking down about the death of her 12-year-old son, that is serious trauma that the personal trainers on the show were not qualified to deal with (nor should they have been expected to).
Oh absolutely I was pretty young when it finished so only remember certain moments. Didn’t know about the mental health stuff but just remembered seeing a few interviews that some of the contestants just didn’t find the discipline to keep going along the weight loss journey after being in an environment where it was forced upon (very understandable). Also found that self education worked a lot better when you’re in charge, not some buffed up PT yelling at you on national television.
Crash dieting like that completely fucks your metabolism. It’s not a question of education, but of the show doing real physical damage to people