Eat This Doc

I didn’t watch a second of NBC’s The Biggest Loser, the phenomenally successful reality TV show which challenged its obese participants to lose alarming amounts of weight in a short amount of time. At its peak, ten million people tuned in to see how the contestants were faring.

It was out of pure curiosity, then, that I watched Fit for TV, the just-released three-part documentary that takes The Biggest Loser’s 18 seasons as its subject (one on the USA network). I binged the three (approximately) 40 minute segments of Fit for TV in one short evening, streaming it from Netflix as if it were just a feature-length doc. Besides a handful of disturbing moments, it went down smooth, covering a ton of ground in a relatively brief amount of time. Read on for the skinny on Fit for TV but be forewarned: unlike the recent docs on American Gladiators, another controversial television series, nothing too startling is revealed.

Fit for TV, which struck me as even handed, features actual show footage as well as interviews with contestants, show staffers — including medical personnel — and two of the show’s creators. Ultimately though, nothing too startling is revealed. We already knew a number of the ways that this show had played fast and loose in exploiting the contestants’ bodies, self-image, and health, and much if not all of the information had already been reported in the press or been on full display in the show itself.

However, the fresh interviews offer interesting and yes, entertaining, perspectives on what it was like to experience The Biggest Loser firsthand.

The Biggest Loser launched spinoffs all over the world, was a merchandising juggernaut and made stars of its fitness trainers: Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper. While Harper appears often in the doc — filmed with his dog! — Michaels is a no show. The show was finally cancelled after facing plenty of backlash, including a sensational New York Post article alleging illegal substance usage by contestants. (This article has been expunged from the internet.) As far as substances consumed, Fit for TV finds evidence for nothing stronger than caffeine pills. In this instance (and others), Fit for TV appears to vindicate its subject as being no more exploitative than it appeared.

Fit for TV does, however, find The Biggest Loser culpable for some excesses. At its height, thousands applied for the opportunity to be transformed. The few “lottery winners” were whisked off to a hotel and handed a hefty contract. If you requested a lawyer, you were told, at least according to one contestant, that there were plenty of others raring to step in. Likewise, showrunners used leverage to exploit contestants’ behavior during the show. As far as weight loss, diet is most crucial. However, a show about not eating would not goose the ratings, so exercise became The Biggest Loser’s focal point.

Drama ensued, much of which is featured in Fit for TV.

During a mile-long beach run, contestant Tracey Yukich collapsed and was airlifted to intensive care. Conspicuously, the show’s doctor, Robert Huizenga, was not present for the event. Not surprisingly, Huizenga, who along with Yukich is interviewed extensively for the doc, was often at odds with the show’s producers. Fortunately, Yukich survived and returned to the show, where she was ultimately cast as the show’s villain. After all, this is reality TV. After appearing on The Biggest Loser, Yukich ran the Boston Marathon with Huizenga.

Often, Michaels and Harper, who often served as pseudo psychologists to their charges, didn’t deliver their coaching with Richard Simmons TLC. Specifically, Harper loudly berated one contestant Joelle Gwynn, another Fit for TV interviewee. To this very day, Gwynn still harbors a grudge. There’s plenty of footage in Fit for TV of contestants puking and collapsing on treadmills. Besides Yukich, no one appears to have been seriously injured.

When food was incorporated into the series, it was used more as kerosene than fuel. For one challenge, the biggest eater won a trip home. What were The Biggest Loser producers thinking? Well, simply, an overweight person waddling around with a donut in their mouth makes good TV. Perhaps eyeing a reboot, Biggest Loser creators, David Broome and JD Roth — who are both noticeably gaunt — appear in the doc. Mostly, they come across as, well, TV producers, not benevolent nutritionists. To his credit, Roth does take accountability for the insensitive food-related challenges. However, in regards to the non-existent after-care for its former contestants, Broome seems disingenuous, pleading poverty. C’mon!

Post Biggest Loser, surprise, surprise, many contestants – though it’s tough to provide an exact percentage — regained the weight they lost. Danny Cahill, for example, who won season 8, has gained back almost all of the 239 lbs he lost for the show. The New York Times alleged that focusing on working out meant that the show damaged the metabolisms of many contestants. In Fit for TV, though, some contestants point out that they might have begun the show with damaged metabolisms.

Would the contestants do it all over again? Some definitely wouldn’t. But others seemed game to reconsider. By now, they know the score: reality TV is a cesspool, and cutting weight isn’t a piece of cake.