Critics have spoken out on social media, questioning why the celebrity trainers and the show’s bosses weren’t prioritising contestants’ health over their weight loss.
“Bob and Jillian were openly disregarding the doctor’s rules and actively encouraging the contestants to endanger their health,” one posted on X (formerly Twitter). “They should have been sued along with the producers and PTB. Ratings (money) mattered more than these people’s health. Disgusting.”
Season one winner Ryan Benson was also interviewed for Fit For TV, and opened up about when blood was found in his urine due to the intensity of his diet and workout routine.
“In the end, it worked out great ’cause I won, but I was doing what most doctors would say were super unhealthy things,” he said. “The last 10 days I didn’t put any food in my body. I was doing the master cleanse, just drinking lemon juice and maple syrup, cayenne pepper, all these tricks that are super unhealthy just to cut weight. At the final weigh-in, we had to do a urine test and they said, ‘Ryan, there’s blood in your urine,’ which obviously means you’re so dehydrated.”
Bob Harper, Vicky Vilcan, Brady Vilcan, Stacey Capers, Adam Capers, Heba Brantley, Ed BrantleyNBC/Getty Images
Contestant Rachel Derickson’s dangerous weight loss is also explored in the documentary. She started the series at 260 pounds (18.5 stone, 117.9 kg) and ended up winning the show, weighing in at just 105 pounds (7.5 stone, 47.6 kg). Her body was described at the time as “emaciated”, and in the documentary, trainer Bob Harper reflects on the “horror” they felt at her transformation.
“Rachel came out, and she had lost so much weight, it was… shocking,” he recalled in the documentary. “Jillian and I were just in horror.”
The lack of aftercare for contestants is also explored in the documentary, especially as many claimed that they regained the weight they lost on the show.
When approached about this, The Biggest Loser’s executive producer and creator, David Broome, says the cost of such a programme made it impossible. “We would have loved to have aftercare, but we’re a television show without endless pots of money,” he said. “NBC wasn’t going to give it [financing] to us.”
Above all, the documentary speaks to a toxic Noughties culture around body image, and the prioritisation of TV ratings and competition wins over health. And the question is this: has enough changed since then?