I am writing a paper on Biggest Loser, a show about people trying be the one to lose weight the fastest. Biggest Loser is one of the most popular reality shows on t.v. and has been on the air since 2005. In my paper I will be writing about how the Biggest Loser has a negative impact on the contestants and viewers, the show portrays the workouts as fitting for the contestants conditions and humiliates contestants by rubbing the fact that they are so unhealthy in their face. All the while the audience at home believes the excercises are well in the contestants abilities.I am going to open my paper with a few qoutes from previous competitors discribing the lengths they went to to win. I will follow up with my thesis (The Biggest Loser does more harm than good, by lowering the self estem of the competitors and giving the audience unrealistic ideas of weight loss.). I will then explain the shows flaws.
Questions:
1. Is the amount of weight lost on the show worth the stress and humiliation the contestants suffer?
2. Do competitors and fans realize how strenuous and unhealthy the weight loss program is?
3. The people on the show are on a "ranch" free of responsibilities, do audience members realize the unrealistic depiction of all the time spent excersising and such?
The contestants suffer, because of how much they weight and during the show they can continue to get humiliated if they are not able to complete a task. I do not think people realize how unhealthy the contestants weight loss is. The programs have them on strict diets and hours upon hours in the gym. Viewers a lot of times are not able to see that they are not doing regular hours at the gym. This show is just unrealistic, because normal people do not have enough time in a day or money to support their new diets or the time to be in the gym. People have to work, take care of families, and continue to have a social life. I remember watching the show "I Used to be Fat," and seeing how they spent so much time in the gym with their trainer and no time with their family or friends before they went off to college.
ReplyDeleteI think the amount of weight the contestants lose is awesome, but also dangerous. It puts so much stress on their bodies. It can be very humiliating standing up on that scale but, to see them after they look so much happier. I still don't think this is a safe way to lose weight. I don't think the viewers realize how unhealthy the weight lose program is, but the life styles the contestants had before wasn't healthy either, and they definatly needed a lifestyle change. I think the viewers realize how unrealistic and misleading this show can be, but it teaches them a lifestyle. When they get kicked off the show all of the contestants continue to lose weight, alhough much slower.
ReplyDeleteIn an opinion, I do not think that it is worth the stress, humiliation, and suffering. For the contestants it's probably all just for the money and publicity they will get by being on the show. Being someone who has not seen the show it sounds like from the question that it is an unhealthy program and not knowing that I would be in the category of not knowing that it was. Again, for the third question I did not know so it would be not knowing it was unrealistic but now I know.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of the above posts. The rate at which these contestants lose weight is extremely unhealthy. The stress produced by lossing weight at so quickly is essentialy the same as taking an untrained person and telling them to run a full marathon. They could windup in a hospital, and are less likely to continue the change in life style, because of the stress and humiliation. Most people probably don't see this when they watch the show.
ReplyDeleteI think it is not worth the stress and humiliation that they have to suffer, because the contestants should have the abilities to lose the weight that they can without the whole Unites States also staring at them.
ReplyDeleteI do not think they realize how unhealthy it is to lose that much weight in a short amount of time. I do not know how long the show is aired as a season, but it probably is within a short amount of time. Your body would have to recover from the big amount of weight loss; also you always gain weight before you lose the weight.
The audience members probably do not realize the unrealistic depiction and probably only think about how 'lucky' the people are to be off work while losing weight.
I think the point you made about the contestants living on a "ranch" is a very good point. To other viewers watching this show it seems unrealistic because they don't realize that these contestants are literally dedicating every minute of their day to losing weight. In the real world, however, people have a lot more things going on in their day than being concerned about their weight loss. As for the humiliation aspect, the contestants know what they are getting themselves into so I don't think it matters to them or else they wouldnt have signed up to be on the show.
ReplyDeleteI think it is not worth the stress and humiliation. The way people are today, it doesnt matter what they do. If you want to loose weight then loose it for you not because of a tv show or because people want you to loose it because you want too and you want to look better when you look in the mirror.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about the negative impact. The trainers on the show make it seem like it's not a big deal to loose an unhealty amount of weight in that amount of time! In response to your third question, I think they dont realize that it is unrealistic! I've never really watched the show in depth, so I dont really know what it is all about. I look forward to reading your paper!
ReplyDelete1. I think that the amount of weight lost on the show happens under extreme and unrealistic conditions. I don't think the personal humiliation and emotional trials are worth the results - most of which don't stay after the conclusion of the show.
ReplyDelete2. I think they know that it is strenuous but as a competetor they are desperate enough to do it on national television so they don't care about being unhealthy.
3. I think the audience does realize how unrealistic it is, but are entertained by the struggle of these people anyway.
The show definitely portrays weightloss as "simple" or "easy" and in a very short amount of time. If you read any health articles about healthy weight-loss, you'd see that it is unhealthy to lose large amounts at a time. Healthy weight-loss is more of a 'slow and steady' pace. Also, you're right about the "free of responsibilities" part!Exercising takes time, and the average person doesn't have THAT much free time like the contestants have!
ReplyDelete1. It is defintely worth the stress if they need to lose the weight.
ReplyDelete2. Since only certain parts of the process are shown on TV I am pretty sure not everyone realizes.
3. Since the show is set on the ranch I am sure people realize that all of their time is spent doing nothing but the program so I am pretty sure they know that their weight loss program would have to differ from on the show because people have lives.
The contestants lose weight at an unhealthy rate in an unrealistic environment. Personal trainers aren't as harsh on clients as the hosts of this show are. I don't think people realise how difficult that sort of training is until they join the show.
ReplyDelete1. Is the amount of weight lost on the show worth the stress and humiliation the contestants suffer?
ReplyDeleteI feel like the is truely no humiliation in this show. Because once the contestents start loosing the wieght that they do, it starts to build their self confidence.
2. Do competitors and fans realize how strenuous and unhealthy the weight loss program is?
i feel like the different compepitors do realize the effects that the show has on their own body. But also the show has medical personal on the side lines in case someone is in trouble.
No, I don't think the amount of weight the contestant lost is worth the stress and the humiliation because there are healthier ways to lose weight than putting yourself in misery. I think the viewers do know how strenous the program is because of all the emotions and breakdown the consestants go through to lose the weight. Yes, I do think that viewers do know the unrealistic depiction of time they have because losing weight isn't quick and simple. It takes time.
ReplyDelete1. I wouldn't calling it suffering, but I would say they should be proud of themselves for at least trying. It's worth the try.
ReplyDelete2. I don't see how the weight loss program is unhealthy, so I guess that answers your question.
3.I'm sure the only thing in the audiences mind is what happens afterwards. The "Before and After Picture" is the biggest thing that catches people's eyes.
I think this show is very poorly representing proper ways to obtain weight loss. The show is very humiliating and I personally feel it is very morally wrong. The contestants don't have to go through a televised program, but instead could find alternative ways to loss weight. The show is unmoral and I don't feel the wight loss is worth what they go through.
ReplyDeleteI tink the viewers and contestants don't realize how unhealthy they try to reach this goal. The contestant is only worried to loose the weitht they don't care about the stress and humiliation they go through.
ReplyDelete1)I wouldn’t say it is. It’s just away to say that people who can’t do it themselves want to lose weight and be famous but I guess if getting paid to try to lose weight is a motivation goes for it. It’s a way to make a person fell better when they finally lose weight and they get paid for it right. The amount of weight lost on the show worth the stress and humiliation the contestants suffer really just depends on the contestant and what they want.
ReplyDelete2)They should.
3)It really is unrealistic. People don’t have time to spend their life losing so much weight and just worrying about that this show has made it possible.
I never thought of this t.v. show being negative, but now that you brought up these various flaws I can clearly see the negtivity. I'm really curious to find out, what exactly the contastants had to go through to win. I do agree the amount of humilation they go through is not worth the weight loss.
ReplyDeleteI dont think the amount of weight the contestants lose is worth the humiliation, but after so many seasons and the fact that you sign yourself up for it, it seems like they should know what they are getting themselves into. They want to make a difference in their lives and they have seen that the show is a potential way to help them.
ReplyDeleteIt is a dangerously fast way to lose the weight, but...
The contestants are responsibility free on the ranch for the most part, but the time they spend on the ranch is used to work out and learn ways to maintain the life styles in the "real world". Failure upon returning home could be based on a variety of different factors.
The amount of weight the contestants lose is worth the suffering they may have endured, but to whether that has to be televised for many people to see is a different matter. Biggest Loser doesn't show its viewers how difficult losing weight it, or at least it doesn't stress how hard it is. The show may show some clips of contestants working out, but that may add up to 5 minutes an episode- maybe.
ReplyDeleteI feel like viewers realize that the contestants are losing weight unnaturally on this fantastic ranch, but it still glamorizes losing weight to this extreme and in an unrealistic fashion for an average viewer.
Harsh as these shows might be and humanlitation these people go through. You have to remember that these people are extremely unhealthy. Obesity isn't a joke and its getting worst with our generation. Yeah excercise and dieting is important but the way show presents itself isn't realistic nor the humanlition isn't even needed. If they do it in a more positive way. Things would be a lot better
ReplyDeleteI highly disagree with many of the things being said. Most of the responses are dedicated to saying how humilating and degradingand unhealthy this program is. I'm by no means saying that the program is perfect, but it is way healthier than the lives that these contestants were living. The reason that these contestants are losing so much weight is because they have so much weight already on them. The number has to be taken in perspective, if a person under 200 pounds is losing 15-20 pounds a week, it would be dangerously unhealthy. If a person 300+ pounds is losing that much, it could be compared to a healthy person losing 3-5 pounds a week. Many of the comments are also about "being worth the humiliation". I believe that the work put forth and the challenges that the contestants have to go through is highly worth it. These people are learning to deal with not only their physical problems but their emotional problems that got them where they are/were. These people went on the show because they can't deal with these things on their own. Whether the show is helping in the right way or the wrong way, it's helping. People understand that they can't do things outside of the ranch that are done on the ranch, so I think that it can be taken realistically, it just has to be adapted depending on each person's life.
ReplyDeleteA healthy person isn't suposed to lose more than two pounds a week. You say the show is helping, but have you considered the people who leave after a week? Most of the pounds lost is just water weight.....and those people still have to get up there half naked infront of the country.
DeleteThe amount of stress the contestants endure both physically and mentally is very unhealthy. I for one have had a very stressful life and have learned that the amount of stress you undergo affects your whole life especially if its all at once or over a long period of time. Also if the contestants are big to begin with they obviously have not had much exercise and need to be SLOWLY eased into the types of things they are making them do. It makes weight loss look easier than it really is.
ReplyDelete