Biggest Loser complaints

Some rants and raves about one of my wife's favorite TV shows.

My wife really enjoys watching the Biggest Loser on Tuesday nights.

Now it's up to 2 hours each week, and while I deeply admire the contestants who are trying to improve their health by appearing on the show, there are certain aspects of the show that really drives me crazy.

If the show's producers are really trying to help the public (and I think it's safe to say that ratings are paramount in their mind), then perhaps they should let us know what the contestants are eating during the week.

We get a glimpse of their workouts (which by the way are way over the top), but except for the temptation events, we really don't see what they are eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

When a contestant loses much less weight than the rest of the contestants, one would have to wonder why? What did they eat during the week? I'd love to know.

People who have lost weight (and I have) know how important a food diary is to the process--why can't we see the contestants. Surely the two trainers, sadistic Bob and Jillian, know what their charges are eating.

Something else that drives me crazy is the so-called "Last chance workout", which is supposedly a workout done right before the weekly weigh in to give each contestant a bit of a nudge toward success.

These last chance workouts are getting more and more ridiculous and extreme---last night, sadistic Bob seemed intent on making one of his team members cry--that's really great motivation to the overweight TV audience.

I don't know about you, but after an extreme workout like the ones I've been witnessing, the first thing I would do is down a few quarts of water---I'm sure that's really good for the weigh in.

Next thing---contestants vote each other 'off' the show, is is the case in Survivor.

Ridiculous---the winning contestant should be the one who loses the most weight. Don't vote anyone off--although I should mention that jettisoned contestants are eligible for a separate, lesser monetary award.

Finally, have you noticed that each series seems to have bigger and bigger people?

I noticed (and so I guess did the producers) that the heaviest people were winning the show.

That's because the winner of the show is the one who loses the highest percentage weight.

Just about every series, the winner has been one who lost 50% of their body weight.

A 400 pound man who loses 200 pounds has lost 50% of his body weight (and probably could lose a few more pounds).

A 180 pound woman who loses 50% of her body weight would weight 90 pounds at the final weigh in, which is anorexic material. If she loses 54 pounds to get down to 132, she has lost 30% of her body weight, is probably in better shape than the 400 pound man now weighing 200 pounds, but loses the show.

It wasn't until the last 2 series that a woman finally broke through and won the show.

Why?

Because the producers have been selecting heavier and heavier women (and men).

There are two men on this show who weigh nearly 400 pounds, and 2 women over 350.

50% thresholds for the men would be 200 pounds, for the women 175--both are obtainable goals.