Speaker 1: Hey, there are folks. It is the Netflix documentary. Folks
Speaker 1: just can't seem to stop talking about And yes, everybody
Speaker 1: seems to be talking about it, and so are we
Speaker 1: now because that hit TV show Biggest Loser, what was
Speaker 1: happening behind the scenes is quite frankly shocking and sad.
Speaker 1: Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Rose. We
Speaker 1: all remember the show. You said you were absolutely a
Speaker 1: huge fan of this show. Do you remember what your
Speaker 1: impressions of were of it then before you ever saw
Speaker 1: this as a documentary.
Speaker 2: Yes, so when I mean, I loved this show because
Speaker 2: it was watching people push past their fears and make
Speaker 2: a change for the better, or at least that's what
Speaker 2: it felt like. You watched people getting healthy. Now, yes,
Speaker 2: there was some extreme conditions where you had trainers getting
Speaker 2: tough with these I guess they were contestants, but people
Speaker 2: who were fighting for their health, fighting for their life.
Speaker 2: It wasn't just about what they looked like, but they
Speaker 2: were actually fighting to live longer and to live better.
Speaker 2: And so it was exciting to me to watch because
Speaker 2: you were watching people, at least I thought I was
Speaker 2: watching people improve their lives, make better choices, learn how
Speaker 2: to work, not that they didn't know how to work hard,
Speaker 2: but putting themselves in a position where they were putting
Speaker 2: in the work and getting the results, and that felt satisfactory.
Speaker 1: Way. But you're talking about the show as an inspiration,
Speaker 1: which parts of it can be, But this is also
Speaker 1: a show that put on and clearly and admittedly were
Speaker 1: making fun of overweight people, putting them in positions to
Speaker 1: be scarfing down food, to be committing, to be playing
Speaker 1: little games in which they're having to carry food in
Speaker 1: their mouths, or do all kinds of stuff humiliating things. Now,
Speaker 1: your point is well taken. That's absolutely the case. But
Speaker 1: did you not remember because I don't remember watching it
Speaker 1: that closely, but back at the time, did the inspiration
Speaker 1: always come through or did it often feel like a spectacle?
Speaker 2: No? I can so. I worked for NBC News while
Speaker 2: this show was on, so we actually had so many
Speaker 2: of the contestants and the trainers coming on the Today
Speaker 2: Show and we would interview them and do segments with them.
Speaker 2: So it was actually part of my work assignment to
Speaker 2: watch it. But I enjoyed watching it, and I will
Speaker 2: be honest, I never looked at it through a lens
Speaker 2: of humiliation or parody, or that any of these people
Speaker 2: were being made fun of. Now, watching the documentary, I
Speaker 2: saw it from a completely different perspective. But I just
Speaker 2: have to say, watching it, when I watched it the
Speaker 2: times we were in it didn't really cross my mind
Speaker 2: that these folks were being made fun of. I saw
Speaker 2: them working their asses off. I was cheering them on
Speaker 2: like That's how I felt. I was rooting for them.
Speaker 2: I didn't want anyone to fail or to flub, or
Speaker 2: to feel discouraged to the point where, yes, there was drama,
Speaker 2: I mean, and that was that made the show entertaining
Speaker 2: and interesting. But I didn't look at it through that lens.
Speaker 2: But watching the documentary, it was it was cringe. Isn't
Speaker 2: even perhaps a strong enough forward. I felt sad. I
Speaker 2: felt I felt actually even bad for having enjoyed the
Speaker 2: show as much as I did. I felt, I just
Speaker 2: I saw it from a completely different perspective, and.
Speaker 1: We both felt like that show wouldn't beyond for seventeen
Speaker 1: eighteen seasons, like it was if it were trying to
Speaker 1: start today.
Speaker 2: And it's yes, and it was too. It was only
Speaker 2: two decades ago that it started, but so much has
Speaker 2: changed in the world for the better, where we have
Speaker 2: a better understanding of the CRUL, Like think about the
Speaker 2: even the movies from the nineties, like things that were
Speaker 2: said and scripts that were written and storylines that were
Speaker 2: given would never be allowed in today's world because they
Speaker 2: are offensive and they are stereotypical, and all of those
Speaker 2: things can be said about this show now looking back
Speaker 2: at it through a better way of understanding people.
Speaker 1: So that's what they've done now with this docu series.
Speaker 1: It's three episodes, pretty digestible when you say, what was it?
Speaker 1: Three episodes about an hour each, so they don't really
Speaker 1: go that long, and they flow and they move and
Speaker 1: it's really interesting. So it's good watching. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: very interesting. Even if you didn't watch the show or
Speaker 1: we're a fan of it, it catches you up pretty
Speaker 1: quickly and it's fascinating. So I guess some of the
Speaker 1: major headlines that so many people are debating about having
Speaker 1: to do with the extreme measures that some of these
Speaker 1: contestants went through. We're getting more detail about that. It
Speaker 1: was a contestant that almost died. I think she might
Speaker 1: even describe herself as having died for a few minutes. Also,
Speaker 1: this idea of these illegal pills caffeine pills that were
Speaker 1: given to the contestants. Also many of them, we learn
Speaker 1: just about all of them actually gained weight back. We
Speaker 1: also learned the sum encouraged to gain weight before they
Speaker 1: even went on the show. These there are just some
Speaker 1: of the wow headlines robes coming out of this thing
Speaker 1: and another thing coming out and looks a lot of
Speaker 1: ire criticisms. Is director Towards is the one person who
Speaker 1: wasn't in this documentary speaking for herself, one of the trainers,
Speaker 1: of course, Jillian Michaels.
Speaker 2: And Jillian Michaels has been very outspoken since this series
Speaker 2: came on to Netflix, mainly to defend herself. She says
Speaker 2: she hasn't ruled out taking legal action, but she knows
Speaker 2: that legal action is expensive. She did acknowledge that, so
Speaker 2: it appears for now she's just going on her own
Speaker 2: campaign defending herself. And she has, you know, receipts, she
Speaker 2: has emails, she has texts, and she's putting them up
Speaker 2: on her social media accounts to say what they're saying
Speaker 2: about me isn't true. So she's extremely upset and folks
Speaker 2: who love Jillian Michaels are upset on her behalf. Some
Speaker 2: of the former contestants who weren't featured in this documentary
Speaker 2: have also come along and spoken up in defense of
Speaker 2: Jillian Michaels because she does get a little bit of
Speaker 2: the bad guy rap here it. So you had Bob Harper,
Speaker 2: who was the other trainer on the show. He participates
Speaker 2: in the documentary, as does a show producer, and the
Speaker 2: show's medical doctor also went on, so she was really
Speaker 2: and the host of the show, so she was really
Speaker 2: kind of the missing person in this documentary that would
Speaker 2: have fully legitimized it. And she said, having watched it now,
Speaker 2: she has zero regrets for not going on because she
Speaker 2: says they're selling a pack of lies.
Speaker 1: Well, there was a lot of folks who were interviewed,
Speaker 1: and a lot of contestants who do have the same story,
Speaker 1: who do tell the same story, and it was there
Speaker 1: was a doctor that was on I kind of remember
Speaker 1: which one it was where they said it's impossible you
Speaker 1: cannot do a show about weight loss that's safe, and
Speaker 1: so they were talking about this idea, so much of it.
Speaker 1: You consider what we're talking about. They want a body
Speaker 1: altering change in you in a period of time, six
Speaker 1: months to think that people in six months lost fifty
Speaker 1: one hundred, two hundred pounds, two hundred plus pounds. How
Speaker 1: could would any doctor say you could safely do that?
Speaker 2: I doubt it? And they, I mean, they did have
Speaker 2: this doctor on the show to try and make sure
Speaker 2: that contestants were as healthy as possible, but clearly, look,
Speaker 2: it's one of the like did you ever watch Probably not,
Speaker 2: but I'm just gonna throw this out. Did you ever
Speaker 2: watch Extreme Makeover? Home Edition? Extreme make So? These extreme
Speaker 2: makeover shows were really popular during that decade or so,
Speaker 2: and it's as if they tried to take, you know,
Speaker 2: someone getting a new haircut and new makeup and new
Speaker 2: clothing or redesigning a house and take that same basically
Speaker 2: cookie cutter template and apply it to weight loss because
Speaker 2: everyone loves it before and after, at least a lot
Speaker 2: of I can speak for women in magazines back in
Speaker 2: the day, you'd have a before and after, and everyone
Speaker 2: loved to see transformation change for the better. It's inspiring,
Speaker 2: it's exciting, it makes you feel like you could do
Speaker 2: it too. But they took that same type of format
Speaker 2: and tried to put it on weight loss, and it worked.
Speaker 2: Obviously the show was a huge success. Ten million people
Speaker 2: tuned into the finale of the latest or at least
Speaker 2: I think the twenty sixteen finale, So it did get
Speaker 2: people's attention. And obesity and overweight and America, that's these
Speaker 2: are all issues. So you could say, Okay, we're trying
Speaker 2: to tackle this problem. We're trying to bring awareness or
Speaker 2: trying to show people that they can conquer their weight problems,
Speaker 2: not with drugs, not with pills, not with some magic bullet,
Speaker 2: but through hard work and discipline. And so that the
Speaker 2: idea of it, I believe was noble to a degree,
Speaker 2: But the question is was it healthy? Was it fair?
Speaker 2: Was it like not even physically healthy, but was it
Speaker 2: mentally healthy for these folks?
Speaker 1: And that you I think the transfermation we root for it.
Speaker 1: We were rooting. I mean we were You're proud of
Speaker 1: these folks. It's life altering to see that they were
Speaker 1: pushed to a degree that they got the help they needed. Well,
Speaker 1: most of these folks don't have the time and don't
Speaker 1: have the sometimes money and the resources to get a
Speaker 1: trainer to work with you, to tell you somebody about
Speaker 1: your diet and have a doctor monitoring you, this is
Speaker 1: a wonderful opportunity that they all had. I did not know.
Speaker 1: And the way they put it, and that came out
Speaker 1: in this documentary Robes, is that this was not a
Speaker 1: show about getting healthy. This was a reality television competition, period,
Speaker 1: and if you apply those rules to it, it means
Speaker 1: all rules go out the door, because now it's just
Speaker 1: a cutthroat competition to where people do what anything they
Speaker 1: have to do to win. So it became that so
Speaker 1: that principle that we apply to Survivor or even a
Speaker 1: Love Island or whatever, you apply those reality show rules.
Speaker 1: That's fine. You're stabbing people in the back, that's one thing.
Speaker 2: Figuratively, of course, yes, But.
Speaker 1: Doing it here you might be per damaging your health
Speaker 1: and you might be putting your life at risk. The
Speaker 1: way it's going that is just not something I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people that registers. As you're clapping and
Speaker 1: cheering as you see them every week losing ten pounds,
Speaker 1: fifteen pounds, twenty pounds.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it just it didn't cross my mind at least,
Speaker 2: and I don't think it crossed a lot of folks minds,
Speaker 2: but I do think it was. There was an interesting
Speaker 2: point in this documentary where you have one of the
Speaker 2: former contestants who it not just gained all his weight back,
Speaker 2: but and he was one of the winners, excuse me,
Speaker 2: of one of the seasons. I think it might have
Speaker 2: been season seven, two.
Speaker 1: Hundred and thirty nine pounds. It was the biggest loss
Speaker 1: they had ever had in the show.
Speaker 2: So not only did he gain it back, but and
Speaker 2: then some. And he went on to the documentary saying
Speaker 2: there was no aftercare, there was no follow up, There
Speaker 2: was no resource available to any of us contestants once
Speaker 2: we went home. So we were in this controlled environment
Speaker 2: where we were working out, you know, anywhere from four
Speaker 2: to eight hours a day, with a restricted diet, with
Speaker 2: being fully monitored. All of a sudden, now you're let
Speaker 2: out back into your real world, and if you don't
Speaker 2: have anyone helping you or at least guiding you in
Speaker 2: that transition, it's almost as if you're doomed to fail.
Speaker 2: But the producer said, yeah, that would have been great,
Speaker 2: but that's not what we were doing. This is a
Speaker 2: television show, and both sides make sense, Like they the
Speaker 2: purpose of this show was not to monitor people and
Speaker 2: their weight loss journey so that they could continue to
Speaker 2: live a healthy and wonderful life. No, it was to
Speaker 2: get ratings. And yes, people had amazing transformations in the process,
Speaker 2: but the onus was then on them to do with
Speaker 2: it as they would. But there wasn't an overreaching theme
Speaker 2: or purpose, or it wasn't the goal to somehow create
Speaker 2: some healthy living standard that they were going to continue
Speaker 2: to foster and fuel.
Speaker 1: Like No, and some of them admit it in some
Speaker 1: of the interviews. Yeah, it was on me when I
Speaker 1: left the show and Gain the Way back. Can't blame
Speaker 1: anybody else but me for that. But I didn't realize
Speaker 1: and rope so much of what they're talking about here
Speaker 1: is that you're to hear that somebody who is wherever
Speaker 1: three hundred plus pounds restricting himself to eight hundred calories
Speaker 1: a day and burning five to six thousand, how can
Speaker 1: you keep that up?
Speaker 2: It's not sustainable.
Speaker 1: And you're doing that fighting and calling because you're desperate
Speaker 1: to get on the scale and let everybody see how
Speaker 1: much weight you lost. And that's just not healthy.
Speaker 2: Even the idea now today, imagine this where we are
Speaker 2: putting people in a public setting where like millions of people,
Speaker 2: as many as ten million people are watching you get
Speaker 2: on a scale. Think about that. How many of us
Speaker 2: in our regular lives step on a scale maybe once
Speaker 2: a week whatever. How many people would you even want
Speaker 2: in the room to see the number when you stand
Speaker 2: on that scale, No one would want anyone else in
Speaker 2: the room. There's such a private thing.
Speaker 1: And then being your underwear in front of millions.
Speaker 2: So I had never really considered, like, I don't want
Speaker 2: to step on a scale in front of anyone else,
Speaker 2: Like that's for me and my doctor to know. Period.
Speaker 2: So the amount of courage and just and yeah, humiliation,
Speaker 2: it would take it that weight to stand on a
Speaker 2: big scale in front of the world in your yes underwear,
Speaker 2: so to speak, or a very little and to do
Speaker 2: that public that just that in and of itself seems cruel,
Speaker 2: even if they want to do it. They were fighting
Speaker 2: for it. There was a competition. People were lining up,
Speaker 2: people were begging to be put on the show so
Speaker 2: that they could change their lives. But they really for them. Yes,
Speaker 2: it was a competition to your point, but I also
Speaker 2: believe it was it was a life or death moment.
Speaker 2: A lot of these people said that they wanted to
Speaker 2: get on the show because they were they believed it
Speaker 2: was the only way they could live, that this was
Speaker 2: their chance at living.
Speaker 1: Was it a young lady wanted to have a baby
Speaker 1: as well. Yes, So these stories are are real, and
Speaker 1: that's what made the show compelled. Yes, these are real
Speaker 1: heartfelt stories you had. It's almost a case where, I mean,
Speaker 1: so many reality shows we see we see the villain
Speaker 1: here and we're rooting for that person or I like
Speaker 1: camll like her, and you're rooting for everybody on the show.
Speaker 1: You room for everybody to lose weight, everybody has a
Speaker 1: great background it and you're hearing all these stories and
Speaker 1: I don't know how much it taints it for me
Speaker 1: in seeing this, but it doesn't. It doesn't seem like
Speaker 1: what I thought it was. And when I hear it's
Speaker 1: one thing. If I saw their stories later and I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: and they're doing great, but to hear them tell their
Speaker 1: own stories of how this show in a lot of
Speaker 1: ways and ruin their lives but really really had a
Speaker 1: negative impact on them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they had the sisters who won I don't remember
Speaker 2: which season it was. They were one of the few
Speaker 2: people who were on this documentary who said it saved
Speaker 2: their lives. It was the best thing they had ever done.
Speaker 2: Most of the folks who had gained all the weight
Speaker 2: back said quite the opposite. I have to tell you,
Speaker 2: as someone who did love this show, it's incredibly sad
Speaker 2: to think that I was. You know, we were all
Speaker 2: rooting for these folks. Look, even when you and I
Speaker 2: are running right, I'm running a lot the West Side Highway.
Speaker 2: I see people out there, sweating and pushing it and
Speaker 2: trying to better their lives. I feel inspired watching them.
Speaker 2: I think, you know a lot of us were, and
Speaker 2: I do think that the trainers and the producers, I
Speaker 2: think that people were rooting for folks. But to hear
Speaker 2: and see what happened afterwards, to see that most of
Speaker 2: like we're talking, what do they say, like twelve out
Speaker 2: of fourteen from every season regained the weight.
Speaker 1: I think it was it's close, but it was fourteen
Speaker 1: out of sixteen.
Speaker 2: Fourteen out of sixteen had.
Speaker 1: Gained it all back, or some of them had even
Speaker 1: gotten worse.
Speaker 2: Right, And that is so sad to think that they
Speaker 2: went through all of this, put themselves out there like this,
Speaker 2: busted their asses like this, took time off of work
Speaker 2: to better their lives, and without the proper I guess
Speaker 2: I don't want to even say education, but guidance without
Speaker 2: doing it in the right way, it ended up backfiring terribly,
Speaker 2: and so many people profited and off of this, and
Speaker 2: I think that's what also makes it feel so icky.
Speaker 1: Had an next One analys if you will, during much
Speaker 1: of it, and she was great and throughout the docu series,
Speaker 1: but she made that point ropes that they were having
Speaker 1: people doing very serious clinical work that did not have
Speaker 1: the clinical background and the expertise to do it. So
Speaker 1: you're talking about Gillian Michaels and Bob Harper, the two
Speaker 1: trainers who were, yes, helping them physically, but then these
Speaker 1: folks needed a lot of mental support as well, and
Speaker 1: a lot of emotional support and they weren't getting it.
Speaker 1: And they had it like a little clip. They little
Speaker 1: series of clips they ran at one point showing like
Speaker 1: some of the advice that the trainers were given to people,
Speaker 1: and it sounded ridiculous. They just they wanted it to
Speaker 1: sound ridiculous. I know what's on the inside, but now
Speaker 1: you've turned that to something on the outside, and just
Speaker 1: like you're not, these people have trauma. And there was
Speaker 1: even Evan I'm not sure if they mentioned it here
Speaker 1: where I'm remembering it. But folks who are obi's more
Speaker 1: likely than not had some type of childhood trauma. You're
Speaker 1: dealing with that type of thing in this environment, and
Speaker 1: you have two trainers who are just saying it's going
Speaker 1: to be roses and sunshine.
Speaker 2: Not just that, though, We've got trainers who are in
Speaker 2: their face, screaming at them, yelling at them. And look
Speaker 2: at the time, you're thinking, it's tough love. I grew up,
Speaker 2: I was a competitive gymnast at a young age. I
Speaker 2: had coaches yelling in my face all the time, that
Speaker 2: tough love mentality. So when I watched the show the
Speaker 2: first time around, to me, that's what it reminded me of.
Speaker 2: And I thought, you know, sometimes we all need someone
Speaker 2: to give us that tough love, to say get and
Speaker 2: stay on that treadmill and don't get. But now watching it,
Speaker 2: it feels so different.
Speaker 1: There's a different It crosses a line to shaming and embarrassing.
Speaker 1: So that crosses a line. Yeah, every coach is everybody's
Speaker 1: competing in athletics, so that a coach in your face
Speaker 1: yelling and you.
Speaker 2: Don't quit, don't quit.
Speaker 1: Even some folks out there who have hired a trainer.
Speaker 1: That trainer will yell at you during your sal sergeants.
Speaker 2: Yes, people go to I used to go to a
Speaker 2: class called Aikin's Army where that's exactly what happens.
Speaker 1: Yes, but this went to another level. But there were
Speaker 1: parts of the docuseries, folks I was surprised by and
Speaker 1: it led to possibly a deeper conversation and maybe all
Speaker 1: of us needing to look inward a little bit when
Speaker 1: it comes to as they say, fat people.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to this edition of Amy and TJ where
Speaker 2: we are talking about Fit for TV. It's the hot, hot,
Speaker 2: hot Netflix TV series that goes behind the scenes of
Speaker 2: that juggernaut of a show, The Biggest Loser on NBC,
Speaker 2: and you start to see what was happening behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: And there were a lot of allegations that have been
Speaker 2: made that have not been proven. But certainly one person
Speaker 2: in particular who chose not to be a part of
Speaker 2: the documentary who was a huge face of the show,
Speaker 2: Jillian Michaels, has now been speaking out.
Speaker 1: Whit more so than the host Stephen Right. Wasn't she yes,
Speaker 1: the breakout star of that show?
Speaker 2: Is that fair to say she really was, And yes,
Speaker 2: I loved her tough Love. I watched her, I thought, go,
Speaker 2: Jillian go, I mean she was, and it made her
Speaker 2: who she is today. Bob Harper, yes, also a star
Speaker 2: from that. But Jillian really did steal the show, so
Speaker 2: to speak. But I was going to give her exact quote.
Speaker 2: After having watched the docuseries, she says she has zero
Speaker 2: regrets about not doing it, because I would have simply
Speaker 2: lent credibility to something that is an egregious lie. And
Speaker 2: she also said she's in talks with the executive producers
Speaker 2: of The Biggest Loser to do their own type of
Speaker 2: documentary where she can share her side of the story
Speaker 2: because she was she took much issue with how they
Speaker 2: reported what was happening behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: Okay, but she in particular with her right, it was
Speaker 1: this idea that she was giving them caffeine pills to
Speaker 1: help them lose weight.
Speaker 2: Right, and so she does not that. But what she's
Speaker 2: upset about is that on this documentary, if you watch it,
Speaker 2: they absolutely discuss that it was illegal, or at least
Speaker 2: it's not illegal to take caffeine pills, but it was
Speaker 2: against the show's rules. The show's policies to provide caffeine
Speaker 2: pills for contestants. Well, she actually goes on to her
Speaker 2: Instagram to talk about the fact that that absolutely was
Speaker 2: not true, that it was sanctioned and that it was allowed,
Speaker 2: and she actually I'm sure, okay, yes she has she
Speaker 2: here's an email chain with Bob Harper, the Biggest Losers producers, Uh,
Speaker 2: doctor Huzenga's guy who is the doctor on the show,
Speaker 2: who he did participate in the documentary, but his his
Speaker 2: I guess his assistance on this. And then Sandy Crumb,
Speaker 2: who stayed on the set with us and distributed the
Speaker 2: Fat Burners Slash caffeine pills. And this was an email
Speaker 2: about where to purchase these caffeine pills to give to
Speaker 2: the contestants. And so she does have emails here saying
Speaker 2: we just received the books and we'll be giving them
Speaker 2: out today. That's I guess her book. Sandy has the
Speaker 2: electro mix and bycarb do you still want Stacker two
Speaker 2: or three? Stacker two or three those are the caffeine
Speaker 2: pills and they're clearly shown in the documentary. I'll have
Speaker 2: it for them first thing in the morning, thanks Julie.
Speaker 2: And this was an email to Jillian, So she's saying
Speaker 2: tip for them to say that it wasn't known, it
Speaker 2: wasn't allowed, it wasn't sanctioned. She said, she became the
Speaker 2: scapegoat for that unfairly.
Speaker 1: So well, they scolded her for it in one episode
Speaker 1: of the show. They did, so they got it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she was penalized on the show.
Speaker 2: So it by four pounds or something like that.
Speaker 1: For her group. But I'm saying, how is she giving
Speaker 1: us a receipt that shows that it was okay to
Speaker 1: have caffeine pills when the show publicly came out mid
Speaker 1: in the middle of the recording, in the middle of
Speaker 1: the show and said, you are being punnish this so
Speaker 1: obviously they stated you can't do it. I don't get
Speaker 1: that part.
Speaker 2: I don't get it because I see these emails and
Speaker 2: she has you know, she's put them on her Instagram
Speaker 2: so you can read them for what they are. I
Speaker 2: don't know how that jibe's with. Yes, the public admonishment
Speaker 2: that she got on the show, Maybe she just agreed
Speaker 2: to let them do it. I don't know who knows
Speaker 2: what actually happened behind the scenes on that one. Jillian
Speaker 2: also was extremely upset. If you watched the documentary. They
Speaker 2: talk about how when a contestant won that she whispered
Speaker 2: in his hear ear, you're going to make me a millionaire.
Speaker 2: And she got really upset about that. She said, it's
Speaker 2: on camera. We both were miked, and she had all
Speaker 2: these emails and all these texts where they went back
Speaker 2: and forth and said, you did not say that. I
Speaker 2: can absolutely, irrefutably like say that you never said those things.
Speaker 2: So she was just frustrated that she was painted the
Speaker 2: villain by a few contestants and by others. She even
Speaker 2: put up her last text to Bob Harper, who didn't
Speaker 2: say kind things about Jillian. I mean, it's gotten really ugly.
Speaker 2: I guess bottom. I don't want to like prosecute and
Speaker 2: litigate back and forth what's going on. But she is
Speaker 2: certainly in defense mode, and she's putting up the receipts
Speaker 2: and texts and emails to try and defend her position,
Speaker 2: and she claims she's been unfairly vilified.
Speaker 1: Well, no, she does not come off well at certain
Speaker 1: points of this documentary. And she didn't get a chance
Speaker 1: to speak for herself in that documentary, which I think
Speaker 1: it would have made a difference I think it would
Speaker 1: have been nice to have her voice as a part
Speaker 1: of it, but she didn't trust that process and I
Speaker 1: get it, But yeah, I would have loved as much
Speaker 1: attention as this one is getting now to have had
Speaker 1: her voice a part of it would have been nice,
Speaker 1: I thought. But as much as we're talking about the
Speaker 1: back of I mean the back and forth, what the
Speaker 1: show was and who did what? I mean, this was
Speaker 1: a conversation about how we view overweight folks in this country.
Speaker 1: This really wasn't as much a conversation about health and
Speaker 1: getting people healthy as much as how do we view
Speaker 1: and just what it feels like to walk around all
Speaker 1: the time over again. I don't have the young lady's
Speaker 1: name in front of me, but this expert, this author
Speaker 1: they were using was who admitted and she kept saying,
Speaker 1: I've been a fat person all my life? Right, and
Speaker 1: she used that term, she used it, and even that
Speaker 1: part of it, I was thinking to myself, what is
Speaker 1: that one of the things where they can say that
Speaker 1: and no one else can even what's the proper thing
Speaker 1: to say? What's the respectful thing to say? And just
Speaker 1: it sparked more of a more questions in conversation with
Speaker 1: us about how do you view folks who are overweight,
Speaker 1: because they certainly have a feeling that you view them poorly.
Speaker 2: You know what. And she made that point to say,
Speaker 2: these folks who were contestants were so desperate to be thin,
Speaker 2: were so desperate to not be fat anymore, that they
Speaker 2: put themselves in a position to be humiliated by some
Speaker 2: of these temptations. I don't even remember that part of
Speaker 2: the show, to be honest, but putting these contestants in
Speaker 2: tempting situations and almost goating them to stuff their faces
Speaker 2: with donuts and pizza and cookies, I mean, really, does
Speaker 2: it get worse than that? Like that was so hard
Speaker 2: to rewatch in the context of this documentary. And she
Speaker 2: was saying, think about how those contestants must have felt,
Speaker 2: but they did it anyway because that's how badly they
Speaker 2: wanted to lose weight. And that really hit home for me.
Speaker 2: She said, people like making fun of fat people. It's
Speaker 2: just what they do. Are you trying to make me
Speaker 2: look like a loser? I mean, even the name of
Speaker 2: the show, I get it. It's cute, it's catchy in
Speaker 2: a way, but on the other hand, it also is
Speaker 2: cutting and mean and cruel and humiliating.
Speaker 1: Oh god, I said again, I really wonder if somebody
Speaker 1: even would attempt a show like this these days. I
Speaker 1: think again, the you know what the the producer said,
Speaker 1: he was the executive producer right his suggestion that if
Speaker 1: we did this show, if we did it all over,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't offer the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: cash prize, he said, I would be absolutely adamantly against it.
Speaker 1: Why don't we just help people. You shouldn't have to
Speaker 1: be incentivized by money, just your health.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he said, the victory the prize, money is your life,
Speaker 2: is your health, better way of living? And he also
Speaker 2: explained how the whole concept for the show began, which
Speaker 2: I did not know this story that he was in
Speaker 2: La he saw at a gym someone had posted a
Speaker 2: sign that basically said, I'm obese, I need help. Can
Speaker 2: can you help me? And it just sparked an idea, Wait,
Speaker 2: we could help people on a show, people who don't
Speaker 2: have access or financing for trainers and gyms and all that.
Speaker 2: Let's let's do this. And that's what got him thinking
Speaker 2: as a TV producer. He saw this genuine cry for help. Yes,
Speaker 2: so I did think that it was you know, there
Speaker 2: was some nobility in the idea behind it, the reasons
Speaker 2: for coming up with the show idea, but even he
Speaker 2: and everyone involved acknowledged that they made some major missteps
Speaker 2: and the way the show was constructed. Specifically, they talked
Speaker 2: about those temptations that that was not that was not
Speaker 2: an okay thing to do.
Speaker 1: You know, if nothing else, like a doctor they said
Speaker 1: at the end of the documentary, is that if nothing else,
Speaker 1: this is a cautionary tale about the dangers of extreme diet.
Speaker 1: That we just don't have shortcuts. And he joked actually
Speaker 1: that if we did a show like this today, it
Speaker 1: would just be people sitting around injecting themselves right exactly.
Speaker 2: And look, and I do appreciate it or applaud the
Speaker 2: fact that they were trying to potentially show folks that
Speaker 2: if you if you it's not a diet, it can't
Speaker 2: be a diet. If you change the way you eat,
Speaker 2: if you change the way you move, you can live
Speaker 2: a healthier life.
Speaker 1: These folks are doing the work they were, but extremely
Speaker 1: so because they needed it to be on a timeline.
Speaker 2: You know, if you took your time, you did it slowly,
Speaker 2: you did it in a way that could be. If
Speaker 2: you're going to be losing weight, any expert will tell
Speaker 2: you have to do it in a way that can
Speaker 2: be maintained. If you're doing anything extreme, you're never going
Speaker 2: to stay with it. You're never going to keep up
Speaker 2: with it. It's just not possible. But it was was,
Speaker 2: you know what, I it was educational. I think to
Speaker 2: watch it just it was strange for me, having loved
Speaker 2: the show and watched the show, to then see it
Speaker 2: through this other lens. It it just reminds us all
Speaker 2: to be kind and to be empathetic and to give
Speaker 2: people a break.
Speaker 1: And this docu series is entertaining, but it's a it's
Speaker 1: a good one. It's actually a good one, and you
Speaker 1: learn something and there's some hard in there, and there's
Speaker 1: a conversation that gets sparked, and even you'll ask yourself
Speaker 1: some questions. So, yeah, we're not here too for all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, we're giving a documentary recommendation.
Speaker 2: Well, if you have some time, we would definitely give
Speaker 2: it our samp of approval. It's I think it's a
Speaker 2: good thing to watch.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, what's our thing gonna be? It's
Speaker 1: that thumbs up and thumbs down. That's taken so stamp
Speaker 1: of approval.
Speaker 2: That sounds really clinical. We'll have to come up with
Speaker 2: something better than
Speaker 1: Right, folks, We'll talk to Y also