Kai Hibbard, Biggest Loser Finalist
by Golda Poretsky, H.H.C.
www.bodylovewellness.com
A few months ago, I wrote yet another post on why The Biggest Loser is so bad for its contestants, the millions who watch the show, and the culture in general. I expected to see the usual comments from my usual readership.
What I didn’t expect to see was a comment from Season 3 Biggest Loser finalist, Kai Hibbard, saying how much she enjoyed my post and asking if we might speak.
Shortly thereafter, Kai and I spoke on the phone about her experiences on the Biggest Loser. From seeing her fellow contestants forced to workout with injuries against doctor’s orders, to the extreme dehydration prior to weigh-ins, to the resultant eating disorder that Kai still is working to heal, the story she told was nothing like the fantasy that the Biggest Loser seeks to promote.
I’ve held off on sharing this interview for the last few months, mainly because I have no journalism background and wasn’t quite sure how to present the material. But given that the Biggest Loser continues to be popular, even spawning a new show for its trainer Jillian Michaels, I felt that it was time to share our talk with all of you.
Because Kai’s story is so powerful in her own words, and because she has so much to share on the reality of this reality TV series, I’ve decided to break the interview into 3 parts, and give you the actual audio to listen to if you so desire.
So here goes with Part 1 of my interview with Kai Hibbard. By the way, part 2 is now available here. Part 3 is now available here.
Kai on the audition process:
“So I haven’t really talked about this because I’m not really supposed to. . . . So they put us in hotel rooms and they take your key away so you can’t leave. And you spend a week locked in a hotel room and if you want to go anywhere you have to call a production assistant to take you to get groceries or get dinner or whatever you might need. You also get loaded up in these vans with other possible contestants and you’re not allowed to speak when you’re in the van, with anybody, and then we had to go through these like doctor’s tests . . . . You get poked and prodded by complete strangers and nobody will tell you a single thing about what’s going on. And that point was where I really believe that the dehumanization process started, where they start teaching you that because you are overweight you are sub-human and you just start to believe it. Through the whole process, they just keep telling you, over and over, how lucky you are to be there. You’re being yelled at by people [whose] job is basically to keep the ‘fat people’ in line and you start to believe it.”
“They reminded you almost daily that you were supposedly lucky to be there and you got that for, gosh, I was on that ranch for 3 months so I heard for 3 months how lucky I was to be there and, let me tell you, my feet were bleeding, I was covered in bruises, I was beat up, but boy, I kept hearing about how lucky I was to be there.”
On the seclusion of the ranch:
“A lot of people don’t know that once we were actually on the ranch, it was 6 weeks before we were allowed to get mail from home and our mail was opened and censored. And it was 8 weeks before we were allowed to speak to anybody on the phone and it was for 5 minutes at a time with a chaperone.”
On the meaning of a “week” on the Biggest Loser:
“It varied. It went from 14 days and I believe that near the end we had one week that was 5 days.”
On then-host Caroline Rhea’s reaction to the blown up “before” pictures located throughout the ranch:
“She walked and she saw the photos of us that were shot deliberately to make us look as poorly as possible hanging up around the house and she lost it. She lost it on the crew and she demanded that they take them down and that it was humiliating. [She said that] we were people and should be treated as people.”
On being treated as “an expendable commodity”:
“We did one challenge in a stadium in California. It was about 100 degrees that day and the challenge involved running up stairs and then doing the wave all the way around the stadium and then running down the stairs and back across the football field. When we were done, we were obviously covered in sweat, we were all out of shape, and that was a really hard challenge in that heat. They brought us bottles of water that we had packed ourselves in the truck that had been sitting in the heat all day, and they broke out coolers for the trainers, the cameramen, the audio people, and for Caroline Rhea and they had cool water and we drank 90 degree water after we ran the challenge. . . . And actually one of the contestants, Eric, from New York (won my season) lost it at that point and screamed about how we weren’t animals and to please stop treating us like animals and they handled it the way they handled us always, [they] quieted him down, and reminded him how lucky we were to be there, that it was saving his life.“
On the way contestants (and viewers) are brainwashed into believing that fat people are subhuman:
“I believe that . . . most of the contestants, felt like it was okay to treat us like we were subhuman when we were there, that the ends justify the means. If they were going to make us thin, then it was totally worth it to humiliate us and treat us poorly all the way along. I just don’t feel that way.”
Click here to listen to the first portion of my interview with Kai.
A Dose Of Reality: My (Formerly) Exclusive Interview With Biggest Loser Finalist, Kai Hibbard (Part 1 of 3) -- The Body Love Wellness Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1018)Next week, hear about the real Biggest Loser diet and exercise plan, what happens when the finalists leave the ranch to lose more weight, and how what she learned on the ranch led Kai into a full-on eating disorder. Also, find out why other contestants never seem to speak out like Kai has.
You can now read and listen to part 2 here and part 3 here.
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Golda Poretsky, H.H.C. is a certified holistic health counselor who specializes in transforming your relationship with food and your body. Go to http://www.bodylovewellness.com/stay-in-touch/ to sign up for her newsletter and get your free download — Golda’s Top Ten Tips For Divine Dining!
(c) 2010 Golda Poretsky. All rights reserved.
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I feel other contestants should to be interviewed to provide their experiences. I don’t think one interview should be used to condemn the whole show and the process they use. I am sure there are contestants that are grateful for the experience. For them the pain of changing was less than the pain of staying the same. Kai, and others, may not feel that way but there may just as many that do. I don’t agree or disagree either way. I’m just saying that one person a survey does not make. Thx BMS
Golda,
I’m finally getting around to reading this. Chilling that people think it’s okay to treat someone like dirt under the guise of “helping”.
Excellent post
XXOO,
Lara
I really believe that weight/health is 90% related to how you feel inside. In the past 10 years I have gained 30 pounds. No matter what I did it wouldn’t go away. Last fall my husband covinced me to get back in to a hobby that I stopped doing about 10 years ago. With in 3 weeks it was pointed out to me that I was smiling more and getting more done during the week. A friend I hadn’t seen in a month said “What diet are you on…you look like you lost weight” I told them they were crazy..but when I stepped on the scale I had lost 10 lbs.
I am not a big fan of TBL. The show only seems to deal with exercise and diet. I like Jillan’s new show a bit more. She seems to deal with exercise, diet and the reason(s) the person’s health became and issue
I remember watching Season 3 of TBL and the whole season in and of itself just seemed off. I don’t know what it was but , from a viewer standpoint, it seemed like nobody really knew what they doing or cared(even the trainers). I believe what Kai had to say was probably(sadly) truthful for the most part but I don’t think it was necessary to keep putting emphasis on having to suffer severe financial trouble. I don’t get why she’s the only one from her season speaking out if what happened really happened and also why there haven’t been any other people from other seasons speaking out. I also think that the ones who were there for gameplay and for the money are the ones you hear about having problems..(Kai, Erik, Ryan) There are alot of other contestants that have been on the show and kept the weight off for years. It doesn’t matter what happens to you in life but how you react to it that matters. That’s just my two cents lol.
This reveal is making me feel so uneasy, as a regular viewer/live-tweeter of the show. I ultimately could gather that there was some extent of misconception … but what’s being alleged, is full out abuse!
Back for the first episode, the producers came trolling around NAAFA-LA looking for victims (er, contestants). They went out of their way to assure us that people would be well-treated and they only had people’s best interests in mind. I told them NAAFA is adamantly opposed to the very idea of the show, and that we would not assist them. Then, when I saw the very first commercials for this thing, it was obvious that humiliation and degradation was main focus of the show. I did try to watch the first episode, in the vein of objectivity, but couldn’t get past the vile section were they try to seduce the contestants into publicly breaking their diets with their favorite trigger foods. There is NO justification for that and the very cultivation of disordered eating. Thanks to Kai for sharing the reality of reality with us.
Hi, I think we need to get back to common sense. if Jillian yelled at kids that wasy she does, it would be considered ABUSE.Maybe some of the people need motivation, but if someone would yell at me like hat i probably would end up in jail as I would smack them. Losing weight needs a doctors superised plan. I am curiou, just who are these show doctors who we are told supervises the contestants??Any one ever heard of them? the show is supposed to encourage us to lose weight so we would live longer.Those sports bras are AWFULL.Where is the self
respect? I don,t think killing onself by all that exercise machines is a good
idea. One former contestant lost a gob of weight and turne around and gained it all back after the show.It is not a metter of will power. It is what you eat and a supervised weight loss program, not to make money off of these unsuspecting souls.I don,t think it is REALITY.I am scared for myself as I am fighting a illness and not so small person and it frightenes me to think that could be me on the show. There is NO amount of Money to get me to act like that. I just pray for the contestants. They need all the help they can get.
Kai, I don’t know you, but I remember you vividly from your season. I cried tears very hard and very real from watching what you went through because you remind me a lot of myself. I’m trying very hard to loose weight right now. I have about 80-100 lbs to loose. Its hard, very hard. I’ve been down on myself because although I’m working out five to six days a week I’m not seeing huge weight losses. After seeing your segment today I realized that I’ve been brainwashed by TBL!! I’m eating healthy, working out, feel fabulous and loosing inches. I’m doing this the RIGHT WAY. I should NOT feel bad about myself for loosing weight the RIGHT WAY. So what if I’ve only lost 10 pounds in the last month! I was expecting to pull off these huge numbers like TBL and now I realize that not only is it not reasonable its not possible to do and to maintain my health. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing what you’re doing. You may be saving someone’s life!! As far as I’m concerned, the producers at TBL, however well intentioned they may be, should be more cautious as to the way they present things. They could be responsible for someone’s death. Thank you Kai!!
Well done indeed for bringing this to light! Very eye opening. But true, how in the world do these contestants stick to the end? I would not stick a day being treated like this, let alone 3 months.
Thanks for getting and posting this super-informative interview.
Kai,
No hate!! I think it’s great what you are doing both in staying healthy and giving us all a glimpse of what (I presume) we already knew about the show but did not want to see with our own eyes. Keep it up
I’m completely not surprised if what Kai is saying is true, but there’s two things you have to keep in mind. 1) it’s a reality show. Reality shows aren’t reality. They’re at least half-scripted, and the crew makes sure that there’s enough drama to hold ratings. A lot of the stuff other commenters have posted about the interview process, sequestering, and isolating the contestants from friends and family are all part of the reality show process. 2) Dehumanizing, breaking down, etc., is very much like boot camp, like another commenter posted and yes, it works.
Yes, I don’t agree with how Kai is talking about the producers, crew, etc putting the show about the contestants healthy and seemingly overriding the doctors and nutritionists. Obviously this show has some issues, like all other reality shows. And I do hope that NBC comes out and addresses them. However,
1) I think she has to own her actions AFTER the show ended. Eating disorders are common for people who are overweight and diet and try to maintain that skinnier weight. They had an eating disorder in the first place! It wasn’t the show who gave her the eating disorder. Also, she signed up for the show. I think I read that she had never watched beforehand? Well, that’s just plain dumb. Sorry, but she should have at least researched it a little before going through the interview process. Can’t side with her there.
2) Everything in life is about perspective. The boot camp experience is enjoyable to some (why do you think they have boot camp gym classes for the average person?) and personally, I would love to have a trainer scream at me like Jillian does (I’m a former college athlete who’s still in decent shape).
**As for the water thing after the stadium workout, there are different schools of thought about warm vs cold water after workouts. Some say you shouldn’t drink ice cold water after a grueling, heat-intensified workout and that it will provoke chills – which would raise body temperature. Was it rude of the staff to break out the ice cold water? Yes.
I find it very interesting that she was SOOO miserable while she was there and she was so de-humanized but she continued to stay on the show. If it was so bad, why didn’t she just leave? Why didn’t she purposely not lose weight so she could go home? She is completely bashing the show and its trainers when Im sure she had the option to leave if she wanted to.
@Stefanie, maybe because she had tried many times before to lose weight, nothing stuck and she viewed this as her last chance?
It’s very easy for you to sit there and claim that she ‘could have left’, but really, with that kind of mentality and self-hating towards herself, COULD she? Really?
Think about it.
This is interesting, and if all true, very sad. But I don’t understand the complaints about water. Water is still wet if it’s warm. The contestants were not being less hydrated because their water wasn’t ice cold. Was it sort of shitty of the crew to break out cold water? Yes, but they probably just weren’t thinking.
You can talk about ‘perspective’, fellow commentators, but any way you cut it reality shows are unethical.
Particularly BL. Even if they have something you want very badly, what they are doing is wrong.
This is all about money to them, and they are willing to bend the rules to do whatever they want. They are capitalizing on desperation.
This is similar to an interview I read where they talked about how Suzy, I believe, passed out before the finale because she was so dehydrated. Losing weight and getting fit is one thing, but this show is setting up unrealistic expectations to say the least.
It sounds very similar to new ‘Boots’ in the military. Their job is to break you down, humiliate you, and polish you into a fine fighting machine…I see nothing wrong with this. It works for a reason. Of course the pictures blown up to life size are going to be awful…it makes all the progress you’ve made look even better (I see that as a confidence boost and even some encouragement ‘hey look how far I’ve come!’).
Bleeding, bruised, and beat up – yeah, I’d still feel lucky to be there. There is truth in the saying ‘no pain, no gain’…obviously keeping the footsies smooth and pedicured weren’t working for you healthwise. A muscle fiber must be damaged and torn to rebuild and become stronger. The same can be said for character.
As for the water issue, if you had guzzled all the cold water your body was craving after an intense workout in the sun, you would have thrown up and possibly caused more physical harm to your body.
I like what another poster said about perspective. It is what you make of it. Its a reality show…there are rules so as not to spoil the plot and waste all the time, energy, and intellect, and money put into making a great show while also kicking the snot out of people and transforming them. I am a fatty and I would LOVE to have someone to kick me into gear when my motivation is low. I am doing well enough on my own for now, but it is a slow process. I would be grateful for the oppurtunity.
I really liked the interview so far, and I thought Kai was brave to comment here on why she promoted the product she did, and why she stopped.
I too believe that supplements are helpful–for example fish oils are important in staving off endogenous depression for me. I found it kind of weird that they were promoting the product as a weight loss supplement–from looking at the ingredients, it appears to be a greens supplement. You can get a nice Very Green supplement at Trader Joe or Vitamin Shoppe etc that has barley juice and spirulina, etc. in it. It’s not a mysterious fat burner but I do find that this type of thing helps me feel more satisfied with food–probably because it has micronutrients we need.
But that doesn’t make it a diet product. Kai, I admire you, and how you got back to fitness and health after having your baby.
We may not be able to pick the exact number on our bathroom scales, but we can certainly choose our lifestyles to be healthier and our relative size given our genes, history, etc. My favorite related affirmation is “Thin is a choice; thin is MY choice; I choose to be thin, energetic and vibrantly healthy.”
I love Golda’s work and people like Geneen Roth because it’s challenged me to do something about a tendency to eat to numb emotions so I don’t regain/reverse all the hard work of the weight I lost. Thank you, Golda for your work, and for the wonderful conference call.
I’m grateful to Kai for being brave and speaking out, and to you, Golda, for transcribing the interview for us. I can’t tolerate “reality tv”. The whole genre just turns my stomach.
The saddest thing to me about Kai’s experience on the show is that I can just foresee part II of the interview as the genesis of an eating disorder. My own experience with disordered eating began as a 12 year old whose mother paid for her to participate in Weight Watchers, thinking that would help me lose weight and boost my ailing prepubescent self-esteem. Instead, it taught me how to dichotomize food into categories of “good” or “bad” and since I learned from the age of 7 that fatness was clearly “bad” from a social standpoint, I made the typical deduction of “Fat is bad. I am fat; therefore I am bad.”
Thankfully, there is HAES and there is fat acceptance as movements that I can affiliate myself with, as alternatives to this “reality tv” environment.
Thank you for sharing this post. As someone who does watch this show, I like to hear what is really happening. I’ve known for a long time that reality TV is scripted and edited and have no grand illusions about it.
Something that I picked up from the last season was the idea of someone not being worthy of love at a large size (@Rachel – Thank you for reminding me of this theme.) While there are plenty of other things wrong with this show, I was shocked at how many times they keep saying that as soon as he or she loses weight, they will find a bf or gf. The funny part is that a lot of them find it on the ranch.
@Kai – Thanks for clarifying about the supplement.
Anyway, I can’t wait to hear the rest of the interview.
Golda, well done–and the link I’ll be sending around next time a FB friend posts about crying over an episode of the show. The only thing that show inspires me to do is change the channel.
I know that people want to blame the contestants for putting themselves out there. OK. But wait, this isn’t just about winning 50k or becoming a D-level celebrity or finding a TV husband. This is about a group of people who have spent (in most cases) the majority of their lives feeling bad about themselves because of their weight. And they tried and failed to lose it on their own. Over and over and over again. And then this opportunity presents itself and since NOTHING ELSE HAS WORKED, they do it. They wear the too-small sports bras on TV. They face the humiliation and the public shaming because they are beaten down and desperate and they are told that this is their only hope. And so, they submit. They could say no. But what if you really believe that this is the only way for you to get thin (or, to their minds: happy, fulfilled, successful, worthy of love, etc.)?
In other words, the contestants on The Biggest Loser aren’t the same people on Rock of Love or any of the tackier, sadder shows in the reality spectrum. It’s just not apples and apples.
It’s such a mess, and I hope this helps people realize it.
The truth is no one knows what happen behind the scenes of the Biggest Loser reality tv show, but Kai’s story needed to be told. Sometimes people forget it’s a SHOW, it’s BUSINESS. I don’t believe for one second the producers and network have the contestants best interest at heart. Not at all. It’s a freak show. They are being laughed at or “admired” for reinforcing stereotypes about fat people. It is just sad all around.
As far as perspectives, yes everyone has them but dehumanizing is dehumanizing. I don’t care how a person tries to dress it up.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I,too, have watched the show and wondered about many of the things that you wrote about in the first part here. I am glad that you had the courage to get that out in the open. Just because we are not sticks and skinny does NOT mean we are not human beings. I am really looking forward to the next article. Great article. Keep up the good work!!!!!
I was so happy to see your blog today about the Biggest Loser. I just hope that she doesn’t get into any trouble with the network or that they don’t make you pull this off of your site. People really need to see the truth behind these shows, although many people probably feel that the contestants actually deserve poor treatment (like some kind of punishment) just for being overweight.
How is it that we accept diversity in nature, but not among our own species? We can admire the trees. Some short and full, some tall and sparse. We can smile at all of those adorable cats and dogs. Some round and extra furry, some lean. ALL so cute!
I hope I live to see the day that people of all shapes and sizes are accepted equally. Thank you for your great work in moving toward this goal.
I find a lot of what she says to be hard to believe completely, everything is perspective. Almost all reality tv shows sequester contestants, and I just find it difficult to believe they’d just do that without clearly explaining what was going to happen. What would the point of no full disclosure really be?
As for the dehumanization… well, again, its perspective, and all hearsay. We have no idea if other contestants or people really said what she’s claiming. No one else that I know of has spoken out against the show, even those who have relapsed, so I think you would be wise to take the entire thing with a grain of salt. There are limits to what you can be ‘fined’ via a non-disclosure agreement.
Truth be known, if I was on the show, I’d dehydrate the day before weigh-ins too, but at some point, you have to rehydrate, so in the end the contestants are still losing weight, the dehydration is a zero sum win, but it might keep you there the first few weeks.
I think the show is dangerous in so much as their numbers are so unreal I fear what it does to those trying to be healthier and wondering why they can’t drop 5 – 7 – 12+ pounds a week.
I promoted a supplement. My sister is in the natural and organic industry and introduced me to better foods, vitamins and supplements. I believe that taking supplements and vitamins help in how I feel and in the type of foods I choose to eat and how I feel when I work out. Right now I am loving my Omega-33 and Glucosamine (forgive me if I spelled that wrong) because they seem to help with my joints and knees since I am training to complete a 200 mile relay with some other fellow “Losers.”
When I agreed to promote the supplement, it was only after my husband and I both tried it and felt that it added to healthy food choices in our diets. I also told the company that I refused to endorse anything that claimed to “take weight off fast” or any product that did not advocate an active life stye. When I signed on, I was told that the entire thing was going to be a mind, body, wellness type product. While I still believe that is how the product works best, when they chose to go another way with their marketing you will notice my name/face are no longer attached. My integrity means a lot to me, I have put my family in severe financial risk in order to keep my integrity. I did not throw that integrity away for some crazy weight loss money making scheme. What I signed on to represent was an all natural company with vitamins and supplements that intended to provide a holistic approach to a healthy life stye, however healthy may look to each individual. That company and I have parted ways due to the change in approach to marketing.
Wow, I had NO idea that they were that incredibly abusive to their contestants as I’m not really into most reality shows. I found it sad how she felt so dehumanized–but that can happen to all of us regardless of size. In fact, I slimmed down a good 25 pounds over a two year period (food diary/walking, and working on not eating emotionally as much–not a set “diet”) because I had pre-diabetes and hypertension, and I swear there is a woman in my office who is a little pear-y (but not really majorly heavy) who just looks daggers at me every time I walk by because she’s jealous that I slimmed down. Not a good feeling!
Thanks for the enlightening interview and I look forward to more. I’m also looking forward to your call tomorrow.
Thank you so much for sharing! These people who genuinely needed help losing weight was under mind control, they were conditioned into believing they’re were’nt human. What’s more appalling but unsurprising, is that this was aired on national television and the average American citizen didn’t see this as humiliating. I am so sorry Kai went through this, and it is about time someone spoke up about the mistreatment of peole in the mainstrem media.
When was she on the show? Caroline Rhea hasn’t been the host for many seasons??
@Michelle — She was on Season 3.
@notblueatall — Thanks for stopping by and for blogging about it!
@Nate — I agree with you that reality tv totally sucks. I just don’t think that everyone who watches it is aware of how badly they treat people. Also, I think that a show that purports to make people healthier should be called out for what they do.
@Marilyn — Thanks for stopping by and making me feel better about the couple of comments that I’m not posting!
@Em — Thanks for sharing too.
I love this! I even blogged about it and your blog: http://www.notblueatall.com/ Can’t wait to read the rest. Thanks for this!
Sorry, but they didn’t treat you subhuman because you were fat, they treated you subhuman because you were a reality TV show contestant. The whole point is to make you an emotional wreck — makes for more drama, which in turn makes for better TV, which is all that really matters from their point of view. And the idea of being upset because there are unflattering “before” pictures up of you hanging on the walls, when you voluntarily joined a show that is called The Biggest Loser, is just laughable.
I don’t like this show, I don’t like reality TV and I don’t like the way reality shows are made by manipulative producers, etc. But if you are going to make a major life decision like “Hey, I’m going to appear on a reality TV show,” you should at least educate yourself on how the show works and how the industry works. At the very least, have the guts to quit if the conditions are as bad as you say they are. Complaining afterward is a cop out.
Thank you, Kai, for breaking the silence (and the gag order!). However, I hope you will *STOP* advocating weight-loss goals. They’re always harmful. For individuals who participate and for the rest of us who have to live in the fat-hating world they create.
Good work, Golda! In journalism school, they tell you you’re not doing your job properly if you don’t occasionally get a death threat. Wheee!
It’s really hard to dismiss Kai’s story as “sour grapes” because none of us experienced The Biggest Loser for ourselves. I think it’s very brave of her to speak out about the mistreatment she claims to have suffered, but as someone pointed out before, it was all voluntary.
When you seek adventure, you seek risk. I think it’s helpful to remember that her main reasons for joining the show were to experience something different from her daily life and perhaps even challenge herself a bit. Just because her best friend sold her on the idea that she would do well on the show wasn’t a guarantee that it would be easy or fair. In my opinion, one of the clearest messages the show promotes is that the journey of long-term weight-loss is neither easy nor fair. That said, I’m not blaming Kai for “getting what she signed up for” because I do believe the people working for the show should have taken some responsibility for how they treat other humans (I personally wouldn’t work for a show like that). Overall though, I think it’s ineffective to blame an entire show for the decisions of a few drama-hungry network executives.
So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s unfortunate but not totally unexpected. I also think anyone watching the show knows that the contestants aren’t spending 3-4 months at a bed & breakfast. But what I hope readers remember is that what one person might see as de-humanizing, another might see as confirmation that their struggles will make them stronger, wiser, and more appreciative of life. Perspective is everything.
All in all, a great article. Anything that sparks this much debate is worth considering. Thanks for sharing!
I’m happy to see this. The show is a circus – humiliating and demoralizing. Losing weight to be physically healthier is important for a lot of people, yes. But the psychological viewpoint of equating weight loss with attaining “worthiness” is terrible and frightening, and unfortunately – highly prevalent. Weight is not a moral issue. People should be treated with dignity, respect, compassion and basic humanity.
WOW! This article is really, really good and thanks for including the audio. Can I download it to listen to later?
But getting back to the article, I am glad that an actual contestant had the guts to come forward and talk about what she went through and it is probably a big reason that Eric regained his weight. I know he was back on either this past season or the one coming up, but I chose not to watch this last one. Anyway, people get a really skewed idea of what its like to not only lose weight, but lose it publically, on a reality show. Losing weight itself is not the easiest thing to do, so just imagine having to do it where millions of people are watching and following and wishing they were in your place, because they can’t seem to do it on their own either. All the advertising and media focus that go on behind the scenes go into making this show a super powerhouse for changing your life. However, it is still a show. I watch it and I do like it, for the revelations and changes it brings to contestants and for entertainment. Personally, I don’t believe that you have to humiliate people in order to make them want to lose weight. I don’t do that to my clients and they get along just fine AND achieve great successes.
I’ve only seen part of one episode – it felt very uncomfortable – a bit like watching weight-loss porn – now I know why.
Thanks for sharing this!
@Deb. “Weight loss porn” is a brilliant term!
I have not listened to the entire interview as of yet.
I understand you are interviewing Kai because of her BL experience. But what I don’t understand is the information on her blog. She is is “pushing” a weight loss product. Did you ask her about why she is involved with a weight loss product? It is contradictory with the HAES movement knowing all we know about the claims of so called “weight loss” products.
@Patti, I didn’t ask her about why she’s promoting a weight loss product because I wasn’t all that interested, and didn’t want that to be the focus of the interview. Her journey with that is her journey. I just really wanted to know, and to share with my readers, what really happens on BL, because of the way it’s touted as a great show where contestants “get healthy”, while the reality of it is so far from the way it’s promoted.
Keep up the good work, Golda! I think we’re long overdue for a new paradigm with regards to weight loss and loving our bodies. I happened to watch this show for a few minutes last night and I had to change the channel because the way the contestants are treated is so dehumanizing. That’s the message, you’re fat so you deserve to be treated like crap and to suffer your way to a thin body.
@Patricia, thanks for your support! I totally agree. You can’t watch these shows anymore unless you buy into the idea that people deserve to be treated like crap. I’m glad that Kai was willing to speak up so that we could talk about this.
This is not exactly breaking news — Kai has given numerous interviews. Sounds like sour grapes to me. Most of the other former contestants have a lot of good things to say about their experience.
First off, this interview ignores the part where Kai willingly applied and went through an extensive interview process to get on the show. Then, the week in the hotel room is called sequestering and is a legitimate part of the interview process used by many reality TV shows. Some contestants actually enjoy it.
As for the seclusion on the ranch and lack of mail, anybody who watches the show knows about it. I get the impression that many of those who trash talk the show haven’t actually watched it.
The lack of cold water after the challenge — was that an oversight or a plot? The contestants are very closely monitored by doctors and I don’t think they want them to drop dead. That wouldn’t be very good for ratings.
I’m sure that the next part of the interview will talk about how contestants wore plastic trash bags to lose water weight before weigh-ins. Please do your research and know that the show is now better monitoring contestants to prevent that kind of cheating.
Also, I’m sure the subject of non-disclosure agreements will also come up — again, very common in reality television.
@Me — I think the other contestants have good things to say because they’re afraid of facing million dollar fines. Also, she had never watched the show so she didn’t know about the lack of contact with the outside world and apparently wasn’t warned about it. The next part of the interview doesn’t talk about plastic bags, FYI. It talks about how they learned to dehydrate themselves from people who were actually supposed to watch out for their welfare.
Also, the fact that non-disclosure agreements are common in reality television doesn’t make them acceptable or fair. Your willingness to dismiss poor treatment of human being in such a blase manner is rather shocking.
@Ann, the penalties for speaking out are extraordinary. I know she’s shilling for a weight loss drug now, so I specifically didn’t focus on it in the interview. To her credit, she didn’t bring it up either. I think she just really wants her side of the story to get out there.
@PJ, I know. I think that’s why they have the contestants sign such hefty contracts. I would love someone to test the legality of all of it too. Kai never had the opportunity to have a lawyer look at the contracts, and I’m sure her experience isn’t rare. Seriously, part 2 of the interview is even crazier.
@Em, you’re welcome!
@Cathy, the trainers consistently ignored medical advice, as you’ll learn next week. They also don’t know before they go on the show that they will be so isolated nor treated so poorly. How can they know when no one is speaking out about it? And why aren’t you willing to blame a show for how it treats contestants?
Good post and very brave of Kai to speak out. I know that the contestants sign confidentiality agreements with high financial penalties, but no one else has spoken out (except a bit from Jillian). Kai, however is now shilling for a weight loss drug. That doesn’t seem like a good trade to me. Perhaps some of the shame BL taught her hasn’t shaken off.
This is an incredible interview. I’ve heard that most reality shows treat their contestants (or “stars”) pretty badly, keeping them isolated and/or drunk so that they’ll keep having tantrums or whatever it is that people tune in to see. But “The Biggest Loser” sounds like the worst of the crop for all of the reasons Kai spoke about. She was treated no differently than a woman in an abusive relationship! How any of this is legal is beyond me.
Kai signed up for biggest looser she wasnt drafted and if a contestant has a medical issue or psychical prob and cant do certain work outs the trainers have to go by what the dr says , thats why they have medical staff on site, and as from no letters from home pretty much its to focus on them w ith no outer influences , they know this before they go on the show, so stop blaming a show for your probs
@Cathy, agreed plus i have seen people decide to go home if it was that bad they would not bage to stay, also there would be tons more said by now then just her. there r like how many contastents and how many seasons. i want more proof. how can we tell this is even really this girl talking??
@ashley, it’s not that they were ‘made to stay’. it’s that they were scared.
Also, I would more reach. You think you sign up for a show like this and not be expected to sign a contract as thick as a brick? What do you think would happen if someone actually died while at th4e ranch for several weeks?
@Cathy, the people who sign up for this show are DESPERATE to lose weight and viewed it as their last chance. I’d like to see how YOU would handle real desperation and what you would do if you were in her shoes. THey go on the show to loose weight, NOT to be insulted or mistreated. Unless you think that’s okay.
This is a great share. Thank you. x.
Great interview, Golda — and thanks for sending out the press release. I’ve posted the press release at http://www.healthateverysize.info and will share the post on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Very good that the truth gets out there! I’m looking forward to listening to the recording & reading the next 2 parts of the interview.
Thanks, Peggy! And thanks for posting the press release!
Thank you for posting this. I have a question that I keep on having about the whole biggest loser transformation. I am wondering about what drugs they have been giving the contestants. The amount of weight people on the show lose is faster than gastric bypass surgery. Are they giving the contestants hormones and steroids?
@Justin. Not to my knowledge. I think the dehydration before the weigh ins, the fact that weeks aren’t really weeks, and that they’re on really low calorie diets for all the working out they do contribute to the weight loss. But like the vast majority of dieters, you can’t sustain that kind of thing.
Excellent. Thank you for sharing this.
Marisa
@ Marisa Thanks, my pleasure.
@Margarita Well said, as usual! Wouldn’t it be awesome if Kai started a trend and other contestants started speaking out?!
I never liked The Biggest Loser (for many reasons!), but I know plenty of people who love it. Thank you Golda and Kai so much for revealing the terrible things that go on. I wish that others would speak out, too. People need to know the reality of this show. Kai, I’m so sorry that you and other contestants had to go through that. Thank you for your honesty and courage! I wish you all the best.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have way too many friends/acquaintances who love this show. Thank you for helping to expose the reality of The Biggest Loser: people are treated terribly, and the show sets hugely unrealistic expectations for weight loss through encouraging incredibly damaging dieting and over exercising behaviors.
@Jeani, exactly! I’m just glad that Kai contacted me and was brave enough to speak out. And it’s true, so many people love that show and it is really so damaging.
Good work! I am looking forward to the rest of the piece.
@Sidney, thanks!
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