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.
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 3 of My Interview With Kai Hibbard. Click here to read or listen to Part 1. Click here to read or listen to Part 2.
On how the contestants dehydrated themselves before weigh-ins:
“I didn’t learn how to dehydrate until I got on the ranch. It was every week. Every single week, this is what a weigh-in would look like: the real weigh-ins were at 10 o’clock in the morning and they were on a cattle scale at the ranch and they weren’t filmed. . . . Now, mind you, it was shot in Simi Valley, so it’s a desert, so it’s hot. And on the morning of the weigh-in you would get up and you’d put on your underwear, your spandex shorts, and you’d put on sweatpants and then you’d put on a sports bra, a tank top, a long sleeve shirt, and your sweatshirt, a ball cap, and then you’d zip up your sweatshirt, you’d put your hood on and you’d go down to the gym. [The gym] wasn’t a real gym, it was a temporary structure just for shooting and it didn’t have any air conditioning and you’d shut all the doors and all the windows in the gym. Then you would work out for two, two and half hours (as long as you could stand it) without any water. (The boys would take water, rinse their mouth out, and spit it. I couldn’t even do that — if I was going to put water in my mouth, I was going to drink it.) Most, if not everybody, had cut their water about 24 hours beforehand, if not 24 hours then at least by 5 o’clock the afternoon before. And then, you would drink coffee if you had anything the night before, because (a) it would clean your system out and (b) it would dehydrate you.
“So after you did the 2 hours of working out in full sweat, sweating off as much as you can, you would go back to the house, shower, blow dry your hair, and strip down to the lightest clothing you could find, which was usually spandex shorts and a sports bra. Then you’d go downstairs and you’d weigh yourself in and the second you got off that scale you would chug water because you were so dehydrated. ”
On her most painful weigh-in:
“The worst one I can remember is the very last one, before the final weigh-in, and it was down to five contestants left. I remember being on the elliptical and being so exhausted and so ready to go home and so dehydrated that I burst into tears and I’m crying . . . and I’m still working out and it set off a chain reaction and every single person in the gym, all of the five contestants that were left, were crying. And we were so brainwashed at that point that I remember saying out loud, ‘Well, at least we’re losing more water-weight by crying.’”
On how the contestants learned to dehydrate themselves:
“The trainers tell you. And it was [trainer] Kim [Lyons]‘s first season, and I remember Kim having a conversation with [trainer] Bob [Harper] where she said, and she said it to her team, ‘You know, look, let’s do this the right way this season — no dehydrating, let’s just do it the healthy way.’ And Bob completely agreed to it. Then, right before our very first weigh in, Kim came over to us and she said, ‘Guys, I’m really, really, really sorry. I know that Bob and I agreed not to dehydrate our teams, but I’m watching Bob, and if you look right now, he’s dehydrating his team. And if you guys don’t dehydrate, you don’t stand a chance. You’re going to get picked off one by one and have to leave. And that’s when it started.”
On how the show is edited to make contestants look bad for refusing to work out with injuries:
“You really get brainwashed into thinking everything’s your fault, [that] you’re just not strong enough, you’re just not good enough. . . . For example, Heather, on my season, was told by the medical trainer, not one of the personal trainers, . . . ‘Here’s the deal, both your knees are messed up, and I believe you ripped your calf muscle.’ So he told the trainer that too but when you watch the show, Heather’s arguing with our trainer and saying, ‘Look, I can’t do it.’ And they made it look like it’s because she’s lazy and refuses to work out, when actually she’s been told by the doctors, ‘Do not run, do not do this, you cannot do this.’ And production and her personal trainer wanted her to do it anyway, just for the cameras. And when she refused to do it for the cameras because it would have damaged her body even more (she ended up needing steroid shots in both knees while we were still there by the way) it was edited to make her look like she was lazy and disobedient, basically. So then you’ve got the 22 million Americans that watch it thinking that you’re this horrible, lazy, ungrateful person. And she literally got death threats on the NBC web site. I just have people that tell me stuff like, I’m ugly when I cry, or I’m lazy. She got death threats.”
On people’s reaction to Kai telling her story:
“I get hostility now, now that I tell the truth about what happened on the show. I get told I’m ungrateful or I must be lying because everyone else says it was so positive. . . . I actually had one person friend me just to send me a hate letter. . . . The worst ones are the rabid fans of the show who desperately want a magic cure-all, and when you tell them that it’s not they get upset. I tend not to get my feelings hurt so much by those. . . . But the ones that kind of get me the most are the contestants that also have been on the show and either have something financially invested or emotionally invested in keeping the myth going that will say something to me about it. But at the same time, I get really bolstered by the [contestants] that were like, ‘Thank you for saying something. We can’t speak out because we’re still under contract and we’re afraid what it’ll do to our family.’ Those make it all worth it. . . . It’s just too bad that I get all of those e-mails in private because they’re afraid and I get all the hate comments from the other contestants out in public.
“I have to say that there are some people that probably had a very positive experience there. I don’t know, I’ve only lived my experience. If you’ve been overweight you’re whole life and conditioned to believe that you’re not worthwhile until you’re thin, and they bring you someplace that, no matter how bad they beat you, it makes you thin, and that’s all you ever wanted, then I guess that’s a positive experience. . . . Being thin is not the end-all-be-all for me.”
On the fantasy of being thin:
“They said that they were very surprised by me as a contestant because, if you watch from the beginning of the season to the end, my personality doesn’t change at all. And my comment was, ‘Why would it?’ But I guess that 95% of the contestants start off one person and end up a different one at the end. And it’s because they believe that being thin will make all my dreams come true. [But] your mortgage is the same if you weigh 144 or if you weigh 268. You’re either happy with your life or you’re not.”
On a member of the Biggest Loser staff who intervened on behalf of the contestants:
“There was one person, that I think really tried to stand up for us. His name was John (sic) and I believe he’s the sports trainer for University of South Carolina now. I’m not certain. But they brought him in on our season, because, I guess, the previous two seasons, if the contestant turned their ankle or had blisters, they were wrapping their own feet and they were taping their own wounds up and they brought “Doc” John on to help with our injuries and treat us. And he was very compassionate. And when we went down to his pool house to get treatment once in a while, when we could (eventually, the crew tried to stop us from even going there), it was kind of a safe place. You could go in and talk about what was going on and a camera wouldn’t be in your face. But by the end of filming, it stopped being a safe place too, because they thought too much drama and too much good, juicy stuff winds up being said in his little treatment place. And they didn’t bring him back again after [the third season].
“He desperately tried to intervene a couple/few times and the crew would shut him down a lot, or our trainers would. For example, when he tried, on the doctor’s orders, to give us the electrolyte solution, or when he tried to tell our trainer that Heather’s calf muscle was probably ripped and she couldn’t work out and the crew intervened and Heather looks like she’s a whiner.
On her message about the Biggest Loser going forward:
“Kill your scale. It’s ridiculous to measure your worth based on a number in a little box that you get on in the morning. It’s absolutely ridiculous. It has nothing to do with your worthiness. Nobody needs a reality TV show to be a healthy human being. And love yourself no matter what you weigh. If somebody comes up to you and tells you you’re fat or if somebody comes up to you and tells you your beautiful — that has absolutely nothing to do with who you are and everything to do with who they are. And remember that.”
To keep up with what Kai’s up to, follow her on Facebook.
Click here to listen to this third and final portion of my interview with Kai:
You can also go back and read and listen to part 1 here and part 2 here.
Golda is a certified holistic health counselor and founder of Body Love Wellness, a program designed for plus-sized women who are fed up with dieting and want support to stop obsessing about food and weight. To learn more about Golda and her work, click here.
{ 73 comments… read them below or add one }
Perhaps if the American public STOPS watching exploitation of people in reality shows they lose the audience and have to program humane, decent shows with a storyline, or programs to shed light on why people are overweight and a healthy solution to being overweight, diet, exercise, attitude, personal image, and support…..Please stop watching these shows….they are awful
Trish, you are laughably pathetic and uneducated.
Trish, you are laughably pathetic and uneducated.
Trish, you are laughably pathetic and uneducated.
“Extreme Weight Loss Makeover Edition” is like that.
I was going to talk to my mother about going onto this show..thank God I didn’t.
Trish Roddy are you kidding me? Of course eating disorders are caused from the environment the person is in. We’re social beings. And don’t act like you’re “special” and that you “have experienced many things in life that would drive the average person crazy”. I’ll give you this flashing news, you’re not special. You’re completely fucking average, if not below. We’re talking about human right being forced, extruded, out of these people. It’s not like that if you sign a contract they can do whatever they want with your life, or slavery would be raging right now. Think twice before saying dumb things like these and please, grow some fucking common sense, compassion and A GODDAMN FILTER.
Ps: please don’t caps lock. that’s just one more confirm that you need to “raise your voice” to make a point.. which basically means that you can’t argue like a civil citizen.
The truth behind the #biggestloser. Click to read finalist Kai Hibbard’s interview w/ @bodylovewellnes –> http://t.co/9Myyj4hYby
The truth behind the #biggestloser. Click to read finalist Kai Hibbard’s interview w/ @bodylovewellnes –> http://t.co/q5FRVvCYi6
Insane dude http://t.co/htj2NL8DP5
Why I hate weight loss shows: http://t.co/w5KjgrX5iS
The truth behind the #biggestloser. Click to read finalist Kai Hibbard’s interview w/ @bodylovewellnes –> http://t.co/dBO5fRJx
I’m only a paralegal, but it seems to me that a confidentiality agreement shouldn’t cover commenting on situations that are illegal or against public policy.
http://t.co/G6JGOXAC How the media yet again skews our views of the human body #imgcult2013
I have always been really disturbed by 1) how people are forced to work out with injuries (I have knee issues and know that pushing it even a bit to far can cause problems to surge again) and 2) the huge amounts of weight that seem to be required – after all the evidence that losing weight slowly is not only healthier, but makes you more likely to keep it off, it just seems insane.
Thank you for sharing this!
Wow, thank you for sharing this story. This has been so enlightening… I am shocked and disgusted with what they are doing to their contestants. I will never watch this show again.
The truth behind the #biggestloser. Click to read finalist Kai Hibbard’s interview w/ @bodylovewellnes –> http://t.co/RpdQiWEv
Nitwit. As if there is ever such a thing as “good abuse”. You are functionally illiterate and know little to nothing of eating disorders.
Damn…The truth behind the #biggestloser. Click to read finalist Kai Hibbard’s interview w/ @bodylovewellnes –> http://t.co/rOmlAPSm
How about a show filmed over the course of a year or so that shows people losing crazy amount of weight, the healthy way, without developing any mental disorders? That would be nice. Also sign me up for it.
And lol @ the high school mama spewing out life advice such as “u decide to give urself an eating disorder.”
A former contestant on why to not watch The Biggest Loser in 3 parts 1) http://t.co/iXCzjRHe 2) http://t.co/D3IFZucF 3) http://t.co/SWjaeuy7
I’ve never watched this show outside of a few episodes that I had to watch for health class in high school five years ago (talk about ironic.)
Anyway, I’m glad I don’t watch it and if someone goes on about how great it is then I’ll direct them to your interview. Thanks for talking about what really goes on on this show. So glad I never got any weight loss tips from them and the things they have you do are just so unhealthy. Dehydration and fasting won’t help most people actually lose weight in the long run. Not to mention, drinking hot water after being out in 100+ degree heat is really bad for you.
I’m happy that most of the comments here are positive, other than that Trish idiot who can’t write worth crap.
I saw excerpts from this interview on Tumblr, and I’m so glad I clicked on the link. I cried all the way through the three parts, and I can’t believe this actually happened to real human beings… I’m righteen and overweight, and this really struck home. As a teenagrr, I always thought the contestants were so lucky, but now my heart goes out to all of them for their suffering… I’m sharing this with all of my friends, this story needs to be told.
The truth behind the #biggestloser. Click to read finalist Kai Hibbard’s interview w/ @bodylovewellnes –> http://t.co/wHWxbfOw
I was so moved by this interview that I’m using a friend’s Facebook account to reply to it (I’m clean-shaven!). Chuck Barris, who produced the Gong Show, said that one day someone would create a game show where you had to kill somebody to win the prize money. We’ve already had one death that directly resulted from a television appearance (on the Jenny Jones show) and I have to wonder if The Biggest Loser will not ultimately prove fatal for a contestant (even as a suicide after the fact). I knew that these producers and “trainers” were unethical, but after reading this, I’m wondering if there aren’t a few authentic sociopaths involved in the program’s production. Worse still, there’s plenty of evidence that you are what you watch. Please contact me to continue this discussion (if you like!) at douglasantreassian@yahoo.com. Kai and Golda, you have my admiration.
Kill your scale. It’s ridiculous to measure your worth based on a number in a little box that you get on in the morning http://t.co/lnqRvYks
The truth behind the #biggestloser. Click to read finalist Kai Hibbard’s interview w/ @bodylovewellnes –> http://t.co/WC7g5m9c
Are you stupid? You don’t just decide to have an eating disorder, study your subject before making acquisitions.
Normally, I would just delete your comment, but confusing “acquisitions” with “accusations” is too funny to delete. Also, no one said anyone “decided” to have an eating disorder. Maybe you should read what I wrote before you “acquire” me.
@Golda, I almost spewed my coffee when I read your response. Thank you for “translating” the comment. :)
Glad I made you laugh, @Layla. I just couldn’t help myself with this one. :)
Reading this was incredibly eye opening and I’m so sorry to Kai and everyone else who has had to go through this, and I am so proud of her for her bravery in sharing this.
What kept creeping into my mind, is that the new season is featuring children. I wonder if they will be tortured the same way? I can’t believe, even after this has come out, that the show is still on..
I knew this show was so phony, which is why I never watched it. What a bunch of assholes. It’s so easy to hate fat people. Treating them like they are evil will not get them to be healthy. How do abusive people like this live with themselves. Its an outrage.
This show is horrible, horrible, horrible. It sounds like a concentration camp. It is abuse–not allowing people to be in touch with their loved ones. I have struggled with bulimia since I was twelve years old. I’d like to have a jolly puke on the shoes of the hell spawn who came up with this evil in the first place. How can this be allowed to continue?
When I was in nursing school, my fellow students would gush about watching this program. I am not a small person, and although their fat hate was not directed at me specifically, the general atmosphere against larger people was very hostile. I remember finally speaking my peace when one of my fellow students was on and on about how she couldn’t wait to watch “The Biggest Loser” when she got home. Ironically, this woman probably weighed all of 100 pounds.
I told her that I thought the show was hateful and demeaning and that I would not watch it under any circumstances and didn’t think that anyone else should support it either.
“But…they fix people,” my class mate said, looking at me with wide eyed, utter lack of understanding.
I reined in my desire to go postal, but my hostility was still evident, given the reactions of everyone else in the room. I pointed to my own fat self and snarled “I do not need to be fixed!”
“oh…” my classmate said.
Everyone else just stood staring at me, including the instructor.
It never came up again.
Kai after all you went through you deserve a medal, it sounds totally inhuman the way you were treated. The show was shown in the UK and I admitt I used to watch it avidly. They are lucky no one was fately hurt during this terrible process. gods if that’s changing your life I think I will stick with being me regardless of size! xxx
Wow, this interview is incredibly eye-opening. I used to watch this show; I thought it gave me motivation and inspiration… but once I gave up dieting and switching to intuitive eating, it became clear to me how incredibly wrong it is. Everything about the show is already so messed up, and then you add all the truth that Kai has (so bravely) shared… I just can’t even believe it. And the fact that the show has had so much success, and (I think) continues to air seasons means that it must have an extremely solid viewership. This is what our society has come to. Weight has become an obsession, and shows like these don’t fight the obesity epidemic, they only perpetuate it. To an ENORMOUS degree.
It makes me sick.
The last sentence, “…that has absolutely nothing to do with who you are and everything to do with who you are” didn’t sound right to me, so I listened to the interview and she says, “and everything to do with who THEY are,” which makes a lot more sense and is much more empowering. :)
Thanks for catching this! I just fixed it. :)
It may be two years after this initially was posted, but it’s still as valid now as it was then. Shows like this need to be stopped. Shows that treat any person as subhuman should be stopped. It’s especially horrific to think that the general mindset of society – people who are fat are subhuman because they are fat – is magnified on a grander scale by this show.
To Kai, thank you for speaking out at risk to yourself and your family. I admire you for this.
To Golda, thank you for posting these interviews. While the story can easily be found by googling Kai’s name, many of the stories will not be written with the compassionate hand of your posts.
Post Edited: A Dose Of Reality: My (Formerly) Exclusive Interview With Biggest Loser Fina http://t.co/aSFxUsbz #bullsht #dieting #interviews
I’d managed to avoid the first few seasons of TBL in the UK, but one day I accidentally caught a bit of one. I found myself drawn into the show out of morbid curiosity – it was so awful, the message so awful, the treatment of the contestants so awful (and this was the edited version) that I couldn’t help but keep watching. I eventually came to my senses and voted with my advertising dollars – I refused to watch and give them the ratings. A small stand unlikely to make a big difference to this megalith, but I’m glad I made the right choice.
To hear it was even worse that it looked on TV, my heart goes out to Kai and all those like her who believe they are so worthless because of how they look that they are prepared to take this kind of treatment.
Thank you for publishing this Golda, and I’d like to send my love and support to Kai and her family, and anybody else struggling to overcome the harm that we are bullied into doing to ourselves to be seen as acceptable and lovable in today’s society.
It appears that #thebiggestloser link isn’t working. Here’s a link to part 3 – you can find parts 1 & 2 from there: http://t.co/z8FXkqJP
Kai, I find your comments very hard to believe about TBL. I watched your season and I found you to be extremely bossy, have a bad attitude, and you played the game all the way through! I think you need to look at yourself and your experience on the show and stop blaming the show for your eating disorder and subsequent problems. Chances are, you had the disorder way before the show. You’re just looking for sympathy from viewers and your not getting it from me!
@Terri,
Did you forget how edited these shows are? They could make Mother Theresa look bad. You can not believe everything you see on TV. Don’t put your faith into a television show that is nowhere realistic.
@Terri, ‘reality TV’ is as about as FAR from reality s you can get.
Don’t believe everything you see. Because what you see is not always what you get.
I’m a media student, and one of the first things we learn are what “Frankenbites” are, and why they should never be used under any circumstances (unless you’re a scummy reality tv producer). Thats what “reality” TV is- soundbites, even video clips, mashed up and morphed into something completely different.
Comments on editing for TV – I once was interviewed by a local TV news station about antibiotics, bacteria building resistance and flesh eating disease. Well my comments began a victim of Frankenbiting.
When I watched the clip what they had me saying as totally different from what I actually said because they switched the order of my sentences, cut sentences off and finished with parts of other sentences. I came up looking like a total fool whereas I was on the President’s Honor Roll at the University I had attended as I had a GPA of 3.9. – definitely not a fool.
I just wanted to say thank you to Kai, and to you for publishing this.
I used to watch Biggest Loser and think it was a miracle cure. I’ve struggled with an eating disorder for years and your story really touched my heart.
Thank you so much for the honesty, I can’t express how much that means.
Kai Hibbard – I admire you for having the courage to stand up for yourself and the others and coming forward to speak out.
From now on, I’ll let everybody know why they shouldn’t watch The Biggest Loser – after reading your interview I feel that it is a disgusting and immoral show.
Thank you! Wow, I am so glad that this came out. I was wondering. I am a leader for a ministry called Losing to live, and it goes with the book Bod4 God, losing weight the right way…one day at a time! I think I might just stop watching :( Makes me angry that these NBC losers do this!!! Thanks again, it blessed me :)
I am sorry you had to go through this horror show. I hear similar stories from other reality TV shows. People are de-humanized for the sake of rating, it is pathetic. I would like to throw my scale away, but for now it is just a measure of my progress as well as body measurements. You should be very proud of yourself, getting a positive self image is difficult for many people. I think they has a lot to do with our society as a whole, we put skinny people on a pedestal (in advertising) so it is how our kids grow up thinking they should be. If they don’t fit into that ‘mold’ they are not accepted and sometimes they are ridiculed to the point of having emotional and eating problems. You have made a TON of progress since this injustice was done to you. Yes, even though you signed up for the show this was done TO you. Certainly not because of anything you did or didn’t do. I am glad you have a husband and family that cared enough for you to step in and stop the problem. I wish you much luck in the future. If NBC tries to sue you I think all of us should band together and boycott anything they produce.
First, I want to thank Kai for having the courage to speak the truth about her experience. It breaks my heart that she was treated so badly and it saddens me further that she is having to take abuse from people who feel so threatened by that truth. But clearly, she is a very strong individual with a lot of love in her life. Kai, I hope you know that if you need support there are plenty in the online community who will help you any way we can. Just reach out. You are not alone!!!
Second, thanks to Golda for conducting and printing this interview. What a service to the public in general and those with body issues in particular!
Again, thank you both so much.
I think Kai and ANY other of the contestants that will stand with her need to gather their gumption & courage, find a kick butt attorney and sue the CRAP out of NBC and this Show! It’s LIES: they spin things in such a way with editing that it becomes libel! They are violating DR’s orders (and portions of their contract with you by endangering your lives)!!
“The Only thing necessary for the Triumph of Evil is for good men to do nothing”
-Edmund Burke
If you stand by in fear, they WIN…and they continue to lie & hurt MILLIONS with their brainwashing! MAKE IT STOP!
“It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.” -Edmund Burke
Meaning, if all they ever hear is these trainers complaining about your performance, screaming at you, seeing the NBC propaganda…HOW will they EVER know the truth…see the REAL story…have someone take their best interest (and yours) to heart??!!
You contestants are the ONLY ones who can stop this! It cannot continue! Be our voice (and be each others)! If you stand together, even those high priced NBC lawyers cannot defeat the TRUTH!
well, i heard about this interview just days ago and it was a very bittersweet response for me…i was on a similar weight loss show, and everything that i imagined biggest loser contestants going through, kai confirmed. been there (mostly), done that (mostly). the eating disorders (now i’m officially fatter than i’ve ever been), the paranoia, the guilt, editing, etc. i’m glad that kai has the ferocity to stand up for what is right. i was never able to say my peice because i still deal w/”show” issues and other life problems…and i’m afraid to (for MANY reasons). besides at this point, no one would care. i’m in a better place now, because now the tears dont come as much any more and i can see past the awful, horrible pain & remember good times w/certain friends on the show, but i still refuse to talk about it or recall the times when i was scolded for the world to see (i think the words were “____ has been the biggest disappointment this season” even with 70lbs lost) and then banished…i’m proud of kai. we, who have been there, are probably all proud of her, deep down. she is speaking for many and my hope is that many, many more hear her voice.
Outstanding! I have been drafting a piece on my blog called “The Theology of The Biggest Loser” discussing all the very bad philosophical advice that the trainers spew forth on this show and I’m so encouraged to hear someone who actually lived a season, speak out!
Best quote from this piece are:
“Kill your scale. It’s ridiculous to measure your worth based on a number in a little box that you get on in the morning. It’s absolutely ridiculous. It has nothing to do with your worthiness. Nobody needs a reality TV show to be a healthy human being. And love yourself no matter what you weigh. If somebody comes up to you and tells you you’re fat or if somebody comes up to you and tells you your beautiful — that has absolutely nothing to do with who you are and everything to do with who you are. And remember that.”
And:
“They said that they were very surprised by me as a contestant because, if you watch from the beginning of the season to the end, my personality doesn’t change at all. And my comment was, ‘Why would it?’ But I guess that 95% of the contestants start off one person and end up a different one at the end. And it’s because they believe that being thin will make all my dreams come true. [But] your mortgage is the same if you weigh 144 or if you weigh 268. You’re either happy with your life or you’re not.”
I am so glad I read this. I will be showing it to everyone I know. I used to be a fan too, and dreamed about being able to just work out all day every day and not have to work (I had a bit of a disorder at the time.) Then I remembered a close friend who was a personal trainer nearly pull his hair out with frustration. He’d had four clients affected by biggest loser: Two who were in tears because they were only losing a kilo or so a week, one who was keeping herself dehydrated to maximise the weight loss, and one who was working out six to eight hours a day.
@Michele
The Jillian Michaels ad might just be an example of Google adsense gone awry.
Kai’s also got a Jillian Michaels ad on her website. Very confusing. Go to this page and scroll down: http://www.kaifitness.com/
I have followed all three parts of this story, and up until today, I was completely in supprot of Kai Hibbard. However, after reading her Facebook page today, I have mixed feelings. Her Facebook “Information” tab says, “Kai Hibbard made history on The Biggest Loser® Season Three finale by losing more weight than any other female contestant in the show’s history up to that point. She began at 262 pounds and lost 118 pounds to finish at an amazing 144 pounds — that is the equivalent of losing more than 45% of her bodyweight.” Her profile picture is thin her posing next to her fat jeans.
I admire her courage for exposing The Biggest Loser for what it is, but I think she’s sending an incredibly mixed message by promoting her Biggest Loser weight loss on Facebook, and I question her integrity by blatantly playing both sides of the fence.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kai-Hibbard-of-The-Biggest-Loser-Season-3/114388032436?v=wall&ref=mf
@Michele, Is that her actual page, or a fan page? Many ‘celebrities’ have fan pages that are not run by the person themselves. I know Sean Algier does.
I had the same experience. Every time I click a link to Kai’s “blog”, it takes me to some Japanese site. And looking through her “official” Facebook Page (linked at the end of the article, and promoted as HERS, not as a “fan page”, I see nothing but happy, smiling pictures of her promoting Biggest Loser.
I so want to believe this story. I think “reality” shows are a complete sham and a scam, and it’s not a stretch to believe that all of this crap DID happen to her and others.
But I also agree that the faulty link and the blatant promotion on her FB page do not lend to her credibility.
Golda and Kai,
I used to be a huge fan of The Biggest Loser. I have still watched it, but recently I have started to question how safe it really is. I had heard some news reports and read some articles saying that it’s not safe, but I always thought “they would never really put them in such harsh conditions” and that its all speculation. But after hearing it from an actual cast member, I believe it. Thank you both for finally letting everyone know the truth. I am done watching it and I will tell all of my friends who watch it to stop watching it as well. It is terrible to think that they would do something like that. I hope that they either change their ways and start having the contestants not dehydrate themselves, or take the show off the air completely.
Thank you both so much again,
Michael
We all want that quick fix and to lose the weight in 2 weeks that we have put on in a year+. We watch the biggest loser for the fast results; we want it quickly and we all really do know that isn’t the safest way to lose weight.
Kai: I am wondering did you feel this way throughout the entire season you were on the show or are your feelings coming out in retrospect? If you had these pent up feelings during the show why didn’t you walk away? At the time were you so desparate to lose weight that you would have done anything to be thinner? As they say – Be careful what you wish for
I found all 3 parts interesting to read but felt embellishment in places. It isn’t an easy battle to lose weight and the show doesn’t portray it as easy (I don’t want to spend that much time in a gym on a daily basis) FYI: I am not a fan of the show but don’t avoid watching it either.
The “good trainer” she refers to is probably John Kisik.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for this series of articles. It makes me sick to think I once watched this show.
Four years ago I filled out an application for the Biggest Loser but I only needed to lose 60 pounds and felt I wouldn't make the cut. I'm still shocked at myself because I actually considered gaining 40 more pounds so I'd need to lose 100 and maybe get on the show. Food and Weight issues bring on crazy thoughts sometimes. I now am an RFP (recovering fat person). I lost those 60 pounds but still get up every day and put one foot (or forkfull) in front of the other. I LOVE your positive message that we need to love ourselves just like we are, meaning if we never lose weight – I believe that too! I'm not on the "every body needs to lose weight like me" Bandwagon. I think we're beautiful and wonderful just like we are!! I know that I could gain all my weight back – in a flash, but if I do or if I don't I'm still me. And "me" is a pretty darn great gal. SO brave of Kai for sharing this and thank you for posting the interview. I also feel that trainers yelling and screaming at people is a terrible way to motivate them. We in the overweight community have felt bad enough about ourselves and to be yelled at and mistreated is one more humiliation. NO MORE! Bravo!!
Thanks for reading and sharing!
Awesome interview! Thanks for posting the link to it. This makes me even more glad that I've never watched Biggest Loser, and even more determined that I will never watch it.
Thank you for posting this interview, and thank you to Kai for being brave enough to speak out. My mom keeps pushing the show and what it does for people, talking about how great I'll look and feel if I did what they do on the show. Now she knows what they REALLY do on the show.
These articles are amazing, it was so brave of Kai to speak out. Thanks to both of you for sharing all of this.
I have never watched a single episode of this television show because I find the premise offensive. And some people get really upset when I say that I find the entire program morally objectionable. From now on those people will be receiving links to these articles.
Golda, I cannot thank you enough for this – a few months back, I saw this: http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2009/09/the_biggest_loser_pros_and_con.php
and while I watch TBL because my site’s visitors enjoy the convo, and I appreciate some of the healthy tips (even though its an advertising dream)… in the back of my mind, I’ve always known this type of stuff goes on.
Maybe now people can look at TBL with less of a fantasy eye, and more of a practical one.
Alice!
Positive message received and I am so much more grateful than you can imagine.
OK, I can’t seem to find a way to send a positive message to Kai (which hopefully means the # of negative messages will be lower, too!) However, I just wanted to say THANK YOU. Thank you, Golda, for presenting this in such an unedited, strong way, and thank you so much, Kai, for being willing to stand up against some pretty intimidating opposition in order to correct the misperceptions that are out there.
It saddens me so much that we as a culture support and pay for a program to put people through this level of pain and suffering. Hopefully this will encourage the folks working on TBL, especially the doctors and nutritionists, to push back in their on right, to help stop some of the harm that’s going on.
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