By Buzz Byrne

Obesity is quite simply a hot topic. Cities are banning the use of trans fats in restaurants to combat our weight problem, politicians are considering lawsuits against fast food chains ala big tobacco and in the last month 29 magazine and 540 newspaper articles have been written on obesity.

The term “epidemic” is widely used to describe the state of our nation’s fatness.

Thank the Lord we have reality TV on the problem. I resisted THE BIGGEST LOSER for a long time. The name itself is just awful. I get that “losing” the weight is a good thing but the struggle with weight and self image is steeped so deeply in negativity, you would think that the producers could have found a better way to reward the winner than calling them, “The Biggest Loser!”

I’ve come around though. Sure there are elements of the show that are clearly exploitive in the guise of dramatic. Such as seeing every ripple, stretch mark, man boob and inch of spandex clad cellulite imaginable. But despite that the show is not mean spirited and that is what lets it be safe watching. These contestants know they have to change their lives and this is a great chance. Can a cynic get away with branding something so cheesy as “uplifting”? I’ll give it a shot.

The two hour season premiere opened with 18 obese people being dropped off in the desert and having to race to the trainers (Bob and Kim) who were parachuting in. This is network TV, so why have it simple when you can have it overblown and pointless? Whoever got to the trainers first got to be a captain and picked their team of 6, meaning 6 contestants were not joining the blue (Bob) or red (Kim) team. The big surprise, the return of psycho trainer Jillian, who would offer these last 6 a reprieve and re-entry into the competition as the black team, was completely blown by the 90 second intro and “pre-capping” of the season’s events.


There were work outs and diet lessons. There was a reward challenge involving pulling a 21 ton jet. There were final work outs and of course, breakdowns. Most of these people have given up so long ago it is startling to see them show any emotion about their health but the most common emotion was shame. One contestant, Amber, gave up minutes into the first work out. She couldn’t do it and despite being close to three hundred pounds the problem was all mental and it was heart breaking. She is young, has an exciting career and is quite attractive but at that moment it was obvious how hopeless she viewed her life and her own power.

To me, this made Amber my early favorite. To her teammates, it made her an early target. They are having a hard enough time motivating themselves that they don’t want the burden of carrying another person. Especially since the eliminations are determined by the amount of weight a team loses collectively.

When the blue team smoked Amber’s in the episode’s final weigh-in it was obvious she was going home. My first favorite of the season was destined to be a one-and-out player. But here’s where the show redeems itself: the contestants are given tools to change, even if they are only there for one week like Amber. And when they did an update on her progress? She had lost 65 pounds. How many women do you know that would be excited to be a size 18? Probably not many but when you go from a size 28 to a size 18 it is a time of celebration.

Amber got some power back in her life and, hokey TV gimmicks aside, this is the feel-good aspect of the show. It is what ultimately makes it dramatic and dare I say, even uplifting?