Shaquille O'Neal is filming six episodes of a reality show for ABC. Here's the weird thing: it's about weight loss. And it's not Shaq who needs to lose the weight. The NBA giant is going on a public relations campaign to get kids across Florida to lose weight. He'll be visiting kids at Florida high schools and middle schools and apparently getting them excited about getting active. According to the Florida Dept. of Health, 14 percent of Florida high schoolers are at risk for being overweight and 11 percent are overweight.Ummm.... I'm pretty sure I'd run or climb a jungle gym or do whatever big ol' Shaq told me to do, with or without cameras present. The untitled program, which is an hour-long, will air on ABC this summer.















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-05-2007 @ 12:02PM
VSJ said...
So, why is Shaq (Diesel, Big Kahuna, Superman, Daddy, Mad Mountain or whatever he is calling himself this week) doing this show again? Shouldn't it be AH-NOLD Schwarzenegger - who has been doing the physical fitness camps with youngsters in elementary schools for the past 10 years?
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3-07-2007 @ 8:41AM
That Girl said...
#1, Why does it matter whether Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing the show or Mother Theresa reincarnated as long as it's helping the children become healthy and give them a wonderful influence. I can completely see the reason he's doing the show.
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3-07-2007 @ 8:57AM
jim said...
I had the chance to meet Shaq at a ball game in miami,an he is a very careing an humble person.
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3-07-2007 @ 9:01AM
tcb6886 said...
I think it's a great idea! It's about time someone did something like this for kids.
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3-07-2007 @ 9:15AM
seabert02 said...
Whether you choose Shaq, Arnold, or any other athlete or body-builder to host this program, chances are, they'd be considered overweight too! Shaq, for instance, has a BMI of 31.6, according to his billed weight and height. That's not only overweight on the BMI scale; that's obese! It's a fairly good assumption that the statistics on these Florida children are based in their BMI scale too. The problem is that BMI does a terribly poor job of accounting for people that have an any kind of muscularity to their frame. And if you think that high school and middle school is too early to be concerned with muscle mass, think again. There's a 19yr old expected to be drafted into the NFL this year who already has 4 years of college experience. That means this kid has been hitting college-football level weights in the weight room since he was 15. The producers of this show might want to reconsider their basis on how to judge weight before they call the wrong people (even their host) overweight.
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3-08-2007 @ 7:21AM
Andrew said...
Maybe in exchange for helping the kids lose weight, they can help him out with his free throw shooting.
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3-07-2007 @ 1:28PM
paul said...
WHO IS SHaQ
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