I was really enjoying this season of The Biggest Loser. The addition of the "Couples" formula created a built-in connection for the contestants and established a bigger one with me as well. There was something special about rooting for these friends and family members to go for it together. The show was inspirational and generally uplifting, unlike most reality competition shows. These guys knew they were there for a much bigger and more important reason than the money.Then, a few weeks ago, all that got kind of tossed out the window when the pairs were thrown into two competing groups, even splitting up father and son duo Ron and Mike. Suddenly everybody got really intense and competitive and got their "game" on. Filipe summed it up pretty well this week saying that when he was training with Bob he was thinking about his family and his reasons for wanting to lose weight and be on the show. Now that he's on Jillian's team he thinks about the game. And this week it all went so wrong.
Yes, the Black Team has been dominating since the split to the Blue and Black Teams. But that's not why it's ruining the show. What was an inspirational show about making positive changes in your life has devolved into Survivor with a gym. Now this is the first season I've watched, so maybe it always goes down like this, but I'm disappointed.
The way in which Cathy, Kristin and Ron are just callously sending the rest of the Blue Team home one by one as they continue to get their asses handed to them is hard to watch. And Ron just comes across like a dick. Not to mention that it's a pretty horrible strategy in the long-term. Unless they know how long these teams are going to stay this way, by getting rid of stronger players they're just going to keep losing and eventually will have to sacrifice their own.
I know it's a game. If it were Survivor I wouldn't have nearly as big of a problem with it. I think I bought into the idea that these people were here for reasons other than the game. Maybe I set an unrealistic standard too high for the show. Maybe I'm the one who's sucking my own joy out of the show. It's not The Biggest Loser, it's me?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-12-2009 @ 8:44AM
Sancty said...
Hang on...
This is your first season watching?
Then's what with the intro about "The addition of the "Couples" formula created a built-in connection for the contestants and established a bigger one with me as well."
If its your first season... this is all BS, it didn't create a bigger connection, it built an initial connection! Plus they've done couples before...
Outside of that, I gotta confess to being the biggest Sionne fan in the world now. The way he got up, didn't say a word and just followed Felipe out of the kitchen!
That's what a teammate does... he didn't question F's decision, he didn't grandstand for the group or even piggyback off F's reaction, he just got up and wordlessly left the kitchen!
I'm on Team Sionne - Give them Grey shirts and let 'em weigh in separately as far as I'm concerned!
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3-12-2009 @ 8:55AM
SadOldMan said...
If you missed last season, you missed some of the most evil people to walk the earth ever.
This season is a kinder gentler version.
That one Samoan is a cry baby, but at least the other took responsibility for his pig-out,
Tara is a machine. She should be worshipped as a goddess.
And Ron is Dr. Zoidberg.
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3-12-2009 @ 10:07AM
jordan said...
The Blue team is performing weekly suicide. There is very little chance that they will win again. Looks like it could be an all Black final.
I like Felipe but now he is just being a cry baby. Man up and accept that you ate 3000 calories that day along with booze and fried chicken fingers and fries. He did not seem to tell Bob when he went crying to him. They got kind of a Bromance going on there and its getting weird.
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3-12-2009 @ 10:11AM
multiman said...
I was a little disapointed that Bob didn't send them back to Jillian and have them work out there issues. F really needs to suck it up. He came off as more of a cry baby than anything and instead of owning up to his mistake, he blamed it on his trainer.
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3-12-2009 @ 10:30AM
JPN said...
It's a reality TV show. You have to create some drama. The problem is the way these people are reacting to the change...they're huge crybabies! "Wah wah wah I can't train without Bob" Shut up! Bob always has a weird Svengali-like hold over his team..."bromance" might be too light a word for Bob's relationship with his male team members...this is the trainer who made a workout video called "Queer Abs"...
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3-12-2009 @ 10:40AM
whawha said...
The dynamic of Bob and Jillian for their teams is really telling. Bob's position every season is "I'm going to change your life...I will be there for you." while Jillian says "Nobody but YOU can do this."
It's no wonder that Bob has a Svengali-like hold on his team, since they see him as the messiah that will transform their lives. Jillian, on the other hand, wants the people to take accountability for their own successes. Which is a better approach? I don't know...but I do think Jillian's might better serve them in the long run, because the trainer won't be with them for the rest of their lives.
3-12-2009 @ 1:41PM
Sherry Giles said...
I was really enjoying this season because even though the contestants trained with different trainers, they all got along and seemed to like each other. The producers couldn't have liked that too much, because they keep trying to stir up the drama. I liked Filipe until he became a competitive jerk (and there's no blaming Jillian for that, it was all him) and I liked the purple pair until they decided they're sticking with Ron. He's such a weasel. He's obviously the one who deserves to go home, but he's always the first one to pipe up and say who should go.
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3-12-2009 @ 1:05PM
garydistefano said...
Also does no one realize that Jillian has a much better winning record on the show then Bob does? Every season ppl seem to prefer working out with bob, but then Jillians team members wins.
And I agree with calling Ron a dick. He knows or should know by now that he is the weak link on that team. His slow ass in the pool was the reason they lost again. He should have fallen on the sword for his team in this ep and gave them a chance to win next week. Every challenge he is there for they will lose. Oh and smart move blue team kicking off your best player Mandy. She was the only reason they weren't blown out in um...every challenge since they set up these new teams....Black will win it all now and probably Tara or Sionne will be the top two.
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3-12-2009 @ 1:27PM
Jon B. Knutson said...
There's always some twists as the season goes on... sometimes it's bringing back all the players who've been sent home, with the two who've lost the most weight returning (until they're eliminated), sometimes it's something else.
Bob's always been much more touchy-feely with his trainees, which is why there's so much "bromance," and everyone gets overly attached to him... but what everyone seems to forget is that Jillian's trained more winners than Bob has by far!
Everyone also seems to forget what happens on the show when they become competitors on it, too, IMHO.
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3-12-2009 @ 2:13PM
Kate said...
The problem with this Biggest Loser is they've started to believe their own hype. All that garbage about changing people's lives has gone to their heads, and they've started talking down to the audience and contestants and it shows.
As for Felipe, good for him for telling off Jillian, she's a kid. Once she grows up and learns she can't bully people into changing, she'll do a lot better. Her contestants may win the game, but Bob's contestants by far fair better in their over all wellness. As for Jillian, I think she's doing more to create hatred of the overweight than she is helping. I personally haven't cared for her since last season when she mistreated Shelley last season. Shelley was old enough to be her mother, and she treated her like she was a four year old... I just wish Amy had punched her in the nose for being so rude to her mother.
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3-12-2009 @ 3:22PM
Sarah said...
the very first season of Biggest Loser, i stopped watching after the first three episodes. i thought it was supposed to transcend the realm of reality competitions, but "game play" (a term i hate) took hold very soon. i started watching again because of the whole family, couples aspect, but its still very much like Survivor with a gym. always has been.
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3-13-2009 @ 1:04AM
Terry said...
I have disliked ron from the beginning...He is always telling everyone who should go home!!!! Sick of him...I do like his son but he is so annoying!! The "Big Mouth" mother daughter team are also on my annoying list!!! The daughter is always saying how they are gonna win and they always lose!!!!! I love tara but don't see her making it to the end with so many originals from the other side still there!!! The person who said last season was the nastiest season as far as "playing the game" is right, last season was the worst season for that and i so far don't see this season going down the tubes as bad as that one did!!!
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3-13-2009 @ 10:12AM
willy the impeached said...
"Bob's contestants by far fair better in their over all wellness" HUH? Based on what? You do realize these people will have to go home and when they do and the cameras are turned off, Bob will not be there. What will Bob's people do then? I'd love a followup show like 2 years after. I can totally see Jillian's people being much better off because from the start she makes it clear you need to help yourself. Bob's people will fall apart once he's not around to hand hold, just look at Felipe.
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5-01-2009 @ 5:52PM
dc314480 said...
This show is about who needs to be there the most. Ron does not want his son Mike to go through the hell that he has been through all of his life. Can you blame him?
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