Login
The Biggest Loser; in some ways a really great show, in other ways a mess. If you don't know the plot, I will quickly summarize. A group of overweight contestents get together and try to lose as much weight as possible in order to win a quarter of a million dollars. So, it's basically weight loss meets Survivor.
You might think that the show is tasteless, but I rather like it, and the contestants are for the most part great people, who you want to see win, and the way the trainers instill them with self-confidence as the weeks go on is quite inspiring. It promotes diet and exercise, standing up for yourself and many other important lessons.
But this is a reality show, which does sometimes beg the question, "How much is real, and how much is acted out?" I would assume most of this is real, but with a reality show, you never truly know.
Also, I would like to point out another major problem with the show. It's way too long. The show, with commercials is 2 hours. The show could be an hour long or even an hour and a half would be better. The show is filled with lots of obvious padding sometimes, in order to stretch the episode to 2 hours long, including some painfully obvious product placement, that is best left in commericials, or even in an ad break.
Also the executive meddling can get tiresome sometimes, and it really does make you wonder if some of the producers actually care if the people get helathier or are just concerned about getting more views. The show can feel manipulative like that.
But, what saves this show is the sincerity of everyone on screen. Not the contestants, but Allison Sweeney, the trainers and the doctors. You can sense that they really care about these contestants and want to see them not only live, but thrive. Also, seeing people transform before our eyes is also extremely inspiring and incredibly heartwarming. Is it a perfect show? No. Does it fall into some of the traps that other reality shows fall into. Absolutely. However, it certainly is better than some of the competition and is actually about becoming a better person, not just winning a singing competition. Sometimes overlong, but an overall sweet and inspiring reality show.
7/10
