Biggest Loser Contestant Speaks Out
This morning on The Early Show, Kai Hibbard was on. Kai was a contestant on season 3 of Biggest Loser and I am trying to remember her but I can't, so I guess I missed that season. They all start blending together after awhile. I actually thought I watched season 3. Oh well. Anyway, she says she lost 118 pounds on the show but only because of the dangerous things that were allowed to occur.
"I found myself loathing what I looked like the more weight that I dropped because of the pressure on me I found myself doing things like considering coffee a meal. And because of the pressures on the show it was considered acceptable to behave that way."
She said she left the show with an eating disorder, had her hair fall out and she learned how to dehydrate so the weight loss would be more dramatic. I know that some of those contestants starve themselves for a day or two before they weigh in. They have to. They want to win and the producers don't stop them. The producers want drama and they don't want people who only lost one pound each week.
26 comments:
wow sad. doesn't surprise me.
Only a matter of time before someone is killed on these reality shows. More and more pressure for drama and someone is bound to get badly hurt or killed. Amazing race, Biggest Loser, Survivor. We may as well bring back Gladiators and watch the tigers eat the loser.
talk about lack of professional and moral ethics! have never watched the show...but am even more turned off now.
I have actually heard of this before. She was talking about this on her Myspace account for awhile now. It is sad but I thought that from season one.
Blatently telling contestants to ignore doctor's advice like that is beyond irresponsible. They should just pray no one suffers more severely from their punishing weight loss regimen.
That's so dangerous , I thought that losing weight at a quick pace could make you lose muscle tissue from your organs. To anyone who watches the show, do these people gain the weight back?
Good Information. I bet they make the contestants sign a waiver or disclaimer so that they are not responsible if the person is hurt.
Jess, I don't watch the show because I never thought it was a good idea, but a friend told me that one of the past winners came on and he's gained the weight back.
Does anyone know what the time span is for them losing weight? Is it just a few weeks? That's so unhealthy! Taking it off slowly and building up an exercise regimen is the way to go because that's more likely to stick with you as a habit and a lifelong program instead of a crash diet.
Hmm, I have a hard time believing the producers would open themselves to liability by promoting such unhealthy means of losing weight which could actually kill a person. They talk all the time about the medical exams and oversight of the contestants. Just playing Devil's advocate here.
She doesn't actually say they told her to only drink coffee. They can't stop the contestants from eating, but if the contestant doesn't want to eat, that's another story.
I'm also not sure she can blame an eating disorder on the show. As someone who's had one, it comes from the inside.
Another thought from the other side is if it wasn't for this biggest loser scandal would any of us really know or care about her? I don't know if this will get me flamed or not but if you look at the fame shes getting, and the fact that she has been saying this for awhile and none of the other contestants said anything, I think some of this is her looking for attention.
I've only watched it a few times but was horrified at the way they put REALLY heavy people through REALLY grueling exercise. These people are obviously badly out of shape, and it's not healthy to leap into strenuous workouts immediately, you begin slowly and work up. As for the starving and dehydration, I'm surprised they don't have more fatalities. A one pound a week weight loss is perfectly acceptable, fantastic, even. And like any other fad diet or workout regimen, they are more prone to gain it all back. The best way to lose weight and keep it off is to make a lifestyle change, but work into it.
As a fitness fanatic, this show infuriates me. What they "teach" contestants to do is not maintainable or realistic. They have them work out sometimes for 8 hours a day!
That is not maintainable in the real world. I can't understand why people find this show inspiring because, like many other reality shows, it's NOT REAL. If I was overweight I'd be MORE beaten down by the show because I'd be thinking "well I must be a failure because I can't do that." (this is assuming I'm just the average person in the midwest who doesn't know how unrealistic the show is)
I'm not saying the characters on the show aren't inspiring but I'm not surprised at all that the weight comes back when they leave because suddenly they have to, oh I don't know WORK for a living and can't live at the gym like they do in the very controlled environment of production. About time someone discussed this!!
I think "reality" programming is alway's fixed somehow. I don't feel sorry for her, if it was really bad, I"d walk.. It would ruin their show!! They would probably lighten up at that point, or sue me!!
i can't help but think of the young overweight teenagers that turn to shows like this for inspiration, who end up believing that they have to starve themselves and maintain unrealistic exercise routines to be healthy and end up harming themselves even more in the process. these shows only perpetuate unhealthy ideas of body image, weight loss and convincing people who just need help that they themselves are the problem instead of dealing with the behavior that leads to their weight (well, in most cases). it's just so completely irresponsible what these producers do to their contestants and the messages they're sending to the public. i feel for this woman, and i can't say that if i were in her position that i wouldn't have ended up with the same problems. shame on the producers and the network for airing this garbage.
to rocketqueen, i actually do believe they would, and they do on a regular basis. a couple years ago, a radio station in my town had a contest where the contestants had to drink ridiculous amounts of water just to win a gaming system. a woman died trying to win a console for her kids. ask any health professional and they'll tell you how dangerous that is and 5 minutes of research would have told the producers not to go ahead with it. they did it anyway because they knew it was crazy and would boost ratings. well, it did boost ratings... and cost them all a job in the process. sure we as spectators are inclined to tune into this crap, but it's the producers who can draw the line of how much garbage they put out in the first place.
This is not surprising at all and that show should have been taken off the air a long time ago. You already know how I feel about diets, and this is one of the reasons.
The problem is that people STILL think that weight loss is an indicator of better health. They think that the "body mass index" somehow says something about the condition of a person. It's all about losing pounds rather than getting to the bottom of the issue, like why do I eat until I'm stuffed, why do I eat when I'm bored, why do I eat until I can't feel anything but full?
It's just another eating disorder. Chronic Dieting.
Cindy (and I love the name) - I will respectfully disagree. She's not making wild allegations. I am sure she went on the show thinking it was going to be hard, but there was free medical supervision and free training, but not expecting the kids of stunts (I don't see them as challenges) they were going to have to pull off. If someone told me to dehydrate in order to win a challenge, I would think they were crazy. And I'd be highly disappointed. I frankly, never understood how you could lose 13 to 16 pounds in a 7 day period, so something had to be going on. I appreciate the fact that she stood up and said "This is wrong."
Famewholres are people like Dina Lohan, or Tiger Wood's aggrieved girlfriends...
Does anyone see the list of other videos after you watch the Biggest Loser video? One says, "Doctors freeze baby for four days"..!!!!!
I remember Kai. She was a horrible bitch and I believe she was a lawyer from Alaska. All of which adds up to: don't believe anything that comes out of her mouth. Always drama with that one.
Oh yeah, and she was totally wasted on the finale/reunion show. Ass.
@Ms. Leigh - ugh, that's just awful. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying producers aren't scum, I just find it strange that the producers would open themselves up to liability. I agree - I've seen this show a few times and I've thought, "Man, that guy needs a REST!" but always figured they probably have some decent medical staff standing by.
Also, I really like that Bob fitness trainer guy - I WANT to believe he wouldn't knowingly endanger people's lives.
Bob is probably a very nice guy & approaches fitness & the actual people with respect. He isn't however the guy behind the ratings & luring in advertisers. How boring would it be to watch someone lose 2 lbs/week & get counselling? No one would dial in that show. We sadly love trainwreck entertainment.
Whether this gal is a drama queen or not, I commend her for calling them out on their fake & selfish asses.
I've been on a show once before & the manipulation of facts & staged happenings is truly astounding. "Truth" in a reality show is like saying fashion mags are "all natural". Everyone is the producers pawn.
Bob is AWESOME!! I take his spin class at a gym here in LA and he is TOUGH but inspiring. However the gym is a completely different environment from what this show is.
i'm with cancan. this bitch is a lawyer and she's looking for a lawsuit.
Anyone who goes on a reality show signs a waiver saying the show is not liable for death or injury. There was a guy on one of those competetive shows who did bungee jumping into a pool and something malfunctioned so that he spent a few minutes under water and he had severe brain damage. The show didn't have to pay a dime. There have been a bunch of other serious injuries, but I don't remember the details of any of them.
Is it ok to still like Jillian? 30 Day Shred is awesome. I feel like she really does care about the people too.
I never watch this show all the way through and I mostly just paid attention to the workout parts vs. what they were eating.
"She found herself doing things like considering coffee a meal." Maybe because she was on a TV show/contest, where the person who loses the largest amount of weight in the fastest time wins. She wasn't on "meet me at a weight watchers meeting"
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