Why do people hate TV shows like The Biggest Loser and My 600-lb Life?
I’m watching both of these shows in their entirety and I don’t know why they’ve historically gotten so much backlash. One reviewer called TBL “a dumpster fire of a TV show” and others seem to think M6L is downright abusive. However, I can’t find anything particularly bad in either.
Although it’s true that in TBL the contestants are losing an egregious amount of weight each week, it’s likely (actually almost certain) that most of this is water weight and it would have been more dangerous to instead not lose the weight. The intense exercise scenes seem pretty typical for anybody who’s serious about athletics. Finally, the famous “damaged metabolism” study that shut down TBL turned out to be debunked due to “damaged metabolism” being a boring, normal adaptation under high physical activity.
And although there are tons of bare naked shower scenes in M6L, everyone knew that going in and they agreed anyway. Some also complain how the stars don’t receive enough support for things like therapy and other cost centers. I would say that would actually have been a great thing to add, but it would be impractical at scale and have a high chance of bankrupting the production with how much healthcare costs, resulting in a net loss of benefit for those who need the surgery.
So, what’s your viewpoint here?