Netflix’s new documentary, “Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser” just landed on the streamer and it pulls back the curtain on allegations made against producers and former cast members of NBC’s former series “The Biggest Loser.”
The three-part Netflix series, which made its premiere on Friday, features in-depth interviews and footage from the 17 seasons of the mega hit show, “the good, the bad and the complicated,” as the show’s description shares.
Here’s a full synopsis: “The series explores how the experience shaped the lives of those involved with the show long after the cameras stopped rolling and invites viewers to reflect on the balance between entertainment and well-being, and what it truly means to pursue lasting change.”
The docuseries was directed by Skye Borgman, and includes interviews with former “Biggest Loser” producers, trainers and several contestants. Some say the program changed their lives, while others say they regret joining the show. Check out the allegations below.
Contestant Ryan Benson Recalls Having Urine in His Blood Due to Strict Diet
“Biggest Loser” Season 1 winner Ryan Benson recalls going to drastic lengths to win the competition series, even intensifying his already strict diet during the last week of the season.
“In the end, it worked out great ’cause I won, but I was doing what most doctors would say were super unhealthy things,” Benson said during the documentary. “The last 10 days I didn’t put any food in my body. I was doing the master cleanse, just drinking lemon juice and maple syrup, cayenne pepper, all these tricks that are super unhealthy just to cut weight. At the final weigh-in, we had to do a urine test and they said, ‘Ryan, there’s blood in your urine,’ which obviously means you’re sooo dehydrated.”
After he won, he remembers Jillian Michaels allegedly telling him, “You just made me a millionaire.”
Contestants Call the “Temptation” Challenge Cruel
One of the smaller challenges contestants had to participate in during the competition was a “Temptation” challenge. During the event, contestants were brought into a room where they were welcomed by several plates of junk food. They were given two options: eat enough food and gain a certain amount of calories to win a prize, which one could be going home to see your family, or refuse the food and continue as they were. Regardless of the option they chose, they still would be weighed and would need to lose pounds by the end of the week.
“That’s mean. We go through enough shit,” Joelle Gwynn said. “We’re trying to do better.”
From producers’ ends, it merely showed that everything is a choice.
“What is a temptation? A temptation is real life,” producer J.D. Roth said. “I can’t say that 100% of the temptations we got right. But I can say that life is full of temptations.”
Producers Wanted Contestants to Get Sick
While explaining the depths and lengths producers would go to make entertaining television, “Biggest Loser” coach Bob Harper shared that producers were excited at the idea that contestants could get sick if they worked out too hard.
“Producers loved that s—t; they were like, ‘We want ’em to puke. We want the madness of it all,” Harper explained.”
Executive producers said it simply made for a better show.
“One big Kumbaya doesn’t make great television, I’ll tell you that,” David Broome.
Contestant Says She Almost Died After First Challenge
Season 8 contestant Tracey Yukich said she developed a potentially deadly condition called Rhabdomyolysis after the first challenge of “Biggest Loser.” At the time, contestants were instructed to run a mile and cross a finish line in order to make the cut for the show. While she was running, her body gave out on her and she collapsed.
“Rhabdomyolysis is your body saying, ‘I’m going to shut down on you,’” Yukich explained. “It started with my liver, then it went to my kidneys and then it goes to your heart. And that’s where I almost died.”
She decided to continue on, saying it the moment “was her drive.”
I just cheated death,” Yukich said. “Completely cheated it, didn’t die. It’s on.”
“Biggest Loser” Allegedly Didn’t Include or Inform Medical Advisors About Every Challenge
During the show, Dr. Robert Huizenga was tasked with overseeing the contestant’s health and wellbeing. But during more grueling challenges, he says producers and coaches would sometimes leave him out.
“The show could’ve done a better job,” Huizenga said. “They didn’t alert me of the challenge. I mean, I should be at every one of the challenges.”
Dr. Huizenga said that he threatened to quit the show every season over the show’s negligence, mentioning that trainers would try to make participants consume as low as 800 calories a day.
“Every season I pretty much said I was going to quit unless I got to talk to the trainers,” Huizenga said. “So they would force them to come in and I would give my little half an hour speech and maybe some things changed, not as much as I would like.”
Harper said the meal plans and exercise regimen were the coaches’ realm.
“No one was going to tell us what to do when it came to diet and exercise. It was our meal plans, it was our exercise program,” Harper said.
Joelle Gwynn Says She Was Verbally “Abused” by Trainer Bob Harper
During one of the workouts, the contestants were instructed to run on a treadmill nonstop for 30 seconds. The effort was a struggle for Gwynn, who repeatedly stopped running about 10 seconds shy of the 30-second mark. After failed attempts, Harper became irate and cussed Gwynn out.
“I’ve never seen someone get abused like that. It was very, very, very embarrassing,” Gwynn said. “It brought me back home. I’m there because I would get sh-t like that and eat. So you cursing me out doesn’t help me. I do not care for Bob Harper. F-ck you, Bob Harper. You’re little dog, too.”
From Harper’s point of view, he wanted Gwynn to make a commitment.
Contestants Were Given Non-Approved Caffeine Pills
During the show, contestants were supposed to only lose weight through diet and exercise. However, some contestants say there given caffeine pills to boost their energy and stamina.
“At some point I was given stackers, and a stacker was like a caffeine pill,” Danny Cahill shared. “You’re allowed one of these a day, but they were approved by the trainer. I took it cause I decided that caffeine would probably help me in a workout.”
Dr. Huizenga said caffeine pills were against the rules of the show, which trainer Michaels admitted to doing without a doctor’s permission.
“Caffiene, a weight loss pill, was absolutely against everything in the show,” Huizenga said. “No caffeine pills, no caffeine. I banned coffee ’cause people were abusing it. It was in the show rules, and the patients signed off to that and the trainers signed off to that, and all the producers signed off to that. If a trainer tells you something different and you elected to do that, that’s on you.”
Several Contestants Either Gained Their Weight Back, Developed Eating Disorders or Were Injured Because of the Show
Many of the contestants during interviews said that after the show ended, they were able to keep the weight for awhile. However, as years passed the intense workout, diet and rapid weight loss all eventually countered the progress they had made.
Cahill shared that he gained all his weight back over the course of seven years, Season 2 contestant Suzanne Mendonca said she developed an eating disorder, which consisted of her not eating, and Gwynn said the activities on the show led her to having a bruised coccyx bone from the first and hip pain.
Bob Harper Says Jillian Michaels Is the Only Person Who Didn’t Check on Him After Suffering a Heart Attack
In 2017, news broke that Harper had suffered a “widowmaker” heart attack that left him clinically dead on a gym floor. During the documentary, he said most of the “Biggest Loser” team reached out to him, except for fellow coach Michaels.
“After I had my heart attack, she’s the one person I never heard from, so that to me spoke volumes,” Harper said.
