No, I’m serious. Remember a couple of weeks ago when I went on and on about how moving and inspirational the contestants and their struggles are?
Well, that remained true for the first week or so. But then Tracey got back from her stint in the hospital. (You may remember her from the first episode, in which she crossed the finish line after the mile-long jog and promptly collapsed, unresponsive.) Once the IVs were out and the bedpan was gone, she didn’t waste any time throwing her fellow “Losers” under the bus and offending Bob and Jillian.
She stepped up and greedily took two “weigh-in” advantages, much to the horror of her teammate, Mo. The first involved giving up training with Bob and Jillian so that two pounds could be added to her weekly weight loss … two measly pounds! Never mind that millions of people would kill for a chance to be yelled at by Jillian or inspired by Bob.
And do I even need to mention the fact that if she were such a self-starter when it came to exercise, she probably wouldn’t be a contestant on “The Biggest Loser?”
Second, the contestants were given the opportunity to control which team member would weigh in for each team. The catch? To win this power, he or she had to eat the most cupcakes. Tracey won by eating four (four!!), with seemingly no worries that it would cancel out her two pound lead.
For the weigh-in, she “strategically” chose the team members who she seemed to think had lost the least amount of weight. And, by the way, much to the chagrin of everyone, she herself ending up weighing in 11 pounds lighter (to the sound of crickets rather than cheers).
This ain’t “Survivor.” This show is about pushing yourself and making better life choices, not about making alliances and backstabbing. Tracey, your weight loss journey shouldn’t involve holding other people down because you’re threatened by their success.
It seems that she lost sight of the reason she is on the show. It’s not fair to interfere with someone else’s chance at a healthier, longer life. And at the end of the day, who cares if you have the power to send other teams home if you’re still as fat as you were when you walked in?
Furthermore, even though it’s a competition, the contestants really need each other for emotional support. The one good thing to come out of this was that other “Losers” really seemed to come together. In fact, in an act of selflessness, Red Team Antoine and Sean lobbied for the voting players to send them home rather than Orange Team Daniel and Shay because, as the heaviest player ever to compete on the show, Shay needed it more. (Tear)
Tracey could take a lesson from the Red Team, but instead she damaged her relationships with everyone, including Bob and Jillian. Maybe they gave her a shot of “crazy” in the hospital, ‘cause trust me, you do not want to be on Jillian’s bad side. I’m afraid of her when I do “The Shred” … and that’s just a DVD.
Yes, the producers are partly to blame. It is a bit exploitive to offer obese people power via cupcake. But, let’s face it, cupcakes are part of life. And the sooner they learn to forgo the cupcake at the ranch, the more likely they’ll be to do it in real life.
