Confession time – I love the biggest loser. It seems like as a fitness professional I’m supposed to hate it but it’s a guilty pleasure of mine, so sue me 
I can’t put my finger on ONE thing that I like, but I know Bob would say I like it because I like to vent about it. He’s right. The show has so much wrong with it that I should hate it, yet season after season I tune in… part of my addictive personality I guess? So are you watching Season 14? What did you think about episode 1? Honestly there is SO MUCH WRONG with this show that after watching ONE episode I didn’t know what to rant about first! So let’s address the topic that everyone is talking about:-
Nikki choosing to leave the ranch in the first week before the first weigh in.
Now I have to say when the contestants were introduced I latched onto two contestants immediately, one is Lindsay the 13 year old child from Filmore, CA (Holla local girl!) and the other was Nikki as she’s also a local-ish girl from Chatsworth, CA. What can I say I root for the local team every time As soon as Nikki did her intro it was BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that she should not have been given a place on the show. I’ll explain why….
Firstly, I absolutely DO NOT BLAME HER one bit for choosing to go home. I blame the show for putting her in that position and I blame Jillian Michaels for being a complete bitch during the workouts. I get it, Jillian Michaels - the tough trainer, however Jillian admits to knowing Nikki’s backstory and that she didn’t feel qualified to handle Nikki (she wasn’t) but really you are going to push someone THAT MUCH when they are already emotionally unstable? And on national TV?
“I tend to find that when they are not ready, it’s far more damaging than positive when you push them. So I never really got anywhere with them, never even was able to engage in any kind of in-depth conversation. I had backstory. I know she has a very dark past and I personally don’t feel qualified to have handled Nicki’s situation and I don’t feel that The Biggest Loser was the place for her to undergo what she needs to to get better.” – Jillian Michaels.
Let’s look at Nikki’s intro… In case you didn’t watch it here’s the red flags in her story:
- Admits to binging
- Admits to purging
That’s not normal behavior, that’s a disorder. It’s NOT in the realm of ANY personal trainer or weight loss show to help this girl. What she needs is a therapist. The part that annoyed me most is that Jillian Michaels MOTHER is a psychologist and in the past Jillian has been understanding, compassionate and caring and basically she bullied this emotionally unstable girl so much that she walked off the show. As a personal trainer Jillian should have handled this situation WAY differently. The show should never have allowed ANYONE with an eating disorder onto the show. The problems are psychological and no amount of working out is going to push that barrier down, therapy will!
Honestly I’m appalled that Nikki was let onto the ranch. If they truly wanted to help this girl, when she left offer to give her therapy! I’m sad that Jillian didn’t suggest this when Nikki left too (or maybe they just didn’t show us that, this all makes for ‘good TV’ remember!). They failed this girl bigtime, making the show itself – the biggest loser!
Are you watching the Biggest Loser? What did you think of the Nikki/Jillian situation? Who do you think will get the confetti shower this season?
While I have sympathy for this girl and her eating disorder issues, I have to ask the question: Where is her responsibility? You are willing to villianize Jillian for being to hard on her and I agree that it was poor judgement for the show to choose her as a contestent, but at what point did we, as a society, stop holding people responsible for their behavior and decisions. I am not referring to her eating disorder. I am referring to her decision to audition for this show. It is not like this is the first season. People who apply for this show know what they are in for to an extent and the aggressive nature of the workouts is always highlighted. I can understand how someone in her situation may have looked at this as an opportunity to finally find help, I am not bashing this girl. What I am saying is that in many situations society has turned to looking for who is to blame for someone’s failures, hurt, disappointments without holding these individuals at all responsible for their own decisions and situations. I hope this girl finds treatment. I have struggled with weight my whole life and fortunately have never had an eating disorder outside of emotional eating that is due to lack of discipline so my heart goes out to her. I cannot imagine what a person is going through emotionally to develop an eating disorder.
Absolutely Nikki has a responsibility here! She was open in her interview about her disorder HOWEVER she may not see it as psychological disorder, which is the HUGE issue here. She may just see it as a body issue, which it’s not. And that’s perhaps what made her apply for the show? Afterall she’s seen the trainers show their gentler side and be “therapists” and help people through their issues. They HAVE helped a lot of people (sidenote: look at Jillian in episode three helping Francelina with her issues – alcoholic father. TOTALLY different to the way she handled the Nikki situation, agreed?) Sorry but Nikki was way to fragile to have been allowed on the show. Is Nikki partly to blame? Totally! But the show is largely at fault for accepting her, and Jillian is to blame for treating her the way she did.
Trust me, I have way more posts coming about the biggest loser series… and one of them is EXACTLY on the contestant responsibility and attitudes! Namely: how can they claim to be fans of the show and watched every series but STILL be 100+lbs overweight?