I love the NBC Show The Biggest Loser. It's so inspirational. I still can't believe that in one week 62 year old blue team contestant Jerry lost 31 pounds. That's amazing!
At one time or another in our lives we have all tried various diets and we know how hard it is to stick to them, so I commend The Biggest Loser contestants for their weight loss. I have just one problem with the program…the weigh-ins. Every week at the end of the show the contestants weigh in. The women in their sports bras, the men…shirtless. Now my question for you is why is it necessary that they weigh in without their shirts? I do not need to see them in this state to understand that they are losing weight. I get it. I think its humiliating for the contestants, and that it does not add anything to the show. Other diet shows such as Celebrity Fit Club allow their contestants to weigh in with their clothes on, in fact last season a female rapper on the show got on the scale with about five pounds of bling. Is it just me or does this seem wrong to you?
On a similar note, about a year ago I watched an episode of Primetime that talked about the driving motivators to lose weight. One team was given positive reinforcement to lose weight, the other negative reinforcement. The team that received positive reinforcement was given small rewards and praise to get to their weight loss goals, the team receiving negative reinforcement was photographed in their bathing suits/Speedos. If the team receiving negative reinforcement did not reach their weight loss goals their pictures (in bathing suit) would be shown on the big electronic screen at a Major League Baseball game. So who do you think won???...................... The team that received the positive reinforcement. In my humble opinion, by making them remove their shirts, The Biggest Loser is using negative reinforcement to somehow shame them into losing the weight. Every week I would try a little harder just to look a few pounds thinner when the shirt came off. I will continue to watch every week because it’s a good show but is it really necessary to lose the shirts?
Am I just crazy and lacking anything better to think about or is anyone else out there bothered? Tell us what you think.