I wouldn’t have thought there could be a weight loss reality TV show more offensive and exploitative than Biggest Loser but “My Big Fat Revenge” on the Oxygen network is beyond comprehension. Overweight women tearfully recount stories of humiliation then plot revenge against their tormentors.
The two women in the episode I watched seem to have moved on; one is engaged and the other is married. The men in their lives are loving and supportive. They’re presented as cool, happy women with every reason to have forgotten the losers they kicked to the curb long ago. So isn’t finding true love and being surrounded with great friends and family all the “revenge” anyone could want? Well no, there’s a problem.
The women are still fat. And they can’t exact revenge until they put themselves through three months of a brutal weight loss regimen, pushing themselves through long days of torturous workouts with visions of how they’re going to make their victims feel like shit. OK!
The show creates elaborate scenarios intended to insult and ridicule the victims but the entire thing is a set up. Actors in a staged setting let loose a stream of excessively contrived and petty humiliations while a crowd of actors are shocked and disgusted. The victim is never exposed to any degree of public judgment so when the ruse is revealed, he realizes it was all just a pathetic practical joke. One victim in the show I watched seemed rightfully angry that his time was wasted by what was nothing more than a prank.
The real “revenge” is actually supposed to be when the newly-slimmed down woman emerges to turn the tables on the former fat-shamer. Won’t he be kicking himself when he sees the hot chick he dissed and rejected? Hasn’t she now gotten the ultimate revenge by doing exactly what her bully had shamed her into doing? So who’s the triumphant victor here exactly?
In the end, the real lesson of “My Big Fat Revenge” is to assert that the fat-shaming bullies had it right all along. So much for empowerment.
2 comments
These shows make me nuts and don’t watch. I’m surprised that people find them inspiring. Humiliating people through exercises they can barely complete. Humiliating people in group weigh in which apparently aren’t humiliating enough unless you add skimpy clothes so all the fat rolls are visible. Yelling at people because fat equates to lazy, stupid and undisciplined.
Being overweight can be humiliating enough. I’ve lost it because I have supportive people in my life. I have a coach who has never once yelled at me. Instead I remember the day he said “I KNOW you are going to do this.” That was a life changing day, having “my expert” show such faith and belief in me.
Can’t say I’m sorry to have missed this program.
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I watched it to see if it was as horrible as someone told me it was and it went beyond what I imagined. Deplorable.