The last Biggest Loser winner, Rachel Frederickson, stunned everyone at the live finale when she stepped out on the stage and weighed in at 105 lbs, a shocking 60% loss of her starting bodyweight. Her arms were twig thin and her face had that drawn anorexic look. But Biggest Loser trainer and self-appointed psychologist Jillian Michaels provided a diagnosis for Frederickson and an explanation for the weight loss in an interview with HuffPost Live:
Anybody who gains too much weight or loses too much weight, ironically these are manifestations of the same issue. It’s two faces of the same coin. It simply means that somebody is utilizing their relationship with food to manage emotions that are painful, hard, difficult to face or control.
Uh, OK. Then does Ms. Michaels think maybe being on a humiliation weight loss reality show was not a good idea for the emotionally fragile Frederickson? Maybe?
In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Jillian Michaels announced that she “wouldn’t listen to” what she called the “Lazy, weak, pathetic…victim mentality” of fat people. Now again she’s publicly declaring that fat people are emotionally unstable and fraught with “issues.” So wouldn’t this mean Biggest Loser brought an emotionally unstable person on the show and her “issues” drove her to get too thin? Wouldn’t that make NBC liable?
Why DID Rachel Frederickson lose so much weight? Issues? Painful emotions? I think a $250,000 cash prize had a little something to do with it. If I had a shot at a quarter million dollars by nearly starving myself for about three months, I’d be tempted. And how many people would be seduced by the idea of reality show fame? Past Biggest Loser finalists have admitted to taking serious risks to win the grand prize including dehydrating themselves until they urinated blood. There are probably quite a lot of people who would do even worse if they thought they’d be famous and win a huge cash prize.
Sure, there might have been a “difficult” emotion at work here. Rachel Frederickson went on a reality show watched by millions. She wanted to be admired and cheered by those millions. She wanted to be crowned the winner, get the cash, and become famous. She wanted to be seen as a champion who could accomplish an incredible feat. She pulled it off. She gave gushing interviews after the show’s finale, basking in the limelight of her win. Didn’t she do exactly what NBC and Biggest Loser would want a winner to do? Didn’t she “prove” that with motivation and determination, anybody can lose weight?
Apparently no, according to Jillian Michaels, Rachel Frederickson is just another screwed up fat person-turned anorexic who can’t deal with her painful emotions. If only the Biggest Loser trainers had humiliated her more, Frederickson might have finally fixed herself.
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I can’t even believe this show is still on the air. To me, this is nothing but abusive. Not only do they physically abuse obese people, but they emotionally and verbally do as well. Why we as a collective society think this is ok – or worse: entertaining – is so completely fucked up in every way.
Little known public fact about me: I auditioned for the show after it’s first season. I got through the the call-back round. At that point, that’s when they said to me: so, are you ok with not wearing a shirt? You’ll have to move and exercise in a sports bra only. I knew immediately that this was just about degradation and absolutely NOT about helping me get healthy and fit. I looked them square in the eye and said, “Absolutely not.” And I walked out.
It’s nothing more than a freak show. (I’m going to repost this on my blog!)