Shamed for getting thin:

“Biggest Loser’s” weight-loss firestorm

How much is "too much" to win a reality show?

Mary Elizabeth Williams    

 

Rachel Frederickson (Credit: AP/Trae Patton)

How do you win at “The Biggest Loser”? By losing the most weight, of course. Unless you lose too much, in which case you’re also a loser.

Such is the fate of Rachel Frederickson, who triumphed on Tuesday night’s finale of the competitive weight loss show  after shedding  a dramatic 155 pounds from her starting weight of 260 pounds, nearly 60 percent of her original weight. 

It’s the highest percentage of weight lost by any contest in the show’s history.  And even the show’s trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels couldn’t contain their shock when she emerged, transformed and slender.

And from the moment Frederickson appeared in her slinky, silver dress the controversy and concern trolling began.

 “‘Biggest Loser’: Uproar as winner appears ‘too thin’ at 105 pounds” blared the LA Times.

 Zap2It, “Why was Rachel Frederickson allowed to lose too much weight?” 

... Twitter erupted into fretting over the “sickly,” “eating disorder” new version of the former competitive swimmer.

Frederickson described herself as now in maintenance mode...

There is no denying that dangling a quarter of a million dollars in front of overweight people as an incentive to get as thin as possible as quickly as possible is not the most practical or sensible plan ever invented for long-term health.

Nor is it the kind of thing most people can apply to their own experience. 

But a show about quietly making small changes over a lengthy period of time and preaching that changing your body takes hard work and discipline,  wouldn’t sell.

There are serious ethical questions to be asked regarding whether the rigors of the competition are putting the players in physical danger and whether the narrative is sending an unrealistic message to viewers. 


 



Read More @ Link:  http://www.salon.com/2014/02/06/shamed_for_getting_thin_biggest_losers_weight_loss_firestorm/

Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of 
"Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." 

Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub.