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Biggest Loser Season 8 – first episode
September 19, 2009
I can officially now say that I’ve watched one full episode of Biggest Loser.
In fact, I watched the full 2-hour premier and it took me only a few minutes to understand why I had avoided the show for so long.
I’ll be honest, I think Jillian Michaels yells far too much and her frequent use of the F— is just frightening because some of her sentences are 80% bleeped! The real reason why I had not been able to watch a full episode of the Biggest Loser is the sadness being the emotional eating of the contestants and the trials and tribulations of leading a life carrying hundreds of extra pounds that are killing you slowly.
Before I start and let you know what I thought of the first episode of the Biggest Loser, I’ll go over the list of contestants again just in case you missed the episode: You’ll find the list from my first post: Biggest Loser returns on September 15th.
Since I had never seen a full episode of Biggest Loser, I didn’t know what to expect.
I think the one thing that really stuck with me where some of the sentences the contestants used to describe how obesity affected their life.
>>> How the contestants describe their life as being obese:
Since I was writing quickly, there are a few impactful sentences I was able to pick-up on:
Sean: “I have a 3 year old, a 1 year old and another baby on the way, I want to be around to see them grow up”
Danny: “I’m sick and tired of feeling horrible”
Liz: “I don’t like who I’ve become. I have to made the change”
Mo: “I used to be an athlete”
Abby: “I gained 100 lbs after my two kids and husband were killed in a car accident caused by a drive that was driving well above the speeding limits”
Rebecca: “I weighed 235 lbs at 14!”
Dina: “Because of my weight, I cannot have another baby”
>>> Challenge #1
The first challenge was an interesting one because it consisted of running the last mile (Which I had to figure out. It represents 1.6093 kilometers … those are the last few kilometers of a 40 km Marathon) of the Biggest Loser Marathon.
In my head, I thought … that’s not going to be that bad as a first challenge.
I can tell you that the following 10 minutes after that thought popped into my head were shocking to me.
Daniel (which they brought back from season 7 and he was until this challenge considered to be the biggest/heaviest contestant the show had ever worked with) was the only one out of the 16 contestants to finish the race without looking like he was going to pass out. It took Daniel over 14 minutes to finish the race and I calculated in my head that it would have taken a fit person maybe 5 minutes to complete a 1 mile run.
The other contestant either painfully walked or literally crawled to the finish line. I was left shocked by events: two contestants were so ill from the event that they had to be rushed to the hospital. Mo literally just collapsed and Tracey looked like she was dying on camera … her eyes were rolling back and the paramedics had to air lift her in a helicopter to the hospital where she stayed the ENTIRE first week of the Challenge.
The scene was so shockingly sad. I just sat there with my hand covering my mouth because I never before had been able to see how obesity and extreme obesity can affect simple things that a fit person takes for granted.
Allen who is the obese firefighter really summed this up nicely when he said that his body was hurting so badly that he was unable to do his job and help Tracey. If he cannot help Tracey, how in the world would he be able to help someone from a burning building?
>>>> Shay weights 476 pounds and has 57% body fat!
In order to form teams, Alison Sweeney (the host) suggested a one hour meet and great chat among all the contestants.
Abby’s story was cruel. She lost her two kids and husband in a car accident and she’s ever since been eating her pain away.
The other heart breaking story for me was Shay. She’s 29 years and she officially the heaviest contestant in the 4 years since the Biggest Loser started.
Shay’s story is really a difficult one to listen to because her body is the reflection of the burden she’s had to bare from growing up with a heroin addicted mother.
Her views of her weight speak volumes:
“After spending 29 years fixing my mom, I spent 29 years breaking myself”.
Shay weights 476 pounds and I calculated that it was almost 4 times my own weight.
Another sad thing is that Shay’s mother died at 48 at a staggering 330 pounds!
The pairing of the constants really kicked things off and created some solid bonds and I was not surprise that Daniel who was last season’s heaviest participant decided to help Shay change her life.
>>> The teams for the Biggest Loser season 8:
1) Daniel (weight: 312) and Shay (weight: 476) = orange team
2) Allen (weight: 325) and Abby (weight: 247) = green team
3) Amanda (weight: 250) and Rebecca (weight: 279) = pink team
4) Rudy (weight: 442) and Dina (weight: 253) = blue team
5) Antoine (weight: 367) and Sean (weight: 444) = red team
6) Liz (weight: 267) and Danny (weight: 430) = brown team
7) Alexandra (weight: 309) and Julio (weight: 407) = black team
#8) Coach Mo and Tracey are the purple team because they were still in the hospital during the first weigh in and during the selection of a teammate.
Trainer Bob’s summed up so well:
“This is the biggest group of contestants than we ever have had on the show. This is a reflection of what’s happening right now in America.”
>>> During the first workout
It’s incredible how brutal the first workout was. When you think about it … these people don’t work out and all of a sudden they have two coaches yelling at them and forcing them to sweat for 8 hours.
Can you imagine an 8-hour workout? I’ll do two hours without any difficulty and I’ll do 3 hours and start feeling it … do to 8 hours when you are carrying an extra 200 lbs has got to be honestly be equivalent to torture.
Jillian is just plain mean and some of the things she was yelling at Shay were difficult to hear:
“Shay, get the F—- up”
“Get the F—- up on the treadmill”
“I’m bored with the F—- story, get on the F—- ladder”
“I’m not supporting Shay’s F—- pathetic story”
“Shay you don’t get to quit. You are 476 F—- pounds”
“Make a different choice Shay, no one can help you”
Shay walked out discouraged and I can understand because that level of yelling is insane. Trainer Bob Harperwas not interested in seeing her quit, but for once I agreed with Jillian who suggested waiting for her (Shay) to make the decision to come back instead of them running after her and giving into her “story”.
Shay did return in the end because I think she realized … there is no other place to do but downhill if she doesn’t get the needed help.
After the first weigh-in, it was obvious that the first week of exercise and eating healthier, the contestants dropped loads of weight.
WARNING: Just in case the warning on at the beginning of the Biggest Loser is not clear enough, remember that what these 16 contestants is extreme and can only be done under the supervision of qualified health and medical professionals.
>>>Here are the results:
* Orange Team:
Daniel: -12
Shay: -17
Daniel and Shay had immunity from the elimination this week.
* Pink Team:
Amanda: -6
Rebecca: -18
Total percentage lost: 4.54
*Brown Team:
Liz: -10
Danny: -24
Total percentage lost: 4.88
*Blue Team:
Rudy: -28
Dina: -8
Total percentage lost: 5.18
*Red Team:
Antoine: -18
Sean: -22
Total percentage lost: 4.93
*Black Team:
Alexandra: -13
Julio: -13
Total percentage lost: 3.63
*Green Team:
Allen: -19
Abby: -15
Total percentage lost: 5.94
*Purple Team:
Mo: -19
Tracy: still in the hospital
Total percentage lost: 5.35
Alas, Julio and Alexandra’s team finished last (Coach Mo managed to lose a whopping 19 lbs and his partner was still in the hospital).
The other contestants decide who needed to remain on the show more and Alexandra was sent home.
The vote was dead-on since they showed us an Alexandra who managed to keep up with what she learned during her first week at the Biggest Loser camp when she got home and she managed to lose 60 lbs on her own and she managed to get her overweight mom to also get fit!
I’ll be watching next week as well and I most likely will simply do a video review … because it will be much faster and I can feature it just after the show!
I’d love to hear who thoughts on the first show of the Biggest Loser season 8! Leave your comments below!
>>>> You’ll want to check out the latest posts on The Biggest Loser here:
The Biggest Loser Season 8 episode 4 memorable moments
Video Review: The Biggest Loser Season 8: episode 4
The Biggest Loser Season 8: episode 3 memorable moments
Video Review: The Biggest Loser Season 8: episode 3
Biggest Loser Season 8: episode two memorable moments
Biggest Loser Season 8: episode two food quiz
Video Review Biggest Loser Season 8 episode one
Biggest Loser Season 8 – first episode
Biggest Loser returns on September 15th
>>>> If you’re viewing this healthy eating or healthy living tip in an aggregator content from different sites, or as a re-blogged post, please check out the content on the original Web site at www.EatSmartAgeSmart.com
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September 22nd, 2009 at 18:03
I’m sorry you’ve only just started watching biggest loser. You have missed many heart-touching and uplifting stories from seasons’ past.
One thing you have to understand is that Bob and Jillian (yes it’s Jillian, not Julien by the way) must train these people at the same level as professional athletes to achieve the kind of drastic, life-changing results you see on this show. You may not agree with Jillian’s techniques but she has trained every winner in biggest loser history.
Unfortunately you missed by just a single season the person I feel was the best contestant ever on the show. Not attempting to take anything away from any of the wonderful accomplishments of these brave (and lucky to be there really) competitors, but Tara from Biggest Loser 7 was the most focused and best competitor, male or female, I have ever watched…and she didn’t even win. Helen was the biggest loser. But it will take something special to eclipse what I watched that woman(Tara)do.
Please continue to watch this show and recommend it to friends. There are amazing stories to watch unfold and it’s guaranteed your eyes will tear up more than one occasion if you’re the compassionate type like me.
Happy watching!
September 23rd, 2009 at 0:03
Mark,
I have to say that I’m surprised at how much I enjoy the show.
I have to say that I already know a lot of the lessons, but I’m using the participants learning curve to teach my own readers because you know what they say: “you have to walk 1 mile in another man/woman’s shoes”.
I’m already really a big fan of Shay and her progress and I’m sure I’ll be surprised by so many participants and they desire to get to a healthier weight.
Thanks for dropping by!
I love your feedback.