Fans of The Biggest Loser, rejoice!
The seminal weight-loss reality program is finally being resurrected.
But while it might bear the same name as its predecessor, this is supposedly going to be
a very different show in many ways.
Here's everything we know about The Biggest Loser reboot.
The Biggest Loser simply wouldn't be The Biggest Loser without Bob Harper…and the longtime
trainer-turned-host has been confirmed as the host of the Biggest Loser reboot.
He claims the show is going to be a step up from the original.
In an interview with Today, he promised that,
"We're gonna have new trainers, we're gonna have a new medical team.
I mean, this show is going to be bigger and better than ever."
Harper says he has a newfound empathy for contestants on the show, since he suffered
a heart attack in 2017 and nearly died.
He mentioned to Today,
"It's been a big adjustment."
"And I'll tell you this, that's why I'm so excited to come back on to The Biggest Loser,
because I related to those contestants way more than I've ever related to them."
He has good reasons for it, too.
As he put it,
"I went from being this CrossFit-er, working out so hard every day to not being able to
walk around a city block without getting winded."
The new show, he says, will incorporate aspects of his own fitness journey.
And when it comes to coaching the contestants, he's going to have help.
Meet Erica Lugo and Steve Cook, the two trainers who will be working with 12 contestants in
the Biggest Loser reboot.
"Leg day was yesterday so I know we're all feeling some type of way…but we got it done,
son."
"Alright, just hit our weights.
Now?
It's cardio time."
They're both excited to be working with people face-to-face, as they usually coach clients
online.
In an interview with People, Cook said:
"You forget how nice it is to actually work with somebody and get to know them and have
them train right before your eyes and transform.
You get to see people every day, their highs and their lows, and it feels like a family
in there."
Meanwhile, Lugo wants to make sure she's setting up contestants for long-term success, so they
can stay healthy once the show is over.
She said:
"I just try to simplify [the workouts] for them because they're eventually going to be
away from us and we want to make sure they can implement these workouts on their own."
As Cook explained,
"Ultimately, you want to leave them with the tools so that they can go do it themselves."
Lugo has been on her own weight loss journey.
She went from 322 pounds at her peak to 160 pounds at her lowest.
In an August 2019 Instagram post, Lugo revealed she currently maintains a weight in the low
170s, which means she's managed to keep off a whopping 150 pounds.
As she tells People,
"[The contestants] just trust me because I was there.
I know when they're crying during a burpee, I've been there.
I've cried the same tears."
As the New York Post reports, competitors were subjected to hours of arduous physical
exercise right out of the gate in the original Biggest Loser.
"Pain is gonna come.
Look at me.
Stand up.
Pain is gonna come."
That's why contestants kept getting injured: It's simply not healthy to throw people into
such intense workouts without properly training them.
"Water…!?"
"This is going to go on for hours.
Every day."
"Open your eyes, Jackso.
Stay with me."
But Erica Lugo and Steve Cook have different plans for the reboot.
For about six hours a day, contestants will be treated to a diverse variety of workout
techniques.
As Cook told People:
"Four days a week we're in the gym doing some kind of weight training, but there's only
so much high impact stuff you can do with people, especially if they're coming from
a de-conditioned state.
So sometimes we just go out and walk for two hours.
That's already better than what they were doing at home."
In the original version of The Biggest Loser, contestants had one goal: Lose as much weight
as possible, and lose it as fast as possible.
Evidently, this led to a bunch of problems.
As The New York Times reported,
"A study of Season 8’s contestants has yielded surprising new discoveries about the physiology
of obesity."
Researchers discovered something rather discouraging about those contestants:
"When [the show] ended, their metabolisms had slowed radically and their bodies were
not burning enough calories to maintain their thinner sizes."
Dr. Michael Schwartz told The New York Times,
"The key point is that you can be on TV, you can lose enormous amounts of weight, you can
go on for six years, but you can’t get away from a basic biological reality.
As long as you are below your initial weight, your body is going to try to get you back.”
In 2016, former contestant Suzanne Mendonca told Fox News:
"They've ruined people's metabolic rate, their hormones are all out of whack.
You know, it was only a matter of time before all these contestants would regain their weight."
Elsewhere in the interview, she claims:
"They did not address contestants throwing up on a daily basis.
They created eating disorders.
They did not try to provide any assistance or help to any of these people."
Well, the reboot is reportedly going to be taking a significantly different approach
to weight loss.
As Steve Cook told People:
"There has been such an emphasis placed on the holistic.
It's really this 360-degree approach, mentally and physically.
We make sure we're doing this in a healthy way first and foremost."
But will the show really be healthier for participants?
Nicole Michalik, a previous contestant on the show, sounds skeptical.
She told The Philadelphia Inquirer:
"They say that the new way they’re doing the show is a very holistic approach, that
it’s very mind-body-spirit, that it’s all about…overall wellness, which is exactly
what it should be.
[But] it's still a television show, right?
So will it be that way?
I'm not sure."
As The Guardian reports, many experts have denounced the tactics employed by Jillian
Michaels and other trainers on the original Biggest Loser, citing them as unprofessional
and insulting.
"Get on the ladder, or go out the door!
NO!
Get on that treadmill now!"
You could even accuse the trainers of fat-shaming contestants.
"No, no, no, no, no, Greg.GREG!
Nope!
Ya gonna throw up?
Noooooo.
Throw up in front of me!"
Bob Harper swears that contestants will be treated differently this time around.
In August 2019, he told Today:
"We want to help them while they're on the show and when they go home.
The after care I think is going to be super important for them too."
Let's hope he's right.
"Every time!
What is it?"
"I'm giving you my best."
"No you're not!
You stop!
At tweny!
Seconds!"
The new version of The Biggest Loser is set to premiere in 2020...so get ready.
"Good job!"
"I don't know if Greg's proud of vomiting or not.
But I'm proud that I made him vomit.
And that's all that matters."
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