May 25, 2016 – Have you been wondering how the contestants on this show manage to lose huge amounts of weight? Concerned that the excessive exercise routines could put obese contestants at risk for a heart attack? Yeah, we’ve been wondering too. Now, another scam perpetrated on the American public is being unveiled.
After nearly twelve years on the air, The Biggest Loser is coming under attack like never before, with claims that show handlers put contestants at risk and even may have given them drugs to get slim. Former The Biggest Loser fan favorite Kai Hibbard told exclusively told RadarOnline.com whether or not she ever saw trainers giving illicit substances to their team members.
Back in 2013, trainer Jillian Michaels was reprimanded on air for secretly giving her team members unauthorized caffeine supplements. Michaels maintained she did nothing wrong, but she left the show a year later, over what she called “some fundamental differences” with producers.
On May 23, ex-contestant Joelle Gwynn claimed that her trainer’s assistant gave her drugs while she was on the show in 2008.
What’s missing, former Losers tell The New York Post, is any examination of the show’s secret and brutal tactics, which include providing illicit drugs to contestants and submitting them to questionable medical exams by the show’s resident doctor, Rob Huizenga, known as “Dr. H.” Huizenga collaborated with Hall on the NIH’s study.
“People were passing out in Dr. H’s office at the finale weigh-in,” says Season 2’s Suzanne Mendonca. “On my season, five people had to be rushed to the hospital. He knew exactly what we were doing and never tried to stop it.”
One source confirms that show trainer Bob Harper and one of his assistants have supplied contestants with Adderall and “yellow jackets” — pills that contain ephedra extract. Ephedra is used to promote weight loss and boost energy, and was banned by the FDA in 2004.
Huizenga denied the claim in an email to The Post. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” it read. “Contestants are told at the start of the show that there is zero tolerance for any weight-loss drugs. Urine drug screens and the evaluation of serial weights are repeatedly used to flush out possible illicit use.”
Harper, Ms. Gwynn says, told her off-camera to lie about how much she was eating and losing. In keeping her daily log, Gwynn says Harper told her, “Lie and say you were following the directive of intaking 1,500 calories — but I want you to do 800 calories or as little as you can.”
“People would take amphetamines, water pills, diuretics, and throw up in the bathroom,” Season 2’s Mendonca says. “They would take their spin bikes into the steam room to work up a sweat. I vomited every single day. Bob Harper tells people to throw up: ‘Good,’ he says. ‘You’ll lose more calories.’ ”
“Psychologically, you’re like a weight victim,” Gwynn says. “The weight rapidly came back on. Your metabolism is all screwed up, but you think it’s you.”
NBC refused to confirm whether “The Biggest Loser” will return for Season 18. Last season, which aired from Jan. 4 to Feb. 22, got a low 1.06 rating among viewers ages 18 to 49.
Marketdata Commentary
If even half of the accusations being made are true, then this show should be taken off the air ASAP, and show producers and trainers should be prosecuted. The show has made millions, including its spin-off website and online weight loss program and the sale of merchandise–all under the theory that obese people can lose huge amounts of weight safely (without any drugs), and can keep it off, with no side effects. This may be fraud, pure and simple. We’ll see–more investigations to follow, we’re sure.