The Biggest Loser: A More Holistic Experiment?
The Biggest Loser: A More Holistic Experiment? by Roxanne McDonald
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The latest rage is to define some of the reality TV game shows as social experiments. But some, like The Biggest Loser, are more than that. |
Survivor: Cook Islands, America’s Next Top Model…calling their shows this season social experiments because they are multicultural… because they pit black against white or challenge the interpersonal relationships of clans or types…because they feature contestants who are there to win but also to “represent”
But The Biggest Loser (this season featuring weight loss candidates from the fifty states—Alaska, California, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, New York, and Utah still in contention) is
tapping into more than the social or sociological elements. The interpersonal relationships the losers develop for the duration of the show are often superficial, but this season (2006), the bonds seem to go deeper than usual. When, for instance, the red team lost a player to the blue team’s choice of who to get rid of, the remaining players were quite saddened. They expressed a preference of grieving over working out the anger (which was trainer Kim Lyons’ immediate response and solution for her men and women.
This brings up another psychological element to the show: the inevitability of loss on a number of levels: the physical loss and necessity of saying goodbye to weight put on over the years, weight that has been an insulator, a comforter, a safety barrier of sorts; the temporary loss of loved ones, while the participants are away learning a new way of eating and exercising life; and the loss of fellows who have become friends but who are those the surviving players have to get rid of.
I guess I am pointing specifically to how this season of The Biggest Loser seems to host a number of men and women who are respectful of one another to the point of crying when having to vote a fellow off.
Now, granted, last season there was some crying on the part of a number of the players and a lot of crying on the part of Suzy, but something has been bumped up this season: maybe the players are more mature, maybe they have watched The Biggest Loser before and are on their better behavior, maybe the players just have better table manners overall.
And, yes, there are many other psychological components to such a weight-loss competition, on top of the already complex dynamics of losing weight to begin with. But I will leave the expert observations to the experts.
SirLinksAlot The Biggest Loser Links
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