Oh god, so many ads! So many versions!

There’s bits of new footage in this one, mixed with some stuff you’ll’ve seen. Plus there’s Bob and Jillian!

Probably the most interesting part in there is… the giant mud pit! I’m sure it’ll be a massive challenge for the fatties but I can’t get over the 5 year old response of, “WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

There’s probably also a “pigs in mud” joke in there somewhere, but I’m not going near that… :-)

This is the last of the single contestant ads I’ve seen so far. I’m hoping there’ll be some more as we get closer to showtime, but it’s possible we’ll just be seeing various rejigs of the same stuff.

This ad features Sean.

“When I look in the mirror, I don’t recognise who I am anymore.” Seriously? Did you just balloon up overnight? I don’t think so.

And can you guess how he feels about life passing him by, boys and girls? Yes, that’s right, he’s tired of it. Oh, but they’re not scripted. Damien from Season 2 says so, so they mustn’t be!

At 175kg Sean is likely to be among the heaviest contenders this year. And with those long and terribly untidy locks of hairs, he’s probably also going to benefit the most from the makeover episode, so hopefully he’ll make it that far!

Not really much about his life in this short clip. There’s a little more of Sean in the teaser/sneak peek ad, so I’m assuming he at least gets past the early stages, since I doubt they’d be heavily promoting people who go home on the first day.

(Oh and welcome to the new blog theme everyone. More updates later!)

Yet another ad for the third season of The Biggest Loser Australia, this one another contestant themed spot.

This ad features Sam.

There’s been a bit of conjecture on the official forums over this ad with some people being a little dubious over Sam’s claim that he has been teased at university due to his size. People are saying that such things just don’t happen at university.

I think people are conveniently forgetting that a lot of university students are only just out of high school. And they don’t magically turn into adults in the intervening months. So it certainly is possible that people are harassing Sam over his, let’s be honest, grossly obese body.

But is that what is actually happening? Or does he have other personality faults in play that are a bigger factor? It’s impossible to know just yet.

The rest of the ad is pretty run of the mill - he wants the confidence to meet new people, he’s still young and wants a better quality of life, etc.

Both trainers would seem to have something to offer Sam. Shannan would help his self confidence, and his love of boxing training would probably help Sam’s ability to deal with any teasing, as he’d have the physical confidence to stand up to people if necessary.

But I think Michelle will probably be the better option - the attention of an attractive female is always a nice boost to someone’s self esteem.

Even if they are being paid for their time.

At last! Some footage that comes from the show itself, not just carefully staged promo material!

The latest ad to hit telly is a “sneak peek”, with a bunch of snippets from the show, featuring fat people working out, fat people getting muddy, fat people falling down a sand dune, fat people walking up the road to the mansion…

Well, see for yourself:

As you can see, it starts out with a recap of past seasons. And wow, I’d forgotten how scary Chris was at the end. As good a result as it was, I hope we don’t see anyone that skinny again.

After that we move on to some enormously fat fellow, whose face isn’t revealed (expect a surprise in relation to him) but who says that if he were to die the only thing he could give God would be a bunch of fat excuses. I doubt he’d be getting a chance to chat with God, though, since he wouldn’t make it past the Pearly Gates at this point - gluttony’s one of them extra-naughty sins.

“There is no words to explain how much it hurts. [...] *tears* YIP.” I have no idea what the “yip” is. I assume it’s supposed to be a response to a question? I hope she doesn’t cry like that all the time!

“I love my Dad to bits and, you know, he doesn’t think I can do it. I’ve come here to show him I can.” Sounds a bit wog-y. Like Greg and Adro. No idea who it is but expect whoever it is to do well!

Then we have Ms Voiceover telling us that there’s more contestants than ever before, as they’re walking down the road to the mansion. And she’s quite correct, there’s a whole bunch of them! I count 28 coming up the road but it’s hard to say for sure. 14 for each trainer seems a stretch though. I’m sure Michelle and Shannan could do it, I have faith in their abilities. But you have to figure there’s not enough hours per week of the show to do them all justice if they’re all going to be there?

It’s possible they’ll have the “Jillian on a bike” moment, where some contestants who thought they were going home will actually be trained in secret. But 28 does not evenly divide by 3. 4 teams is a possibility, 7 in each. With the Commando appearing later in the clip, that makes it a possibility of him training a secret team again. But unless he’s going to take on 14 by himself…?

Perhaps what they’ll do is eliminate one person from each of Michelle and Shannan’s 14 member teams each week, sending the eliminated people off to train with the Commando for a comeback later in the show? This way nobody would ever “get to go home and see their family” as some complained people like Marty got to do, but at the same time the show wouldn’t be seen as abandoning some of the fatties who needed help the most, such as David from the first series.

If that isn’t what happens, Fremantle are certainly free to steal the idea for next season.

Then we get some more twin-whinging, then Sean saying he feels “pretty sad”. And Ms Voiceover saying there are no guarantees!

Then we get a montage! Ooh yeah it’s gonna take a montage! ;-)

Michelle and Shannan doing a lot of shouting at fatties that are caked in mud, exercising on the lawns of the mansion. I’m sure the owners of the mansion are going to love them for it, since the lawn is getting totally trashed!

“The holiday is over!” Go Michelle!

“Where do you think you’re goin’?” - Commando Steve. It’s a very tight shot on him only, so it’s impossible to tell if he’s addressing a group of fatties, fatties in shirts other than blue/red or even just single/duos.

Then we’re told the challenges have gotten even harder, showing a very steep sand dune which it looks like they’re going to have to climb down and then potentially back up? Perhaps many times? Looks like fun!

And then for the next really hard challenge… a maze? Hmm.

While the maze footage plays you can hear someone give a really pained scream. Not sure if that’s foreshadowing yet more horrifying injuries but I hope not.

One of the fatties says, over footage of a car leaving the compound and a huddle of fatties waving at it (from way off in the distance), “There’s the door, see you later!” Do we have another piker?

Some more footage of all the fatties at once, seems to be a couple of older gents in the group.

Then we’re treated to some footage of Commando Steve goading some fatties to climb that sand dune I mentioned earlier. And as I was writing this I noticed something - 7 of the fatties are in black, 7 are in what looks to be khaki. Perhaps Steve has “two teams” to himself and he’s going to put them through boot camp as he did for Chris and Kimberlie? And (further speculating) perhaps either black or khaki will get to come into the game, as Jillian’s black team did in the US season?

And then in a really rapid fire montage there’s a bunch of different things… Including a quick shot of what is obviously once of those motherfucking rocks from the motherfucking Walk. UGH. Fingers crossed it isn’t as retarded as last year’s and they’re more “nice rewards” or at least punishments everyone has to share. Instant eliminations are not going to be welcome this season.

There’s a lot of juicy informational goodness in that ad. And so long as the twists are kept under control, this is shaping up as a good season.

The latest ad to hit Channel 10 has two revelations.

First, the inevitable tease of the inevitable “surprise” twists in the game. Which we will, of course, all love. Because the ads have told us so!

Second, the start date has finally been announced!

The Biggest Loser Season 3 will start on Sunday, February 3rd.

Hooray!

The ad also has part of Sam’s ad at the start, then the sneaky surprise teaser takes over.

What’s the surprise? Well, since it will supposedly be revealed in the first episode, expect something to do with a secret team. Or a secret trainer. Or no teams. Or four teams! Or… they could cut the crap for once.

Nahhhh!

Yes, it’s another of the Season 3 ads uploaded for your viewing pleasure.

This one features Nicola.

AKA Season 3’s Laura. Seriously, check out the resemblance. Or watch the ad for yourself. It probably also helps if you saw Season 2, I’d imagine.

Nicola’s ad starts out with her saying she’d hate to miss out on being able to have kids due to her weight. Oddly, she has a cat in her arms at the time. Don’t women consider cats almost the same as children anyway?

And then… yep! She’s tired of life passing her by. That sounds familiar.

“I just want to be like every other girl.” *sigh* Why? Why must you all be sheep? Being different is good.

Perfect material for Shannan and his love of boxing training I’d say. So long as she’s not as teary as Laura was at times, she ought to be good to watch. She has a very pretty face and if she can get a nice body to match she ought to be a stunner.

Another day, another ad for Season 3 of The Biggest Loser!

Due to popular demand (ie; someone on YouTube asked) today’s video features Steven.

All the videos so far (including ones not yet posted) seem to feature the phrase, “I’m tired of life passing me by.” Either a lot of this season’s fatties genuinely are tired, or these ads have been scripted. Which I’m sure will do wonders for the claims that the entire thing is a setup.Anyway, Steven is another in a long and distinguished line of fathers… wants to be there for his baby, have more energy to play, blah blah blah, you know the drill. I know we have to expect such reasons for being on the show and it’s a way to tug at people’s heartstrings, but I have to wonder if maybe there wasn’t another contestant they could have put on sooner and spaced out the “doting parent” ads out a little more.

I think the lack of Jillian is really going to burn this season - if Steven manages to make it through to the “Makeover Day” stage, she would have attacked that golliwog afro with such glee! Sigh. Hopefully Michelle will be with them for that day this season, but we’ll see.

Most of the rest of his video is filled with the usual claptrap, like it being his “time to step up and do something about my weight.” This ad is really only interesting for the fantastic head of hair Steven has, the rest is just filler.

(Note: I also have Sam and Nicola’s advertisements ready for upload. Anyone have a preference?)

As promised, here is another of the ads for the third Australian season of The Biggest Loser.

This ad features Carrianne and Nicole.

Carrianne is already shaping up to be “this season’s Munnalita”. Not because she’s a horrible she-troll, we’ve not seen much personality yet. No, I’m just referring to her name! And the most baffling part is that her twin sister has such a normal name in comparison, so it’s made even stranger.

Nicole is a fairly hefty 135kg while Carrianne is a fairly modest, by Biggest Loser standards, 110kg. Whilst Nicole’s weight certainly puts her into the realm of legitimately needing the help, I suspect the fact that these two are twins has had more to do with their being selected for the show.

Apparently both girls are nurses, which is another tie-in to the most recently aired US series here - one of the ladies on the US Biggest Loser was also a nurse, looking to lose weight to do her job more effectively. The nurse in the US season didn’t really do all that well, so let’s hope that’s where the similarity ends.

I think Shannan will end up with both girls on his team, but I don’t have any real hard basis for that. His love of boxing training ought to prove useful when there’s the inevitable bickering between the two.

I’m hoping to get a couple more of these available over the next couple of days (depending on whether the first gets yanked) so keep an eye out.

For now, here is an ad featuring one of Season 3’s contestants, Dianne!

Dianne is another in a long and distinguished line of fat Mums to appear on the show, hoping to shed some kilos to give her more energy to play with her son. I doubt she will be the only mother with that goal in mind in this season, but here’s hoping she does well, for her son’s sake, if not her own.

The clip also has a figure from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that says over 49% of Aussies are overweight. Certainly not a fun fact to contemplate, but without knowing whether that is increasing or decreasing that’s less noteworthy than it might have been. I’d've picked a time when the number was quite a bit lower and say that it’s an x% increase since year y, just to make it a bit more sensational and dramatic. But the overall tone of the ad is fairly mellow or even melancholy, so perhaps it was decided not to go that route.

And for those keeping score at home, Dianne’s weight is listed at 115kg. Certainly not among the heavyweights of the competition, if you’ll pardon the pun. But the lighter ladies do tend to do a little better overall, since dropping a little weight is a lot more noticeable for them than it is for the 150kg and up girls.

With a young son I’m going to guess she might end up in Michelle’s camp, for that whole female-bonding thing. Anyone want to bet against me?