Posts Tagged ‘The Biggest Loser’

Residents of the Duffy’s Forest area of Mona Vale where The Biggest Loser’s “White House” is located have kicked up a stink over, among other things, the stink emanating from the sewerage system that is so heavily used during production of the show. They wanted the show to be denied permission to film yet another season at the iconic White House and they were recently granted their wish.

More than 100 submissions made by residents to Warringah Council included complaints about odours from the on-site sewerage systems, lighting, traffic and an overall disruption to the leafy residential area of Duffy’s Forest, west of Mona Vale. [Source: news.com.au]

Sydney is certainly not short on gigantic houses and assorted other venues in which the show could be filmed but after three seasons at The White House it’s likely to throw a spanner in the works at this late a stage. Filming for the new series was expected to start this month but that now seems unlikely.

I shudder to think of the rivers of sweat should they start filming in December. Unless they go deep into the Blue Mountains where the weather remains relatively mild, things could get ugly!

Though she was again not in court on Tuesday, Ajay has plead guilty to fraudulently claiming Centrelink’s Single Parent Payment from December 2001 to December 2005.

She’ll be sentenced on the 13th of January next year and faces possible jail time, which may rule her out as host of The Biggest Loser or may just mean a temporary replacement may have to take over during filming.

In my unexpert opinion I suspect she won’t actually go to jail over this, it will probably be a community service order plus having to repay the money and go on a good behaviour bond. But I could easily be wrong…

Stay tuned for the next 2 months to find out!

[Source: The Daily Telegraph]

The media are at it again, taking shots at The Biggest Loser even while it is not actually on the air.

This time it’s the SMH, who have printed this article about the torments inflicted on the “ugly” and “fat” people of the world.

Apparently the Medical Journal of Australia has compiled statistics which show a marked increase in the number of “cosmetic and weight reduction” procedures being performed in 2006 and 2007. With The Biggest Loser starting in early 2006 in Australia, clearly the Medical Journal of Australia subscribes to the “correlation is causation” school of thinking.

Clearly a show which champions healthy eating and strenuous exercise over surgical solutions is to blame for a rise in the number of surgical solutions taken, and not other shows such as the – also mentioned – The Swan and the dozens of other shows like it.

While it’s true that many Loser contestants go on to have surgery after the show to fix problems like excess skin, if people are watching The Biggest Loser and coming away with the idea that what they need to do is get a bunch of lipo, a boob job and a facelift then I think the show actually had little to do with it. Clearly they were already feeling insecure about themselves and instead of receiving support and understanding from their friends and family, they instead got the message from everywhere that everyone was doing it.

What’s a little Botox between friends, after all?

[Source: SMH]

For all the googlers arriving at this post, the new season has started! Go to the front page of The Biggest Loser Recap and start reading!

Many of you have probably already seen the ads on Channel 10 for this, but for those who have not it has been announced that The Biggest Loser 2009 will be a “Couples” version of the show.

So that they don’t have a procession of annoying husband and wife teams of fatties, they’ve opened it up to a fairly loose interpretation of the word. Brother and sister teams are okay (though I’d imagine they’d frown on brother-sister husband and wife teams) as well Mums and sons, even work mate teams are permitted… As are grandparent/grandchild teams.

I’m a little horrified at the thought of the last one, I don’t mind telling you.

Applications are now being accepted via the website, so if you know two fat people, suggest they roll over that way? I’m sure that will make them love you all the more!

I believe if you go to the official site you can also see the ad with Shannan and Michelle touting the new season applications, but you should really try to catch it on TV for yourself so that you too can experience the hilarity of Shannan mouthing Michelle’s lines.

He still has a ways to go when it comes to presenting for the televisions.

Majesco Entertainment have partnered with The Biggest Loser’s Jillian Michaels and are set to release a cheap cash-in sure to be excellent “exer-gaming” title for the Nintendo Wii.

For those who have somehow missed the hype, the Nintendo Wii recently got its first “exer-gaming” title in Wii Fit, which despite the higher than usual pricetag has been selling out pretty much everywhere the game has been released.

Wii Fit came bundled with an interesting peripheral, the “Balance Board”. Essentially a high tech set of scales, the Balance Board is capable of measuring shifts in weight with an amazing degree of accuracy. This allows the board to become, in essence, a new kind of controller. Players are able to shift their balance left and right, forwards and backwards to complete various challenges within the game.

And, of course, it can also tell you how much you weigh. If you’re not afraid to find out.

There’s exercises, too, including all the usual squats and lunges and push ups you’d be familiar with. Jillian’s cohort Bob Harper would probably love it – the game also features a fairly decent variety of yoga poses, too.

What sorts of exercises will Jillian’s game have?

They’re not saying, yet. Only that the title is aimed at the casual market, women in particular. So I guess you should expect tips on applying makeup and buttercups will spring up all over the screen every 5 minutes?

What does Jillian think of the latest thing she’s putting her name to?

“I truly think this type of product will be instrumental in revolutionizing the fitness industry and will help combat the childhood obesity epidemic in this country,” Michaels said.

Wow, that’s quite some praise. Quite some very generalised praise that could apply to virtually any fitness product. Hmm.

The game is apparently scheduled for a “Holiday release” which I assume means the Christmas holidays? Americans are a little silly in that regard. What’s wrong with the standard Summer, Winter, Spring or Fall/Autumn? No, it has to be “holiday”…

There’s not much more to the Hollywood Reporter article, but you can still click here if you’d like to read the rest of it.

But the real question is – would you buy it? Forget for a moment whether or not you actually have a Nintendo Wii, plus the required Balance Board. If you had them, would you really buy a fitness game endorsed by Jilliam Michaels?