Jillian Michaels and partner Heidi RhoadesJillian Michaels' hiatus from the show that made her a household name allowed her to fulfill her dream of becoming a mom. So it's no surprise that she's marking her return to The Biggest Loser with a show about kids. What is surprising is that parents are actually letting their kids go on the show.
The next season of Loser will be the first ever to focus on the childhood obesity crisis. That means at least three of the contestants are 17 years old or younger. That's right, America, three overweight kids are about to be put out on a national stage for the rest of us to gawk at.
As a former fat kid, I'm going to come right out and say it: this might just be the WORST thing you can do to your overweight kid!
I can only guess these poor kids are in for a whole lot of public shaming. And my heart breaks for them as only the heart of a one-time chubby kid and current recovering bulimic can.
When you're a kid and you're overweight, you do everything you can to make your weight disappear. I mean that literally in terms of dieting, but I mean it figuratively too. I spent my teen years hidden away in over-sized sweatshirts and even bigger jeans. Thank God baggy was in in the '90s.
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But even as time -- and styles -- have changed, the reality of being a fat kid has not. American waistlines might be getting bigger, but we still live in a fat-shaming society where major women's magazines publish hate-filled screeds against "fatties."
And lest you say this will somehow be different because the new stars of Loser will be "just kids," allow me to point you toward the vile Internet hate that's sprung up in response to the reality show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. People are delighting in how badly they can trash a 6-year-old, and that most certainly includes mentioning her weight.
Now consider that Honey Boo Boo, while it has mentioned weight, is not a show that focuses directly on the issue. But Biggest Loser does and will. It will put out on national TV how morbidly obese these kids are and allow Americans to draw what conclusions they may.
These kids are about to be famous in the digital age, when escaping your critics is more or less impossible ... especially when part of being a teenager is being hooked into the Internet.
The fat hate is hard enough for the adult contestants who aren't dealing with the rollercoaster of emotional ups and downs that come with teenage hormones. Put that kind of pressure on a kid, and you could be talking devastating long-term effects.
I think the Biggest Loser producers and Jillian Michaels are brave here. She's said she'll talk about her own struggles with weight as a kid, and that could be inspiring. But I wonder at what risk. What will this do to these kids?
Would you allow your overweight kid to go on a show like Biggest Loser? Why or why not?
Image via Pacific Coast News
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Comments 31
Michelle, it was a joke. My kids are perfectly healthy and nowhere near fat. They both eat healthy and eat junk food too, but the key is that they are active.
the4mutts - I agree!
I, too, was a former "fat kid" (according to national guidelines, I still technically am LOL) I wish there had been something like this available to me back when I was entering my teens years. I didn't get healthy until my college years. I was teased in school because of my weight. These kids aren't going to be "shamed" into losing weight. THEY choose to be part of the show. They aren't going to be weighed publicly. And they aren't facing an elimination. So where is the harm? I see only good coming from this.
They should make a prerequisite of the show a COMPLETE medical work-up so that they know if weight is the only issue these kids have. Because there are metabolic and hormonal causes for weight gain as well as the unhealthy diet/no exercise cause. There are even medications that cause weight gain. And if these kids are still growing, they should be careful about losing weight, there are even some experts who would say that they should aim for holding steady at their weight until they are finished growing.
As an overweight woman working on losing weight and getting healthy, I think this is a great idea, it may inspire other young teens, while I don't believe in fat shaming, because it does hurt, I also don't believe in saying "oh its ok that you are morbidly obese". These are real health issues! We talk to our kids about stds, and other things that are dangerous to them,why not weight?
There will be no tv weigh in for them and they also will not be eliminated like the other contestants
Okay seriously . . . this is the dumbest article. Biggest Loser isn't about having contestants who are only 20 or 30 pounds overweights. If the kids are on the show, it is because they are HUNDREDS of pounds overweight. If you don't already feel bad about being hundreds of pounds overweight, then something is wrong. If my child were seriously obsese, I wouldn't hesitate to let them go on this show. This show isn't about public shaming. It teaches the contestants about healthy eating habits and exercise. Maybe if something is done with obese teenagers, then they WON"T grow up to be obese adults. Maybe they won't have the health problems that a lot of adults have because of their weight. Maybe their lives won't be cut short because of health related weight problems.
Heck yes I would! If my child needed help losing weight and was given the chance to not only work with a world famous trainer and get help and national support from a whole country of followers AND get a chance to change their lives forever with the prize money should they make it to the end, why wouldn't I? What is the alternative? Let them sit at home and only realistically dream of being skinny while their health deteriorates in front of my eyes? No thanks, bring on Jillian!