Archive for September, 2008

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]