The interminable wait is over! We finally have an airdate for the next season of The Biggest Loser Australia.

Season 9 of the show, focusing on Ararat, “Australia’s fattest town”, begins January 19th at 6.30pm according to an update this morning to the show’s official Facebook page. See it here.

Shannan, Michelle and Commando Steve are going to tackle transforming an entire town – or at least the portion of the populace who agree to be on TV. The ads they’ve been running have shown a lot of people with extreme weight problems, along with the usual sob stories on how they got that way.

The focus this season seems more on changing lifestyles and shifting the weight of a large number of people, rather than the competitive weightloss of previous seasons. The series was actually filmed in the middle of last year, so it’s unclear why it has taken so long. Perhaps they’ve filmed some proper follow ups this time around, to air as part of a finale episode?

Anyway. Sunday, January 19th. 6.30pm. Channel 10. Are we excited?