The Biggest Loser/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Some of the more debatable material from The Biggest Loser:

  • Acceptable Targets: Guess who! Then again, that's why they came.
  • Asshole Victim: Adrian from Season 13 qualifies as this for several reasons. He, along with his sister Daphne, were eliminated before making it on campus, but made it back in Week 5 after losing a combined 50lb at home. The Red Team immediately became hostile towards him for no reason other than he was still a complete stranger to them, which seems unfair to say the least....at first. As the week went on, he started showing off, getting snarmy with his teammates, and just acting abrasive in general. It became clear that Adrian loved to run his mouth at the worst possible moments, including shit talking his teammates again, right after Nancy was eliminated. Even Dolvett was getting tired of him giving it large, but not producing results. Despite his trainer's advice to "do it, not say it", Adrian continued to play the victim, and was eliminated the first opportunity presented.
  • Author's Saving Throw: Season 13 was mostly hated by fans just for the amount of drama caused by a select few contestants (mostly Conda). Season 14 introduced a new elimination format for the teams that eliminated the lowest scoring player on the losing team would be eliminated on the spot, most likely to reduce the drama. Seasons 14 and 15 were much better received by the fanbase as a result, as well as featuring far more likable contestants in both seasons.
  • Batman Gambit: Often invoked when players try to spur on a gameplay mentality by convincing the others to eliminate the "greater threat".
    • Melissa from Season 9 is a notable example who attempted to play this angle when she came back in Week 11, by swaying the other contestants to vote for whomever falls under the yellow line with her; that way, they can ensure that the stronger player goes home each week, thus make their journey to the end a little easier. Key word here: attempted. Despite her efforts to invoke a gameplay spirit, her pitch seemed more self serving than anything else, and the other players saw right through it. In Week 12 (her second week back), she fell under the yellow line, was unanimously eliminated with no fanfare.
  • Beware the Quiet Ones: non-violent examples, but there are a few contestants who keep their heads down and rarely speak, but are not to be written off.
    • Lauren from Season 13; she was one of the few contestants who didn't stir up any drama while on campus. Though she eliminated Week 3, she came back with a vengeance in the final week where the eliminated players fought for the final spot among the finalists. She, along with Mike (who was eliminated the week before she was), made the final round, outperforming contestants who had more time on campus, and even had a better weight loss percentage at the finale than most of the other eliminated players.
  • Beware the Cute Ones:
    • Another non-violent example, Chelsea from Season 15; she may have looked like the typical cute blonde girl that often appears on the show, but she was more than capable of keeping up with some of the season's stronger players, and proved herself to be an asset to her team week after week (save for two weak numbers). She even managed to go last the entire season without ever facing elimination, and was only eliminated in the final week due to impressive numbers from both Bobby and David (who lost 17lbs and 16lbs, respectively) despite a respectable 7 pound weight loss herself.
  • Crosses the Line Twice: Harassing fat people generally isn't cool. When it comes to Jillian, however, who often spouts things along the lines of "IF YOU'RE NOT PUKING OR DYING, KEEP WORKING YOUR F***ING ASS OFF", it can often flop over.
  • Dull Surprise: Anna Kournikova. Part of it may be due to English not being her native language, but she's very monotone.
  • Elimination Houdini:
    • All the girls on the Black Team in Season 4 qualify due to falling back on each other to survive eliminations, rather than their own performances.
    • Ron from Season 7; spent half of the season under the yellow line, and only taking America's vote to eliminate him.
    • Subverted with Amanda from Season 8: she didn't face elimination often, but her weight losses were pretty poor for the most part (her final weight loss of 87 pounds was vastly overshadowed by contestants who were eliminated within the first few episodes, including Sean and Antoine, whom were both eliminated in the third episode).
    • Sam from Season 9; a strange variant, not because he was a weak player, far from it. Rather because he reached his goal weight while still on campus (the only player to ever do so), yet almost made it to the end. The only reason he lasted as long as he did was because of his cousin, Koli, who needed to be there more than he did. Sam was eventually eliminated in Week 16 having come off worse in a hung vote against Michael, who still weighed over 330lbs and thus needed to be on campus. To make a long story short, Sam could've gone home Week 11 or 12, and he probably would've achieved the same result come the finale.
      • Melissa tried to play this trope to get rid of more capable players, but no one bought it, and was swiftly eliminated the first chance they got.
    • Elizabeth from Season 10; it would be easier to count the number of times she wasn't under the yellow line than the number of times she was.
    • Kaylee from Season 11; put up poor numbers (even gaining weight three times) and still made it further than her more capable father, Moses.
    • Bonnie from Season 12; outside of one week where she had immunity as the highest percentage on her team, Bonnie spent four weeks on the chopping block before she was eliminated with a total weight loss of just 43 pounds as of week 9.
    • Conda from Season 13; an interesting case. In addition to facing the elimination room 7 times before the teams were dissolved, she was almost universally hated by the show's fanbase due to her bratty attitude, inconsistent weight losses, and being a major source of drama, at one point accusing Cassandra of cheating during an informal challenge between them in Week 3. The only reason she made it to the last 3 was because she was able to manipulate the other players into getting rid of people she wanted gone, often for personal reasons that were petty at best, and downright childish at worst.
    • Played with when it comes to Tanya from Season 15: she was only ever up for elimination 3 times all season, mostly due to the Red Line format that eliminated the lowest scoring player on the losing team. That said however, outside of Week 1 and the extended Week 5, Tanya threw up consistently poor numbers week after week, save for Week 10 where she lost 7 pounds. (She should have been eliminated Week 3, had Dolvett decided not to use his Trainer Save on her)
    • "Woody" from Season 16 can be seen as this due a constant string of less-than-impressive numbers, yet was the last player to be eliminated proper.
    • Felicia from Season 17; to the point where Roberto and Luis got in an argument over the latter narrowly missing out on immunity, with the former scolding his twin brother with this line: "You let the weakest player win immunity!" She rarely had a decent weight loss all season, only getting a good number in 2 episodes past Week 1.
    • In the third UK season, Sadie was up for elimination for 4 consecutive weeks, one of which she survived due to a surprise twist that allowed half of her team to stay in the house, resulting in her mum, Jennifer, being eliminated.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: any time a contestant achieves tremendous results on the show, only to regain the weight years later.
    • After Season 7, Jillian Michaels was accused of giving her players performance enhancing supplements. In Season 15, she was caught doing just that, giving caffeine pills to her team without the doctor's permission, which resulted in her team being penalised for it.
    • In Season 14, Danni Allen won the opportunity to star in a national Subway commercial alongside Jared Fogle. One can only wonder if the season 14 winner regrets winning this prize later on down the line after Fogle was convicted of crimes that we won't go into here...
      • In fact, any appearance Fogle has ever made on the show is now this because of his crimes.
    • Daniel Wright from Season 7, 19 years old at the time, was informed that he would not make it to 30 at the time, at 454lbs. Sadly, Daniel passed away in June 2019 from an illness that wasn't obesity related, at age 30.
  • Irony: Season 13 was a season of "No Excuses", yet one of the biggest reasons why that season was so hated was because the cast was full of excuses.
  • Mood Whiplash: you'll get a fair few of these moments on a show like this, with such examples including:
    • That initial excitement the contestants show before they meet the trainers, often a sense of joy...until the first workout begins, then they wish they hadn't been so jovial.
    • Any time a contestant scores a large weight loss, and still ends up under the Yellow line.
    • At the beginning of Week 6 in Season 13, the contestants are seen consoling Cassandra after her grandmother, Nancy, was sent home just hours prior. But of course, Adrian just had to completely ruin the moment by opening his mouth, resulting in a shouting match between him and his fellow competitors.
  • Narm: as a reality show, expect plenty of over-the-top moments!
    • The theme song alone is a ten on the narm-o-meter.
    • And the bombastic music for the weigh ins, that can even turn into a freakin' choir.
      • Reactions and expressions prior to each Ad Break Double Take during weigh-ins almost always fall into this.
  • Nightmare Fuel: an interview with Kei Hibbard from Season 3 can qualify as this, in which she admits that she suffered health problems after her appearance on the show.
    • Any time a contestant passes out, or goes to the hospital; a consequence of being so overweight.
    • Season 15 winner Rachel Frederickson won with a record breaking 59.62% weight loss (she lost 155lbs from her 260lb starting weight). However, she only weighed 105lbs at the finale, and at 5 feet 4 inches, this made her the only contestant in the show's history to leave the show underweight (her body mass index was only 18.0). Many publications suggested that such a massive weight loss for someone her height was particularly unsafe, but it didn't help that she looked unhealthy too, to where even Bob and Jillian were in shock.
  • The Scrappy: Every season arguably produces at least one.
    • From Season 13, we have Jeremy and Kim. The former for acting like a manchild with a foul mouth in several instances when a twist happened, while the latter was decried as being rude, and at times nasty to other contestants, particularly acting like a sore loser when she lost her face off in Week 3 to Chism, resorting to petty insults. These two ended up finishing as the overall winner and runner-up respectively. However, both contestants at least had some redeeming qualities, being among the more consistent players that season, while moments when Jeremy acts like a complete dork is rather funny (such as his crush on the show's nutritionist).
      • The same thing however, can not be said about the third finalist and Jeremy's older sister, Conda. Unlike Jeremy and Kim, Conda had next to zero redeeming qualities, and was unanimously hated by the fans for her bratty, whiny attitude, inconsistent performance on the scales, manipulative behaviour, and for being a major pain in the ass all season. Even Dolvett, her trainer, found her difficult to work with, at one point creating a list of Conda's complaints during a workout he couldn't be there for. Because she was so manipulative, only two votes were ever cast against her all season, and the people who voted for her were eliminated the same night. If you check certain forums, social media, or even YouTube uploads of the season, comments will talk about how Conda simply dragged down the quality of the season for them.
      • Dolvett's team briefly got this status for their immediate hostility towards Adrian when he joined their team. Turns out though that Adrian was just as unlikable, mainly for constantly speaking out of turn, and taking every opportunity to sneak-diss his teammates. That's not even going into his "all talk, no action" approach to the workouts.
      • All of Season 13 is proving to be a scrappy season. Every comment thread is calling it out as the worst ever. This is due to the majority of the contestants being heavily disliked personality-wise, and weak performances. Out of 5 instances of players quitting the show mid-season, 3 of them came from season 13.
      • The creme-de-la-creme was when the final five were shocked that another, previously eliminated contestant would be returning. So shocked, all of them threatened to quit. This is despite the fact that this has been a staple since Season 5, and that their contracts say that this twist would happen. Two of the final five, Mark and Buddy, did end up leaving the show in protest, while the remaining three stayed to finish their journey.
    • Tracey from Season 8 got this treatment for her short-sighted decisions that ended up being rather destructive for everyone else.
    • Neil in Season 4 arguably became this when he pulled a deliberate 17lb weight gain with the sole purpose to eliminate a player on the Black team. The only reactions he got from the other players the following week where he lost 33lbs were reactions of disgust.
    • In Season 11, Q got this treatment from the other players for his poor weight losses, excuses, and lack of drive. It got to a point where the other "Unknown" players targeted him and his wife first in the Week 5 challenge, just to keep Q from getting immunity.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Arthur in Season 11. Tropes Are Not Bad in this case, though.
  • Squick:
    • The contestants, depending on how grossly obese they are and how it's distorted their bodies.
    • Shots of the contestants throwing up during workouts.
  • The Woobie: Trainer Shannon in the Australian version had a nightmare season 7 (Singles). Starting out with the male under-25's team, including Ryan, the heaviest contestant in Biggest Loser history, he knew from the get-go he'd have his work cut out for him. What he didn't count on was having one contestant leave the competition early in favor of taking a $20,000 temptation, having Ryan be eliminated the very next week, being forced to expel the only decently-functional man on his team not long after for a severe breach of the rules, and then having the other teams gang up on his last standing member just as he was starting to get the act together, resulting in his entire team being eliminated while the others all had three members apiece left in the game. The culminated in a distraught Shannon storming out of the Biggest Loser compound, remarking he felt like a failure as a trainer.
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