The Biggest Loser - What was the main objective agn?

As everyone knows, The Biggest Loser (TBL) is basically a slimming down camp that provides exercises trainings and healthy food consuming therapy. Earlier today, I've watched USA TBL Families and TBL Australia.


Just like the early TBL concept that was first introduced to the world from the USA, TBL Australia has 3 (sometimes 2) groups that was differentiate using colors, for example red team, blue team and black team. Numbers of members in each teams depends on the numbers of group created. 2 teams mean 5 to 8 members in each group.

Where else USA TBL Families have 8 teams; green, gray, yellow, orange, purple, white, brown and pink - each team consist of a family duo. These little teams will compete with each other until week 5. On the 5th week, teams will be reformed into only two teams; black and blue. The remaining contestants will be emerged equally into each teams which will make each team consists of 5 to 6 members.

From these slimming down shows on TV, I've absorbed many things not only about dieting but the psychological flow as well. Well, I'm not entirely qualified to talk about psychology but what I observed was enough to make me think. So let me just say things I wanna say in my simple way.

In TBL Australia, 3 teams were formed since the beginning of the game. Since then, negativity has been implanted in each member in the team to compete against the other team and also with their own team members to survive the game and stand a chance to win BIG money. It sounds fun isn't it? However, there are few things people have to know here. These fat people have negativity in their brain. Why else did they end up FAT and need serious help from TBL? By competing using emotions for pride and glory in the show, they may have the objective to slim down, which is to WIN the money. But, what about after the show? Will the objective stays the same for them to stay slim and healthy?

At the end of every week, the team that losses will have one member of the team to be sent home. The won team will determine who goes home by casting a vote. Since the grand prize for the whole game are to go to the 1 final winner, I'm sure the voting decision were blinded by their own needs and interest alone. It's a big BS if the voter voted a person out for the sake of their team. Lol! Such a noble person... I will buy that reason if the final prize goes to the TEAM that survive till the very end of the show.

I admit that fighting spirit is crucial in life. It helps you shine and overcome life challenges and obstacles. However, main ingredient that FAT people need in order to slim down and stay that way is POSITIVE THINKING. It is undeniable that positive thinking is mutually related with fighting spirit, but if fighting spirit overcomes positive thinking, things are not gonna turn out good. Especially those TBL winners who didn't get the chance to learn much of positive attitude and thinking during the show due to lack of focus to the real objective when they joined the show. What happened to them now? They gained back at least half of their weight back.

As viewers, we must be able to differentiate the main objectives from the marketing scheme. As TBL contestants, I'm sure that you're not in for the intentional drama to rise the viewers numbers to the show. You are no businessman or investor to the show. If you gain popularity from the show, it will only be temporary until the new season of TBL comes up. What will you do when your lime-light time's up? Back to the old routine and get fat again?

Common future TBL contestants, focus on the main objective please. Listen to your coach carefully and try to understand the real messages behind their commands. From what I recalled, neither Gillian, Bob or other trainers ever encourage contestants to go against the opposite team. What they said mostly were, "Show the ____ team what you've got!". But what did the contestants said in the personal interview? "I'm gonna crush you ___ team!" or "____team. You're going down!". Does that still sound positive to you? Well, maybe if it's a sport competition, but we're talking about life transforming mission here!

That's why I like the USA TBL families show more than the usual TBL show. Although they will be emerged into two groups on the 5th week, the show's weren't the same as the usual TBL grouping concept. The positive thinking and attitude were still obvious even until the very end of the show. Why? Because in small teams at the beginning of the game, the main objective distractions were less due to the lack of mad leader-wannabe members. So the chances to focus and absorb the real life-time lesson was greater and much more rewarding in life.