{"id":94318,"date":"2025-08-24T20:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T20:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/94318\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T20:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T20:56:08","slug":"screaming-our-way-to-a-fitter-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/94318\/","title":{"rendered":"Screaming our way to a fitter world"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you might have heard, Jillian Michaels<\/a> does not appear in \u201cFit for TV: The Reality of Biggest Loser<\/a>.\u201d If you weren\u2019t set to come off well in a docuseries examining what went wrong in the show that made you famous, you\u2019d pass, too.<\/p>\n

Besides, as they say in the fitness biz, the results speak for themselves. Michaels is now one of the MAHA movement<\/a>\u2019s favorite fitness gurus and hosts a podcast where she expresses her passions about a number of subjects. Lately that\u2019s included Donald Trump\u2019s drive to whitewash any of the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s Black history exhibits that make white people uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

A recent episode of CNN\u2019s \u201cNewsNight with Abby Phillip\u201d peaked in a screech-fest of far-right talking points as Michaels confidently dispensed misinformation downplaying the lasting impact of chattel slavery in America. Few Black folks haven\u2019t been hit with the supposed newsflash that institutionalized slavery isn\u2019t unique to America, but when Michaels busted out with, \u201cDo you realize that . . . less than two percent of white Americans owned slaves?\u201d it confirmed a few things.<\/p>\n

Jillian Michaels\u2019 absence from \u201cFit for TV\u201d isn\u2019t noticeable because the docuseries positions \u201cThe Biggest Loser\u201d as aligning with her view that certain types of people aren\u2019t worthy of consideration or empathy.<\/p>\n

One, whoever typed up her notes left out a digit. A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research<\/a> places the rate of white Southern households that owned enslaved people at around 21%. The Economic History Association<\/a> sets the number at just under 25%, accounting for all Southerners. I\u2019m simply citing these numbers because nobody did in the viral clip of that exchange<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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(Netflix) \u201cFit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser\u201d<\/p>\n

What we should be wondering, though, is why Michaels was presented as an authority on anything outside of a weight room. Her expertise in that space is questionable, too: years ago, she was hit with several lawsuits<\/a> related to claims about her diet supplements\u2019 effectiveness<\/a>. Anyway, Michaels\u2019 absence from \u201cFit for TV\u201d isn\u2019t noticeable because the docuseries positions \u201cThe Biggest Loser\u201d as aligning with her view that certain types of people aren\u2019t worthy of consideration or empathy.<\/p>\n

For the 18 seasons that aired between 2004 and 2020, the show normalized the shaming and mockery of fat people under the banner of inspirational programming. The healthy carrot dangling at the end of that stick was $250,000 and the title of \u201cbiggest loser,\u201d both awarded to the person who could drop the most weight within a matter of months.<\/p>\n

As executive producer J.D. Roth put it, his producers weren\u2019t searching for happy folks. They sought contestants who were overweight and unhappy. Presumably, that made them easier to push around. Conflict and abuse generated high ratings in the short term, but the show was terrible for contestants\u2019 long-term health: A 2016 study<\/a> found that its extreme methods destroyed contestants\u2019 metabolism.<\/p>\n

Michaels wasn\u2019t alone in mistreating contestants. Fellow \u201cBiggest Loser\u201d trainer Bob Harper,<\/a> who appears in \u201cFit for TV,\u201d also screamed verbal threats and mockery at the people who came to him desperate to shed weight. As he impishly testifies, the producers encouraged this abusive treatment and reveled at seeing contestants collapse, fall off equipment, and sometimes vomit. This constituted drama, and in the world of TV, that\u2019s the only metric that matters.<\/p>\n

Ironically, \u201cFit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser\u201d isn\u2019t admirable television either. Like the show it criticizes, it is an exercise in rubbernecking, capitalizing on the contestants\u2019 anguish and suffering instead of offering healthy media analysis in hindsight as medicine. Entirely by accident, it also accentuates the pattern \u201cThe Biggest Loser\u201d established for influencer culture to follow later. Michaels and Harper claimed a level of authority on healthy living that they didn\u2019t have, and the docuseries alleges they dispensed advice that contradicted what the show\u2019s medical expert, Dr. Robert Huizenga, told participants.<\/p>\n

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(Netflix) Bob Harper in \u201cFit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser\u201d<\/p>\n

Huizenga wasn\u2019t entirely innocent, as we see in scenes of him yelling at contestants for the sin of having, say, dangerously high cholesterol or diabetes. But he didn\u2019t dispense caffeine pills to participants as Michaels did. (This and other allegations led Michaels to tell TMZ<\/a> that she\u2019s thinking about suing Netflix, the docuseries\u2019 producers, Huizenga and Harper.)<\/p>\n

While many societal developments contributed to the rising disdain for accredited expertise, perpetuating questionable regimens and advice on broadcast TV did plenty to help that along. Syndicated TV made stars out of Phil McGraw<\/a> and Mehmet Oz<\/a>, establishing them as experts through Oprah Winfrey\u2019s blessing. The most popular health influencers<\/a> feed the social media beast, but Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil are the OGs when it comes to spreading pseudoscientific information.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, both are making the most of this administration\u2019s proclivity for positioning TV stars as voices of authority. Dr. Phil is showing up at ICE raids<\/a>. Dr. Oz, no stranger to medical quackery, is in charge of overseeing Medicaid and Medicare services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Neither wields the magnetism of a visibly fit movie star best known for playing Thor in Marvel\u2019s \u201cAvengers\u201d movies. Chris Hemsworth<\/a> is a health influencer in the same way that every celebrity with a shredded physique is a health influencer. Pick a movie with a bulked-up lead, and I can guarantee there is a YouTube tutorial associated with it. Hemsworth monetized his appeal by founding a fitness app.<\/p>\n

But his participation in \u201cLimitless with Chris Hemsworth\u201d changed his concept of what it means to be fit after a test conducted during one of its episodes revealed his genetic predisposition for developing Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a>. That realization produced a lot of shocking clickbait, and it also lent the season a weight that offset the kookiness inherent to any mega-celebrity\u2019s wellness venture. Still, the first \u201cLimitless\u201d had its \u201cGoop\u201d-y moments, such as an indigenous ceremony that was criticized for allegedly disrespecting a sacred site.<\/p>\n

While many societal developments contributed to the rising disdain for accredited expertise, perpetuating questionable regimens and advice on broadcast TV did plenty to help that along.<\/p>\n

The sequel, \u201cLimitless: Live Better Now,\u201d doesn\u2019t pull back on centralizing the star. Darren Aronofsky, returning as its executive producer on the series, knows what he\u2019s got here. But it\u2019s better about presenting Hemsworth as an example, not the exemplar, of what functional fitness can look like.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s still testing his limits by doing things only a wealthy, famous actor can do, like flirting with reputational disaster by performing with a pop star. But he takes on these massive dares under the guidance of accredited authorities, such as a neuroscientist who advises him that learning a new skill is a great way to maintain cognitive function and a sharp memory. As part of this workout, she throws in a challenge that involves executing choreography with members of Cirque de Soleil. It requires Hemsworth to combine brain power with strength.<\/p>\n

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(National Geographic\/Laura Radford) Chris Hemsworth in \u201cLimitless\u201d<\/p>\n

As for pushing his physical limits, in an episode titled \u201cPain,\u201d Hemsworth submits to a rigorous gauntlet alongside members of South Korea\u2019s special forces not as a flex, but to test how effectively he can reframe his relationship to his chronic back ailments. Then, in \u201cRisk,\u201d he commits to climbing a 600-foot dam in the Swiss Alps as an exercise in hyperfocus. He trains hard, mentally prepares himself and still buckles to fear.<\/p>\n

The effect here isn\u2019t simply to wow us by Hemsworth taking some bear mace to the face or threatening to plummet from a frightening height, although those possibilities also make good TV. \u201cLive Better Now\u201d emphasizes the scientific benefit of scaring yourself a little every day. Anyone can do what Hemsworth does here \u2014 on a feasible scale, of course. Ed Sheeran wouldn\u2019t let just any old schmo accompany him on \u201cThinking Out Loud\u201d in front of 70,000 people, especially on an instrument they\u2019ve only played for a few weeks.<\/p>\n

Start your day with essential news from Salon.
Sign up for our free morning newsletter<\/a>, Crash Course.<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s point is that you or I can and should pick up a hobby or enroll in a class to spark those neurons out of complacency. Most gyms have rock walls. Every state in America has a complicated hiking trail. The science behind Hemsworth\u2019s adventures validates their worth, and Hemsworth\u2019s willingness to confess to his insecurities makes conquering whatever is holding us back, even if that\u2019s simply getting to the gym, seem doable and worth doing.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where \u201cThe Biggest Loser\u201d failed its contestants and viewers most acutely. Probably not from NBC\u2019s perspective, given how entirely our culture bought into its messaging and methods. At the height of its popularity, product licensing for the show generated tens of millions of dollars. Nowadays, a gazillion podcasts sell powders and capsules promising to optimize your pump. Whether they work, or are healthy, is a secondary concern. That host you like vouches for them, and that\u2019s good enough for most people.<\/p>\n

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(National Geographic\/Evan Paterakis) Chris Hemsworth in \u201cLimitless\u201d<\/p>\n

Somewhere along the way, though, American wellness, like our politics, became a binary concept. You\u2019re either fit or fat, strong or weak, brimming with health or on the verge of death. Most headlines related to the Make America Healthy Again movement are food related, but there\u2019s also plenty of extreme (and extremist) ideology running rampant in the wellness world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Biggest Loser\u201d placed the dominant \u201cno pain, no gain\u201d philosophy in a glaring light by endorsing mistreatment as a form of motivation. That Hemsworth advocates a benevolent, smarter way through \u201cLimitless: Live Better Now\u201d makes it easier to take its lessons to heart. Maybe we\u2019d be less obsessed with hurting each other if we stopped punishing ourselves first.<\/p>\n

\u201cFit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser\u201d is streaming on Netflix. \u201cLimitless: Live Better Now\u201d is streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, and premieres Monday, August 25 on National Geographic.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/p>\n

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