The Biggest Loser was one of the biggest things in reality TV for 18 seasons.
The competition show featured a group of contestants battling to lose weight between challenges, temptations, and video cameras. The long-standing series featured Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels as cohosts.
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Nine years after the show went off the air, Netflix is releasing a new documentary about the show, Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser. While promoting the new doc, Harper — who also appeared on the third season of The Traitors — tells The Guardian he is “really proud” of his time on the show.
During the interview with The Guardian, Harper joked about a particular scene concerning Joelle Gwynn. “That Joelle, she just does not like me, does she?” he asked, adding he has “learned to not take things personally.”
For context, the doc features Gwynn telling Harper, “Fuck you, Bob Harper. Oh, and your little dog too,” when recalling a time that Harper screamed at her to “shut the fuck up” after she failed a treadmill exercise.
When the idea that the show contributed to anti-fat attitudes was brought up, Harper dismissed it as “stupid.”
“The trolls that are out there just want to attack in any way, because people are going to have such a strong opinion when it comes to weight loss.”
Multiple studies have shown that indeed, “anti-fat attitudes increase after brief exposure to weight-loss reality television.”
When Harper is confronted with the fact that most of the contestants on the show gained their weight back after it ended, he admits that “the success rate overall is very low,” adding that “it’s really sad, but it’s such a reality.”
He says that he tries “not to have too many regrets” in his life, but does admit that a few things on the show – including one moment where he told a contestant it was “good” she threw up because it would help her lose weight – were things he “shouldn’t have” done.
“You also have to remember, everyone that came on Loser, we were all adults,” he adds.
“I knew what the show represented to me,” Harper says. “I have nothing but a good experience and really good memories.”
This article originally appeared on Out: Bob Harper says it’s ‘stupid’ to blame ‘Biggest Loser’ for anti-fat culture boost
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