Season 10’s “Biggest Loser” Finale: The Fix and The Fixers (Part Two of Two)
Read Part One of this post here:
Wait a minute.
People who are overweight and/or obese have a problem controlling how much they eat. That’s bad for their health.
However, the inability to exercise complete, rational control over your behavior at all times is the hallmark of being a living, sentient, human being.
Fat people are not more damaged than other people. They’re not less stable.
Fat people are just really, really unlucky. Everyone has issues, imperfections, foibles, big and small. Heavy people wear a personal shortcoming externally, for anyone to see and judge. And pay them less.
Lisa didn’t become a better mom when she became a thinner mom. The fact that Lisa was not able to stop overeating, and even her admission that, as a working, single mom she frequently fed her kids cheap, take-out, fatty pizza (shocking!) doesn’t mean that she ever failed to meet their emotional or material needs.
Weight is not a moral or character issue. It’s a health issue. But the Biggest Loser is relentless in characterizing contestants as initially weak, childlike, and even, in trainer Bob’s words, “broken” people.