| Hosts | |
| Caroline Rhea (2004-2006) Alison Sweeney (2007-2015) Bob Harper (2016, 2020) | |
| Trainers | |
| Bob Harper Jillian Michaels Kim Lyons Brett Hoebel Cara Castronuova Dolvett Quince Anna Kournikova Jennifer Widerstrom Jesse Pavelka Steve Cook Erica Lugo | |
| Announcer/Executive Producer | |
| J.D. Roth | |
| Broadcast | |
    | |
| Packagers | |
| 3 Ball Productions/Reveille Endemol Twenty Five Seven Productions | |
The Biggest Loser was a formerly popular NBC (later USA Network) weight-loss reality competition series that features highly overweight people all living in a ranch (a campus during Seasons 4 and 5) and trying to lose as much weight as they can in order to win a grand cash prize.
Premise[]
Each season starts the 30-week competition with a weigh-in to determine the contestants' starting weights, which serves as the baseline for determining the overall winner.
The contestants are grouped into teams of three, each wearing separate colored T-shirt. Depending on the season a team may work with a specific trainer or all trainers may work with all contestants. The trainers are responsible (in conjunction with medical personnel retained by the show) for designing comprehensive workout and nutrition plans and teaching them to the contestants. However, the contestants are individually responsible for implementing the principles taught.
During an episode, various challenges and temptations (see below) are featured. Those who win a particular challenge are given specific privileges, such as a weight advantage for the next weight-in or even full immunity from being voted off the show.
Each week culminates in another weigh-in to determine which team has lost the most weight for that week, in percentage of total weight lost. The team that has lost the least percentage during that week (known as "falling below the yellow line", which refers to a line featured on a video screen showing the cutoff between safety and being at-risk) will have one member voted off (unless the team consists of only one remaining member, in which case there is no vote). The vote is usually made by the other teams, though some episodes feature one team making the decision alone. Some episodes feature a second, "red line"; if a contestant falls below the red line, the contestant is automatically off the show with no vote. Other episodes allow for the contestants, if successfully meeting a goal at the weigh-in, to all receive immunity for the week.
When the number of contestants has shrunk to a predetermined smaller number (unknown to the contestants), the teams are dissolved and the contestants competed one-on-one against each other.
The season finale features both the contestants remaining on the show and those sent home early; the latter are brought back for the final show. Those sent home early compete for a smaller prize while those on the show compete for a larger prize and the title of "The Biggest Loser".
Episode Format[]
Episodes are typically two hours long. Some episodes have been aired in a shortened one-hour format to accommodate adjacent network programming such as The Voice and the State of the Union Address. Each episode features some, but not all, of the following activities (some contestants may not participate in an activity with physical requirements if placed on medical restrictions):
1.)Temptation: (Not to be confused with the short-lived 1967, the unsold 1981 pilot nor the equally short-lived 2007 reboot of $ale of the Century of the same names respectively.) This is where contestants prepare for the first day of the week only to find a situation that involves a temptation. The temptation usually requires contestants to gamble by eating or drinking delicious but high-calorie foods in exchange for what may seem to be a beneficial trade-off. The benefits may or may not be known to the contestants in advance. Examples include eating sweet foods for a chance to call their loved ones, eating a slice of cake to win an unknown prize (which, in one episode, tuned out to be an exercise bike) or giving up time with a trainer for a chance to win money. Contestants are given a set period of time before the offer passes.
2.)Reward Challenge: Contestants compete to win a prize, first as teams and then as individuals after the teams are dissolved. After the challenge, viewers are shown the winning team enjoying their reward while the losing team accepts the loss. Prizes range from immunity-which is exemption from elimination-to exercise equipment, phone calls home or weight prizes, which allow winners of a challenge to have a greater weight loss at the Weight-In, or losers of a challenge to have a lower weight loss at the Weigh-In (e.g. a 6 lb weight loss would result in a 7 lb weight loss if a contestant were to win a "1 pound advantage" whereas it would result in a 5 lb weight loss if a contestant were to win a "1 pound disadvantage"). If there is an unequal number of players on each team, then the team(s) with more players must pick an individual or individuals who will sit out until there is an equal number of players on each team. Occasionally, players have to be cleared by the show's doctors in order to participate in physical challenges.
3.)Initial Workout: Contestants work out with their trainers. During this segment, the trainers will often speak with certain contestants, especially those who are doing poorly. Usually, underlying emotional issues are revealed at this time (such as a loss of a family member or a physical calamity), often the triggering events that led to the weight gain in the first place.
4.)Last Chance Workout: Last Chance Workouts are often grueling, final preparations for the weigh in. This is a real test of strength and trainers push contestants to their limits.
5.)Last Chance Challenge: Introduced in season 17, this challenge is a variant between a reward challenge and a last chance workout. As with the last chance workout, the last chance challenge will usually take place inside a gym. The winning team will win a prize that benefits the team just before the upcoming weigh-in (for example, a two-pound weight advantage for the team).
6.)Weigh-In: Although the show depicts the weigh-in in a evening setting, the actual weight measurement occurs off-camera in a morning session and the contestants are not told of the results at that time. All contestants are weighed to determine the amount they have lost relative to their total body weight. During team-based competition, the team that loses the highest percentage wins and the losing team must send one person home. When the teams are dissolved and the show becomes an individual competition, the two contestants who lose the lowest percentage of weight are below the yellow line are eligible for elimination. A similar setup to individual-based weigh-ins happens when the two initials teams are broken up into four teams of two or three, as happened in the second and fourth seasons. In season ten, the rules changed. The contestants are now expected to weigh in before challenges. The yellow line now increases up to half of the slots depending on how many contestants there are at the ranch. Contestants below the yellow line face an elimination challenge before the vote. In addition, the Biggest Loser of the Week is allowed to save a person below the yellow line from elimination. Some episodes have featured and yellow line and a red line; a contestant who falls below the red line is eliminated outright from the competition without a vote of the other contestants.
7.)Elimination Challenge: Introduced in season 9, the elimination challenge was for the two people below the yellow line. In the only elimination challenge of that season, the longest one standing stayed while the other went home. In season ten, the elimination challenge was re-introduced. Those below the yellow line participate in a challenge to escape from the vote. The two least successful contestants face the vote.
8.)The Vote: The final segment of the show takes place in a dining room that has refrigerators labeled with each contestant's name (active contestants have their name illuminated) and filled with the contestant's favorite tempting foods. Prior to the vote, contestants facing elimination plead their case as to why they should remain on the Ranch (several episodes feature contestants making a "sacrificial" request to be sent home, generally a team agreeing as to which member should stay and which one should go, or one contestant feeling that they can make progress at home while another needs the Ranch setting to continue his/her progress). The other contestants are not required to honor any requests to be sent home, though generally such requests are honored. The contestants facing elimination arrive at the dining room first; the other contestants each carry a covered plate containing the name of the person they wish to vote out. In the event of a tie, the contestant or team who lost the least percentage of weight is eliminated, except if both of the contestants or teams lost the least percentage of weight. As people are voted out, the light for their name is extinguished. After the vote, the eliminated contestant is shown at home and discusses the progress they made in their weight loss.
Music[]
Jeff Lippencott and Mark T. Williams, Ah2 Music
"Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous" (Season 1) by RuPaul
"Proud" (Seasons 2-9) by Heather Small
"Brand New Book" (Seasons 12-13) by Train
Winners[]
- Season 1 - Ryan Benson
- Season 2 - Matt Hoover
- Season 3 - Erik Chopin
- Season 4 - Bill Germanakos
- Season 5 - Ali Vincent
- Season 6 - Michelle Aguilar
- Season 7 - Helen Phillips
- Season 8 - Danny Cahill
- Season 9 - Michael Ventrella
- Season 10 - Patrick House
- Season 11 - Olivia Ward
- Season 12 - John Rhode
- Season 13 - Jeremy Britt
- Season 14 - Danni Allen
- Season 15 - Rachel Frederickson
- Season 16 - Toma Dobrosavljevic
- Season 17 - Roberto Hernandez
- Season 18 - Jim DiBattista
International Versions[]
Places that have done their own versions of The Biggest Loser include:
- Algeria
- Arab World
- Argentina
- Asia
- Australia
- Brazil
- Brunei
- China
- Croatia
- Finland
- Germany
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Israel
- Latvia
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Puerto Rico
- Romania
- Russia
- Scandinavia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sweden
- Thailand
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom and Ireland
In popular culture[]
In a 2012 episode of Robot Chicken called "Poisoned by Relatives", it was parodied as "The Fattest Fat Loser", featuring Miss Piggy, Mario, Winnie the Pooh, and Garfield as contestants and Barbie as a fitness trainer.
Inventor[]
Dave Broome
Rating[]
Spin-Offs[]
- Dale con Ganas - A Spanish-language version that aired on Univision 2012
- Transformacion Total - a Puerto Rican version of the show
Additional Page[]
The Biggest Loser/Airdates
The Biggest Loser/Quotes & Catchphrases
The Biggest Loser/List of Winners