Too thin? Unhealthy? Who decides?
This is Rachel Frederickson before and after at the Biggest Loser finale.
Since NBC TV’s Biggest Loser finale on Tuesday night, there’s been a firestorm in the media over Rachel Frederickson’s final weight. Rachel, a native Minnesotan, lost 155 pounds and nearly 60% of her body weight to win the reality TV show’s weight loss challenge. She weighed in at 105 pounds to claim the $250,000 prize and the title of Biggest Loser. And, I believe she lost more percentage of body weight than any other Biggest Loser contestant, ever!
The firestorm is the public debate about whether she went to far and is too thin and unhealthy. Twitter and Facebook exploded with viewer comments ranging from she looked “frighteningly emaciated,” to “she’s anorexic,” to “shame on NBC for allowing this to happen.” And the media lit up over the controversy with everyone from People Magazine, to Time, to entertainment news weighing in.
I watched the Biggest Loser finale with several girlfriends and, admittedly, we all had the same reaction — shock at how thin and frail Rachel looked, combined with surprise that a contestant could get that thin (not muscular or fit) without NBC’s show producers intervening. It turns out, that our reactions were typical. Perhaps the natural initial human response. Even the show’s famous trainer’s Bob and Jillian were captured in a photo looking shocked. Read more
