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Dane Patterson actually finishes a marathon

Biggest Loser 7 contestant Dane Patterson has successfully completed an actual marathon, just over two months after insisting he ran 26.2 miles in his “mind” despite being driven to the finish line by a producer, which led NBC to apologize and investigate.

On Saturday, Dane ran 26.2 miles in 5:47:20–a solid time, especially for someone who weighed 395 pounds recently, although that time is nowhere near the amazing 3:53 the show pretended he ran during his first attempt. Back then, he said he doubted he’d finish in under six hours, which was part of his excuse for not running the full distance.

Dane placed 3,407 out of 3,961 finishers at the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, which announced in March that Dane would participate as he ran for “redemption.” Dane’s wife Carli finished in exactly the same time, so they presumably ran together.

The results indicate that Dane is 18 years old, although his actual age is 27, according to his NBC bio. That’s most likely a typo or data entry error, and certainly doesn’t help him in any way: His results show that he placed 197 out of 213 in that age group, men 18 to 24; in his actual age group, men 25 to 29, he placed 301 out of 329, or would have if his time was included there.

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About the author

  • Andy Dehnart

    Andy Dehnart is the creator of reality blurred and a writer and teacher who obsessively and critically covers reality TV and unscripted entertainment, focusing on how it’s made and what it means.

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