Biggest Loser

A review of USA Network’s rebooted Biggest Loser, plus interviews with researchers and the show’s talent about its approach to weight loss.

The show will still be a competition, but USA says it’ll focus on “wellness” instead of weight loss—the same change Weight Watchers made last fall.

Poppi Kramer, a comedian and actor and the winner of The Biggest Loser season three’s at-home competition, died at age 46, according to friends and colleagues.

Reviews of the new Biggest Loser on NBC, ABC’s My Diet is Better Than Yours, and A&E’s Fit to Fat to Fit.

Survivor Borneo winner Richard Hatch is one of the cast members of NBC’s The Biggest Loser: Temptation Nation, which has changed a lot for season 17.

The Biggest Loser‘s longest-serving trainer, Bob Harper, will become the show’s host for season 17, and the NBC reality competition’s newest trainer will leave the show, as the aging show shifts around its parts to see what sticks. When the show returns, probably next year, Bob Harper will replace Alison Sweeney and host the show. …

Alison Sweeney, who has hosted of NBC’s The Biggest Loser since season four, is leaving the show after eight years of watching that fake scale. (Sweeney replaced Caroline Rhea, who hosted seasons one to three.) NBC’s brief statement, delivered via its tabloid newsmagazine Access Hollywood, said only: “After an incredible run together, Alison Sweeney will …

The cast of The Biggest Loser‘s 16th season are all athletes, including former NFL players Damien Woody and Scott Mitchell, while trainer Bob Harper will not be working with them at the ranch, instead demoted to a position where he works with the losers to give them a second chance. Meanwhile, after Rachel Frederickson’s extreme weight loss last season, producers …

News and links from the past few weeks, when I was busy finishing the redesign and reporting from the summer Television Critics Association press tour (a lot of terrific interviews and information coming from that soon). And thanks for both your feedback and for bearing with me during this initial period as I solve some lingering problems (surveys …

Original Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels has left the show, marking her third exit.

Biggest Loser winner Rachel Frederickson previously defended her disturbing weight loss by only saying that her “body is going to balance and find its rhythm with maintenance and it’ll be perfect,” and Rachel now says she’s reached that perfection: “I’ve gone up about 20 pounds. I think I’m at my perfect weight!” Naked and Afraid‘s …

After her record-setting weight loss was revealed Tuesday night, Biggest Loser winner Rachel Frederickson talked to reporters, and the show’s three trainers all weighed in. Not one of them defended her weight loss as healthy. Her trainer, Dolvett Quince, wrote on Facebook, “Last night’s Biggest Loser Finale has sparked a huge reaction and I do …

The Biggest Loser’s latest winner is Rachel Frederickson, who lost a total of 155 pounds and a record 60 percent of her body weight, showing up at the finale weighing just 105 pounds and looking shockingly thin. Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels’ faces said it all, and Jillian’s mouth said even more: “Oh my god.” …

On last night’s The Biggest Loser, Bob Harper publicly revealed he’s gay for the first time, though it’s long been well-known, and not just because he’s the trainer on the Queer Abs workout DVD or said he’s been out since he was 17. It’s just never something he’s talked about on the NBC reality competition. …

Ruben Studdard left The Biggest Loser last week, after losing just five pounds and being eliminated automatically. But he returned to the competition this week. Instead, Jillian Michaels says that was a set-up by the producers to bring Ruben back. At the end of last night’s episode, Alison Sweeney said–and by said, I mean dragged …