How a 'Biggest Loser' contestant collapsed, angry about being in 'great danger'

USA Today

5 hours ago

Do we still have an appetite for 'The Biggest Loser,' or will Netflix's new docuseries about the controversial weight-loss competition remind viewers that we've had our fill?
'Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser' (now streaming) provides a heaping second helping of the triumphs and missteps of NBC's 18-season 2004-16 competition series. Over three episodes, past contestants, co-creator David Broome, former host Alison Sweeney and trainer Bob Harper reflect on the series that awarded a large cash prize to the contestant who'd lost the most weight. Jillian Michaels, another fitness expert on the series, declined to be interviewed.
Though many lost weight throughout the series, the tactics at times posed a risk to participants and their esteem. Tracey Yukich suffered a near-death experience during a challenge to kick off Season 8. Joelle Gwynn, a competitor on Season 7, still harbors anger for the way Harper scolded her during a workout. And Michaels supplied some contestants with caffeine pills, though caffeine was banned by the show's physician, Robert Huizenga. Competitors were asked to participate in sometimes humiliating temptation challenges, when they were enticed with high-calorie treats or building towers made of bread using their mouths.
"I'd lost all focus about getting healthy, and the focus became winning," the series' first champion, Ryan Benson, says in the docuseries. "In the end, it worked out great because I won, but I was doing what most doctors would say were super unhealthy things. The last 10 days, I didn't put any food in my body." He says he sustained himself on lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper.
Season 11 winner Olivia Ward lost 129 pounds on the popular series. 'It made hundreds of millions of dollars, and (the) reason was not because of the fat shaming, it was the hope that people saw every week,' Ward tells USA TODAY. 'They tuned in for the hope, and that does not change just because there are some people who didn't feel like they had the best experience.'
Here are the eye-opening revelations from 'Fit for TV.'
Tracey Yukich collapses during a challenge
Tracey Yukich, a mom of four, started Season 8 weighing 250 pounds.
'There was infidelity in my marriage, a lot,' Yukich says in the docuseries. 'I thought it was my fault because I was fat.' With tears welling in her eyes, Yukich elaborates on the changes she wanted to see in her life: 'I don't want to be disrespected. I don't want to be yelled at. I don't want to be harmed.'
On the first day of filming "Loser," Yukich and her fellow contestants had to run a mile on a beach. With so much on the line, Yukich darted for the finish line, but her body began shutting down. She went from running to crawling to being pulled to the end by her competitors, and then she collapsed.
Yukich had developed rhabdomyolysis, described by the Cleveland Clinic as a condition that causes muscles to disintegrate. "When this happens, toxic components of your muscle fibers enter your circulation system and kidneys.'
Yukich tells USA TODAY that she spent more than three weeks in the hospital before resuming the competition, and ultimately shedding 118 pounds. She says she relied on the advice of Huizenga, and not the trainers because she believed he 'had my absolute best interest at heart.'
Yukich points to Harper's admission that highlights his inexperience working with larger clients. 'I never worked with obese people,' Harper says in the docuseries. 'I worked with very fit people that were trying to be a size 0 or have a six-pack. It was a huge wakeup call for me."
'I felt so validated when he said that,' Yukich says. "I was angry that I had an accident like that, and I was angry that I was put in such great danger.'
Yukich has continued to focus on her fitness and says she has run the Boston Marathon four times. 'I'm thankful that I was a part of (the show) because it did change my life,' she says. 'I really meant what I said at the end (when I) said that I was the one that changed my life. I was the one that did the work.'
Joelle Gwynn remembers being 'abused' by Bob Harper
In the docuseries, Harper cheekily accuses Huizenga of 'maybe' having a God complex. 'No one was going to tell us what to do when it came to diet and exercise.'
Dr. Jennifer Kerns, a Season 3 contestant, describes the show as a "great" experience. She lost more than 100 pounds and began working with Huizenga in a professional capacity. Kerns notes a constant 'bit of tension between Dr. Huizenga and the producers,' in 'Fit for TV. 'The producers needed to make good TV.'
Joelle Gwynn, a contestant on Season 7, criticized the show for using trainers as pseudo-therapists. 'I think it's reckless for people to tip into serious areas,' Gwynn adds, 'and they're not qualified to handle this.'
In an episode, Gwynn and Harper got into an explosive fight after Gwynn was unable to run on the treadmill for 30 seconds. Harper admits, 'My head blew off my shoulders.'
'I've never seen someone get abused like that,' Gwynn says in the docuseries. 'It was very, very, very, very embarrassing.'
Others had a very different experience with Harper. Olivia Ward, who partnered with her sister Hannah Curlee Young in Season 11, named her first child after Harper, whom she calls a close friend. Ward says she and her sister found Harper and 'mother hen' Michaels to be 'extremely helpful.'
'Jillian said, 'You all are so broken, you're not even in a place where you can believe in yourself yet," Ward remembers the trainer saying, "'So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to believe in you for you, and when you're strong enough, I'm going to give that responsibility back to you.''
'We were completely infertile' before the weight loss, Curlee Young says in an interview with her sister. They're now mothers. 'And I married a personal trainer, which I would have never even talked to this person before this. Olivia's husband also lost almost the same amount that we did while she was on the show. It's just changed our lives.'