Latest news with #FitforTV
Cosmopolitan
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Where is Alison Sweeney now? The Biggest Loser host has a totally different life today
Netflix has got an impressive roster of documentaries to binge on, but perhaps none have been quite as horrifying as Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser. With the list of eye-popping details revealed in the doc, including headline-making transformations to near-death experiences, and a massive friendship fall out, it's little wonder it's the series that everyone is talking about right now. However, while the documentary looks at what happened to some of the show's most memorable contestants, it also features former host Alison Sweeney, the soap star who hosted the series between 2007 and 2015. Sweeney, who serves as a talking head in Fit for TV, explained there were some things she was uncertain about in the show. 'It was my job to be there for the contestants and encourage them to talk about some of the harder things that are embarrassing and hard to talk about,' she said, adding she found The Biggest Loser's temptation challenges, where contestants faced off to see who could eat the most calories in five minutes, the aspect she was most uncomfortable with: 'It was horrible.' Sweeney departed the show in 2015, with a surprising career pivot – meaning life looks very different for her today. Cosmopolitan UK did a deep dive to see what she's up to now. Taking over the role from Caroline Rhea in 2007, Sweeney decided to bid farewell to the series in 2015. Speaking to People magazine at the time, Sweeney said: 'Times change and situations change. It's a tough time in TV and producers have a lot of tough choices to make in the landscape. We talked and it wasn't an easy decision. It was just the right time for me to do something different.' Sweeney, who made a name for herself as an actor in the well-known daytime series, Days of Our Lives, decided to return to acting as she left The Biggest Loser. In 2015, she starred in the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries film series Murder, She Baked as baker-come-amateur detective Hannah Swensen. Sweeney also stars as Alex McPherson in the Chronicle Mysteries series, another cosy crime drama which aired on the Hallmark channel. And in 2017, she reprised her role as Sami Brady in Days of Our Lives. While she has never publicly declared how much making she has made from her numerous Hallmark endeavours, we can make some educated guesses. According to the current Screen Actors Guild (SAG) pay scale for a low budget film (which Hallmark movies are considered), for a leading role, a Hallmark actor could make up to $2,453 (around £1,812) a week. Leading actors in the Hallmark universe can reportedly earn up to $65,000 (around £47,937) per film – with regulars able to command even higher salaries. In a rather sweet story, Sweeney married her childhood sweetheart Dave Sanov in 2000. The pair were initially friends growing up, but lost contact until Sweeney starred on Days of Our Lives. The pair were reunited in 1997 at a family party and began dating after Sweeney's 21st birthday party. 'We had such a great time, and we had so much fun getting to know each other again as grown-ups," she previously told People magazine. "And the rest is history." Sanov previously worked as a police officer at the California Highway Patrol, but decided to retire from work in 2022. 'It is a big deal to retire," she explained when she appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show in 2022. "There's a lot of surprises we've planned for [Dave]. He's so excited." While Sweeney, now 48, has never been overweight (she was a US size 12, which is a UK size 16), she decided she wanted to commit more time to fitness – and shed 30lbs in around a year. 'I started with cutting out the foods I knew weren't helping me,' she explained in an interview. "I wasn't dieting, but I made healthier food choices. I didn't restrict myself, but I didn't overdo it either. 'I really had to cut out all the junk I was eating, like sugary snacks,' she admitted. 'When I started to pay attention to what I was putting into my body, I realized how much I had been eating without thinking.' She also added some gentle exercise into her routine. 'I wasn't working out for hours every day,' Sweeney said. 'I started small—walking, then incorporating strength training, and over time, I began to feel stronger and more capable. It was about moving my body, not killing myself in a gym.' She does! Sweeney welcomed son Benjamin Edward in February 2005, and daughter Megan Hope in January 2009 with her husband Dave Sanov. Benjamin has joined his mum on screen by working on Hallmark film A Zest for Death: a Hannah Swensen Mystery in 2023. Kimberley Bond is a Multiplatform Writer for Harper's Bazaar, focusing on the arts, culture, careers and lifestyle. She previously worked as a Features Writer for Cosmopolitan UK, and has bylines at The Telegraph, The Independent and British Vogue among countless others.
Cosmopolitan
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
The 12 most shocking bombshells from Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser
If you've seen Netflix's new documentary, Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser, then you'll understand why everyone – like, literally, everyone – is talking about the series right now. And, if you haven't seen it, then you need to get onto it pretty sharpish. From headline-making transformations to near-death experiences, and a massive friendship fall out, there's so much drama surrounding The Biggest Loser, which was one of the most popular programmes of the 2000s and 2010s, running for 18 series. It's no wonder then, that Netflix decided to take a deep-dive into The Biggest Loser, interviewing former contestants, coaches, and health experts to expose what it was really like to appear on the hit show. With that being said, here's 12 of the most shocking revelations that Fit for TV uncovers... In Netflix's Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser, several contestants recall feeling rushed to sign their contracts or potentially miss out on the chance to appear on the show. Season eight cast mate, Tracey Yukich, describes her contract as "very thick", going on to say: "I remember reading it and thinking, 'I am not qualified to read this'." Further to that, she says that when she requested an attorney, producers hinted that a delay like this could put her position on The Biggest Loser in jeopardy. "[Producers said] 'Sure, we can get you an attorney... But I got 10 other people waiting for your spot... So sign it and move on'," she claimed. Similarly, season eight winner, Danny Cahill, describes being "worried" about the terms in his contract. He claims the contract outlined the possibility of death, but regardless, he didn't want to miss out on the opportunity of appearing on this potentially life-changing show. "What do you do? Not sign it and walk away?" he asks. Season two's Suzanne Mendonca also appears in Netflix's Fit for TV. She alleges that The Biggest Loser's producers discouraged her from getting healthier ahead of the show. "They would say, 'No, we don't want you to do that. We want you to gain more weight'," Mendonca says she was told after revealing to producers that she had started exercising and eating a heart-healthy diet. "I wanted to be on the show so badly that I did gain extra weight." Elsewhere in Netflix's documentary series, Mendonca recalls being advised by The Biggest Loser's coaching team to eat as little as 800 calories each day. This is backed up by season eight's Cahill, who adds: "My calorie count was lower than I think it should've been." He goes on, "I was eating 800 calories and burning 6,000 to 8,000 a day. When I lowered the calories, I lost more." In addition to consuming far, far fewer than the recommended daily intake of calories – which varies from person to person, but typically sits between 2,000 and 2,500 per day, according to the NHS – the show's contestants reveal they worked out up to eight hours every day. "The first week, we needed to burn a minimum of 6,000 calories a day. Minimum," says season seven cast member Joelle Gwynn. Explaining how they'd achieve this, Gwynn says contestants worked out for "five, six, seven, sometimes even eight hours a day." In his interviews for Fit for TV, season one winner Ryan Benson recalls intensifying his diet and workout routine so much that, during the final weigh-in, blood was found in his urine. "In the end, it worked out great 'cause I won, but I was doing what most doctors would say were super unhealthy things," he says in the Netflix series. "The last 10 days I didn't put any food in my body. I was doing the master cleanse, just drinking lemon juice and maple syrup, cayenne pepper, all these tricks that are super unhealthy just to cut weight." Benson continued: "At the final weigh-in, we had to do a urine test and they said, 'Ryan, there's blood in your urine,' which obviously means you're so dehydrated." Former coach and presenter for The Biggest Loser, Bob Harper, claims during the Netflix show that producers wanted contestants to be sick on screen. "Producers loved that shit," Harper says. "They were like, 'We want 'em to puke. We want the madness of it all." Backing this up, one of the show's former executive producers says they wanted to make the best TV they could. "One big Kumbaya doesn't make great television, I'll tell you that," David Broome tells the interviewer. As well as sharing her concerns over her contract for The Biggest Loser, season eight's Yukich says she almost died during the first challenge, which saw contestants run a mile to make the cut for the show. "I just cheated death," Yukich says, explaining she contracted rhabdomyolysis – a rare muscle injury where your muscles break down. "Rhabdomyolysis is your body saying, 'I'm going to shut down on you'," she explains. "It started with my liver, then it went to my kidneys and then it goes to your heart. And that's where I almost died." While The Biggest Loser's contestants were only supposed to lose weight through diet and exercise, some allege they were given caffeine pills to boost their stamina and energy. "At some point I was given stackers, and a stacker was like a caffeine pill," says Cahill, who claims these were "approved" by the trainer because it would "probably" help with exercise. This is something that the show's medical advisor, Dr Robert Huizenga, says went against the rules. "Caffiene, a weight loss pill, was absolutely against everything in the show," he says in the Netflix doc. "It was in the show rules, and the patients signed off to that and the trainers signed off to that, and all the producers signed off to that," he goes on. For many of The Biggest Loser's contestants, the weight they dropped during filming didn't stay off. In fact, several of the cast members who appeared on the hit series returned to the weight they were at before appearing on The Biggest Loser. Speaking about his experience, season eight winner Cahill says that despite losing 239 pounds (17 stone, 108 kg) on the show, he later gained this back as he "didn't have it all figured out" when it came to the healthy lifestyle required to maintain it. "The shame that you feel being a failure after being a success, it's a heavy load to bear," he says. Similarly, season one winner Ryan Benson told PEOPLE magazine in 2024 that within three days of the show ending, he had gained "25 to 30" pounds. This number increased as time went on, with Benson adding: "It's no secret that I gained back all the weight." Like the alleged use of caffeine pills on The Biggest Loser, in Netflix's Fit for TV, Dr Huizenga says there were other elements of the show that he didn't agree with. "As the show really got popular, some things were being done that I really took issue with," he explains. "There were times, unfortunately, when challenges were done that I didn't see or hear about." Given that many of The Biggest Loser's contestants have opened up about regaining the weight they lost on the show, it's no wonder that 'aftercare' was allegedly lacking. Cahill claims he reached out to producers to suggest an aftercare programme that would give contestants access to support, recovery, or continued exercise assistance, but didn't get a response. "No one was interested in doing anything like that," he says. Similarly, season seven's Gwynn claims: "They didn't care." In response, the show's executive producer and creator, Broome, says this wasn't possible due to costs. "We would have loved to have aftercare, but we're a television show without endless pots of money," he says. "NBC wasn't going to give it [financing] to us." Just a few seasons before it was cancelled, The Biggest Loser faced its biggest controversy: Rachel Frederickson's dramatic final weigh-in transformation. As we explore here, Frederickson started the series at 260 pounds (18.5 stone, 117.9 kg) and ended up winning the show, weighing in at just 105 pounds (7.5 stone, 47.6 kg). But her shocking weight loss prompted concern from viewers – one journalist described her as having a "now-emaciated body" – as well as criticism, and in Fit for TV, we learn that even the show's coaches were in "horror" over it. "Rachel came out, and she had lost so much weight, it was… shocking," Harper recalls in the documentary. "Jillian and I were just in horror." Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser is available to stream now on Netflix.
USA Today
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
How a 'Biggest Loser' contestant collapsed, angry about being in 'great danger'
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.'
Cosmopolitan
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Revealed: Why Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels from Biggest Loser are seemingly no longer friends
Those who've watched Fit for TV, the new Netflix docuseries about how weight loss reality show The Biggest Loser shot to fame before crashing and burning after a series of scandals, including some contestants alleging they were put in dangerous positions that risked their health. Others, notably sisters Hannah Curlee and Olivia Ward, praised the show for changing their lives for the better, with Olivia even naming her daughter Harper in honour of one of the show's trainers, Bob Harper. Alongside Harper was fellow straight-talking coach Jillian Michaels, and despite the pair competing as team leaders, each hoping their contestants would be the ones to lose the most weight at the weekly weighing in ceremony, they seemed to share a close and loving friendship. However, Harper strongly implies on the docu-series that the pair, despite being incredibly good friends while working together, no longer share a relationship. It's a pretty stark change between the two trainers, who were previously regularly seen laughing together, supporting one another and sharing a tactile friendship. Here's what we know about the fall out between Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper... When discussing the life-changing heart attack he had in 2017 – which in his words "left him dead on the gym floor for nine minutes" – Harper recalls that many of the Biggest Loser's cast and crew reached out to him, but that he did not hear from Michaels after the mammoth medical event. "I heard from almost everyone," he says in a clip from an Andy Cohen interview featured in the Netflix documentary. "How do I put this? People were always like 'You and Jillian have been so close', and I was like 'Well, we were really close on television'," he says outright in the docuseries. "After I had my heart attack, she's the one person I never heard from. So that to me spoke volumes." It could be the case that while the pair were close when working together and seeing one another near daily during filming, that they naturally drifted apart once the cameras stopped rolling. Equally, since the show wrapped, it seems Michaels in particular (who also chose not to appear in the Netflix documentary) has been trying to distance herself from the Biggest Loser, and instead is focussing more on her podcast, which has hosted the likes of divisive journalist Piers Morgan and conspiracy theorist and far right mouthpiece, Candace Owens. Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC's Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women's Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
Cosmopolitan
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Jillian Michaels from Biggest Loser now: Revealing what she's up to, as she refuses Netflix documentary
Anyone who watched The Biggest Loser during its noughties heyday or who caught the Netflix documentary, Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser, will be more than familiar with the name Jillian Michaels. As well as being a high-profile coach on the popular series, she went on to make a global name for herself writing multiple books on health and fitness, and launching her own workout series, including via a popular app. These days though, her life looks pretty different to her reality show peak. For those less familiar, let's take a look at who Jillian Michaels is and what she's been up to since the Biggest Loser wrapped – and what we know so far about her decision not to appear in the Netflix docuseries, which charts the highs and lows of the weight loss show that initially ran for 17 seasons in the US. Always known for being a straight-shooting talker, it seems Michaels is just as opinionated as ever in the year 2025. Let's get into it... From its first episode which aired October 2004, Jillian Michaels appeared (alongside coach, Bob Harper) as a personal trainer on the weight loss reality show, The Biggest Loser. Known for her no-nonsense approach in the gym – which in Fit for TV is framed as either motivational or degrading, depending on who is talking – Michaels pushed contestants to their limit, to sweat it out and encouraged them to make radical lifestyle changes. While she briefly departed the show for one season in 2006, she soon returned for 2007 and remained in place until 2010, after which she again stepped back for a time, before returning for a few more series and then bowing out for good. At the peak of the show's popularity, Michaels and Harper made countless TV appearances, often together, launched workout DVDs and more. Outside of her life in the limelight, Michaels and her former partner, Heidi Rhoades, share two children; a daughter, Lukensia, who was adopted in 2012 from Haiti, and a son, Phoenix, born the same year. Michaels married DeShanna Marie Michaels, a fashion designer, in the summer of 2022. Why did Jillian Michaels not appear in Netflix's Biggest Loser documentary? At the end of the docu-series, a note appears explaining that Michaels was approached to appear on Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser but declined the opportunity. She has not publicly spoken about this decision. What is Jillian Michaels doing now? Nowadays, it seems Michaels is focussed on her podcast Keeping It Real: Conversations with Jillian Michaels and makes occasional appearances on US news channels, such as CNN, to discuss politics. In recent episodes of her podcast, Michaels has discussed the likes of Jeffrey Epstein (with a former CIA operative), vaccine scepticism and has hosted divisive figures such as Piers Morgan and Candace Owens (a political commentator whose views have been described as 'far right' and who has been accused of promoting conspiracy theories). Last year, Michaels openly stated that she voted for Donald Trump, saying she did so despite not supporting all of his policies, describing the choice between him and Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, as "a question of lesser evils". She later attended Trump's inauguration ball, which sparked criticism from some with fears that the Trump administration could potentially enact harmful policies against the LGBTQ+ community (pointing out that Michaels herself is a member of said community). Michaels previously stated in a Daily Mail interview that she feels un-cancellable, quipping, "I've been cancelled so many times. Now I just wear a T-shirt and every time is like a Boy Scout badge for me." Earlier this year, she appeared on a podcast hosted by Russell Brand, the comedian currently awaiting trial following multiple sexual assault allegations (all of which is strongly denies and said he looks forward to disproving in court). Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC's Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women's Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
