I’m watching both of these shows in their entirety and I don’t know why they’ve historically gotten so much backlash. One reviewer called TBL “a dumpster fire of a TV show” and others seem to think M6L is downright abusive. However, I can’t find anything particularly bad in either.

Although it’s true that in TBL the contestants are losing an egregious amount of weight each week, it’s likely (actually almost certain) that most of this is water weight and it would have been more dangerous to instead not lose the weight. The intense exercise scenes seem pretty typical for anybody who’s serious about athletics. Finally, the famous “damaged metabolism” study that shut down TBL turned out to be debunked due to “damaged metabolism” being a boring, normal adaptation under high physical activity.

And although there are tons of bare naked shower scenes in M6L, everyone knew that going in and they agreed anyway. Some also complain how the stars don’t receive enough support for things like therapy and other cost centers. I would say that would actually have been a great thing to add, but it would be impractical at scale and have a high chance of bankrupting the production with how much healthcare costs, resulting in a net loss of benefit for those who need the surgery.

So, what’s your viewpoint here?

  • ryathal
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    9 months ago

    TBL is a show that proves if you have a nutritionist, personal trainer, and heavily restricted diet you can lose a lot of weight really quickly. It’s still somewhat dangerous to do that, and almost guaranteed to not lead to long term success. People almost killing themselves to massive applause and congratulations isn’t actually a good thing.

    • jeffw@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Even with that supervision, the show encourages unhealthy practices like dehydration to meet a weight goal

      • ryathal
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        9 months ago

        True. They essentially lived on water and vitamins while on the show.

    • MissJinx@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      So I was fat (really fat, not chubby)and had a very good financial situation before COVID, so I hired a personal trainer, went to the most tech gym, went to the same nutritionist as the bodybuilding team , and the “star” dermatologist (with all her expensive treatments) No joke, in 1 year I was fitness and beautiful. You wouldn’t believe. When Covid hit I got fat again but now I know, nobody is really ugly, you are only poor. If you have money you can be whoever you want in the time frame that you want

      • lud@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        I, honestly can’t see how that is in any way the fault of your financial situation.

        • otp
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          9 months ago

          had a very good financial situation before COVID, so I hired a personal trainer, went to the most tech gym, went to the same nutritionist as the bodybuilding team , and the “star” dermatologist (with all her expensive treatments)

          Where do you live where all that is free?

          • lud@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            I am just saying that it’s not necessarily a problem with just money.

            Not to be mean but there is some blame that could be attributed to the individual too for not doing their part. I kinda* understand that it’s hard to lose weight, but if one has lost it already and goes up again, I would argue that the weight gain is even more of their responsibility and not capitalism or whatever.

            *I’m personally pretty thin with a BMI between 18 and 19, so I don’t really get why people just don’t eat less. But I am well aware that it’s not that simple for some.

            I have more trouble with eating more, which seems like it should be harder than eating less. Because eating less doesn’t require any effort.

            • kryptonite@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Because eating less doesn’t require any effort.

              Eating less takes a lot of effort for me because if I eat until I feel reasonably full, it’s actually too much food, and I gain weight. If I’m maintaining my weight, then I’m constantly hungry. If I’m losing weight, I feel like I’m starving.

              I used to be pretty thin, even slightly underweight. Then I went on a medicine for a few months, and it completely ruined my appetite. I’m currently on a medicine for something unrelated that happens to curb my appetite, and it’s the only reason I’m not severely overweight.

            • MissJinx@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Oh no, it is my fault, I’m just saying that with money the effort is WAAAAYYYYY less. Believe me, speaking from experience. I can’t pay all that right now and it’s being a chalenge, even using all the knowledge I have