I'm worried about America.
I just finished watching tonight's episode of The Biggest Loser. A more accurate show title would be "The Most Mediocre Loser."
Please don't misunderstand me, I applaud these people for the work they've put into transforming their bodies. The thing that makes me worry for the state of our fair country is the fact that the people who actually have a chance to lose the most weight keep getting voted off.
After tonights episode, when the person who had lost the most weight ever in Biggest Loser history was voted off, (for losing the most weight that week) it occurred to me that The Biggest Loser (and all other "Vote-Off" reality shows) promotes mediocrity.
The "Vote-Off" reality show is the version of reality show which filters down the pool of contestants by having the contestants themselves vote off their contestant peers. This differs from "Vote-On" or "Vote-For" reality shows where the contestants or more often the audience votes for the contestant they would like to see win.
The "Vote-On" shows have such a better talent pool, in the end. The viewers are left with, arguably, the best contestants at the end of the competition. The "Vote-Off" contest is populated with the people who voted off the best and brightest the previous few weeks.
Obviously, in the first few weeks of competition, the worst contestants are culled out. It is in the middle weeks, however, that the mediocre take over. T
ake Biggest Loser for example. Neil, who was the last person voted off, lost a staggering amount of weight, (152 lbs, over 35% of his original weight) but his weekly weight loss of 10 lbs (again, the most of all contestants that week) wasn't a big enough percentage of his previous weight to advance. Three of the other contestants had lost a much smaller percentage of weight to date. These contestants a) had more fat to lose, and b) since they started lighter, needed a smaller actual weight loss to keep themselves in the game.
It is the ability for contestants to exploit one single falter in the performance of a superior opponent that rewards mediocrity in "Vote-Off" reality shows.
And now Neil, who is literally the biggest loser ever on Biggest Loser, will never have a chance to hold that title. Because mediocrity always wins out on the "Vote-Off" game.
If they want to do this right, they should have the trainers vote off the contestant with the worst results. They're the ones who actually see the effort put in at training sessions and can see past a small hiccup in weekly weight loss.
That might fix things. Then the winner of the ever-so-awkwardly Nabisco-branded Biggest Loser Award might actually be the biggest loser.