Suzanne Mendonca of “The Biggest Loser,” second season recently sat down with Nancy O’Dell of ET to discuss how she felt that the show was “unhealthy” and not ideal in the real world.
The former reality television contestant stated how she would do extreme things in order to lose the weight, but once she left the show, she found it impossible to keep the weight off. She states in the interview, “I gained 130 pounds back. It’s awful — embarrassing. I feel ashamed. However, from being on the show there was no way I was going to keep that weight off … There’s so many unhealthy things they do on the show that are not sustainable in real life.”
Suzanne claims that she ate baby food and wore garbage bags during her workouts to sweat more. She went on to say that parts of the show were staged, and that the scale they weighed in on was fake. “It is a fake scale that you weigh-in on. They have the scale on TV. When the contestants step on the scale they don’t even know their real weight and how much they dropped. You’re weighed two days prior to a real weigh-in that’s taped on TV.” She also stated that she fractured her feet while on the show.
While Suzanne has made these accusations Season 11 winner Olivia Ward states that her claims are untrue and that, “We didn’t even have access to those things in our season,” she goes on to state, “They do give you all the tools that you need plus you have phone numbers galore, and it’s your responsibility to reach out if you feel like you’re sinking. Everybody that’s on ‘The Biggest Loser’ is an adult. You are given a calorie count. Mine was 1304. I was given that from a doctor, and I adhered to that because that was the medical advice and direction that I was given.”
While Olivia is trying to prove that Suzanne’s claim about the shows responsibilities to its contestants, Jay Jacobs, who also competed in season 11, says Suzanne’s allegations regarding the scales were also false.
Photo: Via NBC
