Originally Posted by hikari;3355521;
If you just started watching recently, you've missed a lot of backstory with our trainers. Yes, Jillian used to be overweight as a young girl, though how much, I don't know. Certainly not to the level of any contestants on this show. But she was not a hardbody from birth. Also, let's see, 2 seasons ago? Jill brought in her mother, who is a licensed pyschologist, in to meet one-on-one with her team members and try to get to the bottom of their internal reasons for overeating. That episode was punctuated by Bob and other members of his Blue Team shown walzing in and out of the house while these sessions were going on to interrupt and otherwise dump on the proceedings. This was the beginning of the end of my affection for Bob, since that whole season ushered in the hardcore gameplay dynamic we see now--all the scheming, yelling, trying to coach the eliminations and so forth.
See, in all the seasons of this show--what are we up to now, 7? Bob has only had one grand prize winner. All the other winners have worn Jill's colors, which used to be red, and then was switched to black during the season they had three teams. Jill still won that time, too, despite having two other trainers to compete against. In the very beginning, Bob did have a gentler and more laid-back approach . . .his teams did a lot of yoga, and he seemed far less cutthroat at the time than did J. However, this 'Zen' attitude must have just been an overlay, because he has become more and more competitive and ticked off with every passing loss. I don't doubt that Bob is a competent trainer, but we can say what we want about Jill's personality--her methodology seems to be more effective. She has trained equal numbers of men and women, as has Bob, so I can't really explain the differerence, other than to surmise that perhaps Jill spends more time really getting to know her people and tailoring more individualized workouts for them. She is, and always has been, more about driving her people to their absolute physical limits and then demanding 10% more, than about conniving for most advantageous gameplay strategy. It seems to me, just off the top of my head, that all the contestants involved in blatant waterloading (not to mention emotional hazing--that's for you, Vicky--have belonged to Bob's teams.
Bottom line: Jill is punishingly tough, but fair. Bob is more of a gamesman, because at this point he is desperate for another win to vindicate himself. I don't doubt that the trainer of the Biggest Loser gets a nice little payday, too.
For the first couple of seasons, Bob was known as Papa Smurf on this board, not only because he trained the Blue teams, but also because he projected a more cuddly and mellow demeanor than his colleague. I now think that may have been an editing ploy, for both trainers: Evil Mistress Jillian vs. Gentle Bob. I'm sure the current Weenie Bob dynamic is also largely due to editorial decisions, and maybe the real Bob is somewhere in the middle. But I would say the same thing to the trainers as I would to the contestants viz. their portrayal on the show: If you don't do or say it, they can't show it. So if you don't want to be portrayed in an unflattering way, stop doing weenie things!
