Season 13 - Episode 8 - 02/21/12

[sheila]

If it gives you comfort, I'm white and I have the right to judge these people as white trash. In my everyday life I fight racism as much as I can, and I see a show that does not embrace diversity and allows bullies to take control. I am very very very angry about it as I should be.

[Bearcata]

WOW, just read that the production was just cancelled or shut down!

'The Biggest Loser' Lost the Contestants: Production Canceled, Christian News
NBC's 'Biggest Loser' Suspends Production After Contestants Walk Off the Set : TVBizwire : TVWeek - Television Industry news, TV ratings, analysis, celebrity event photos

These two articles are just repeating what TMZ said. In fact the articles are almost word for word what TMZ reported.

[Ryansmom]

You'd think you'd hear about this in real time? Unless, it's not this cast threatening to walk out? idk...but I'll be tuned in to find out what happened...

That said, I know they are going home next week and get immunity if they lose 5% of their body weight.

I guess that means the game is going individuals? If not, should be soon.

Don't know if Conda & Jeremy will do well...I see them as part of the people that 'struggle'.....

[Bearcata]

If it gives you comfort, I'm white and I have the right to judge these people as white trash. In my everyday life I fight racism as much as I can, and I see a show that does not embrace diversity and allows bullies to take control. I am very very very angry about it as I should be.

Take a good look at the contestants listed in wikipedia, they are not all white. There have been whites, hispanics, asians, tongans and folks of african descent. The mix varies with each season. Quite a few of the contestants are married to folks of different races and have mixed race children.

[spockwhat]

There is something rotten in the Kingdom of Denmark, in my opinion. I find it unacceptable that there is generally little diversity on the show and the percentage of white people, and of TBL winners, is disproportionately high. Indeed, the show does not reflect America, does not reflect its population or their specific problems. It is a fact, known worldwide and discussed at international medical conferences, that Native Americans have an extremely serious obesity problem and, as a group, are the number one in the world in Diabetes! Where are the Native Americans? Why aren't they on the show? I don't believe for a minute that none of them applied. Jillian Michaels was the ONLY one so far, in her very own boot camp show, to draw national attention to this problem, when she even visited a Native American Reservation.

And where are the African Americans? Where are the Asians? It's only whites, and frankly, this time around, I'm sick of the white trash that has hijacked the show.

Last, but not least, yes, they do change their rules as they go. Constantly. They have even their rear ends covered in the contracts contestants sign.

I, for one, am disgusted with what I see. They may have been well-meaning when they introduced that ridiculous rule of kicking out of the show one of the teams from the start, giving them a chance to come back, but it backfired seriously. I don't like seeing African Americans marginalized. It gives me an uneasy, deja vue feeling, and I think there is too much of a nasty history in this country for any thinking person to not be upset with this. If anything, they often allow America to voice an opinion, and there are thousands of people everywhere calling for the immediate elimination of the three, and I say four arch-bullies of the show. It's not just a game any more.

First of all, giving people a chance to come back has occured on this show before and hasn't nearly created the amount of drama as we've seen this time around. Calling for elimination of the contestants is ridiculous, as the show has mostly been filmed by now anyway.

Second of all, I don't believe there were any racist connotations behind the elimination. Simply, Conda and company had an easy target with two returning players and took advantage. The same would have been true of any team eliminated and allowed to come back. Easy targets, period. It's not uncommon for returnees to be targeted and eliminated. The problem is how Adrian were targetted and eliminated. They were treated like complete crap... like they weren't even human beings with feelings or deserving of respect. That has nothing to do with race, because as we've seen this group has treated MOST of the people they have eliminated with the same lack of respect . The issue is not a racial one.

(eta. As Bearcata just mentioned) The show has had plenty of minorities represented. I think their representation has been quite a bit better than many other reality shows, so I'm not going to knock them for it. I'm not sure how you define "white trash" so I'm not sure what you are referencing. In any case, the term is offensive to me, anyway.

We CAN agree to disagree!

[Shoepie]

These two articles are just repeating what TMZ said. In fact the articles are almost word for word what TMZ reported.

Yes. It seems unlikely to me that production would stop permantly. There is way too much money involved. If they did all walk out and it was legal to do so, production would step in to meet their demands before cancelling the entire show midseason. I am going to guess they stopped shooting for a day or two to settle things down. If there was a walk out, it was to get their demands met; they still want to go for the money.

This is a lot of bluster for very little, seems to me.

[sheila]

I never said that there never are any contestants from other races. However, the percentages do not reflect America. And as I said, only Jillian Michaels brought up the problem in the Native American community which is severe. I think that given the history of this country we owe it to them to show some consideration to those minorities that have suffered a horrible fate because of us whites. What have we done for the Native Americans? Given them some privileges, too little, too late, and thrown them the casinos. What have we done for awareness and about the problem of obesity in certain minority groups? Very little. Decent organizations will always check and double check and triple check and convene meetings to discuss diversity if they see the numbers are not right. TBL brought two token African Americans and gave them a very hard time from the start. They were also not vigilant to crash bullying which was so obvious, and bullying in our society is another big problem that should be fought and crashed.

Yes, of course we can agree to disagree. I love you guys all here, the bullies are elsewhere.

Bearcata, are you sure TMZ is the source of the two articles I cited? I thought only one of them talked about production having been suspended for a week.

[spockwhat]

TMZ mentioned production being suspended for a week.

[spockwhat]

Mike was also bullied by Conda and company. What minority is he again?

[Mustangs19]

If it gives you comfort, I'm white and I have the right to judge these people as white trash. In my everyday life I fight racism as much as I can, and I see a show that does not embrace diversity and allows bullies to take control. I am very very very angry about it as I should be.

Really? Wouldn't you say that is a bit hypocritical for someone who fights racism? Name-calling is name-calling IMHO. This show, of all "reality" shows is probably the most diverse I've watched with many races represented. No one knows what percentage of people apply or what percentage are cleared health-wise. The show has no control of who wins in the end, that's on the contestants and how well they do.