Shannan Ponton, a trainer from the Australian version of The Biggest Loser, has weighed in on the controversial Netflix documentary that explores the dark side of the weight loss show.
Speaking to KIIS FM’s “Rob & Kip with Corey Oates” on Wednesday, August 27, the reality TV alum, 52, said after watching Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser, he felt that some of the ex-contestants who participated were trying to shirk accountability.
“It was everything that I thought it was going to be. It was exactly what I thought,” Ponton said. (Ponton trained the blue team on the Australian version of the franchise, similar to Bob Harper on the U.S. version.)
Ponton explained he thought ex-contestants were “looking for, I guess, a way out [rather than] to take responsibility for where they’re at.”
However, the fitness guru admitted he agreed with some of the points the show’s former contestants brought up in the documentary.
“With that said, I think weight loss in the world has changed a lot in the last 20 years,” he said. “And I think, you know, there is probably merit in some of the points that the ex-contestants had as far as they probably could have benefited a lot from post-show psychology or post-show help in that area.”
While The Biggest Loser has come under fire due to the potential health risks of rapid weight loss in a competition-based reality show, Ponton insisted that he stood by the weight loss methods used in the series.
He told the radio show he was “disappointed, but not surprised” that former contestants who appeared in the documentary had regained their weight but insisted that “it’s not a flaw in the system” that that occurred.
“The system and the methods that we provided to the contestants, still to this day, I still believe in,” he said, “I was never told to do anything, I was never anybody’s puppet. Everything that I did on the show, I did with the best intent and to try and get the best possible results for the contestants.”
Ponton also defended The Biggest Loser trainers yelling at the contestants during their workouts, an action which critics believe was designed to humiliate the contestants on TV.
“I was nobody’s puppet, and everything I did was done with the pure heart and of course there are times where you become frustrated,” Ponton said.
He added, “Some of the things that came out in the documentary… I found what’s fascinating where people were saying, ‘Oh, you’re just belittling these people because they’re fat. You’re making a show on them because they’re fat,’ and it’s not true. That’s how trainers and coaches are in their primal state.”
Ponton also shared his thoughts on how the Australian version differed from the original American series. (Due to the success of the U.S. version, the concept was franchised globally. Harper and Jillian Michaels were trainers for the Australian version in season 1 when it debuted in 2006 before Ponton and red team trainer Michelle Bridges took over in season 2 the following year.)
“I think well, we’re obviously different people and each to our own. As far as caffeine tablets and stuff like that, we never had any input into the supplements or anything that the contestants took, and that was all monitored by production and the medical team that we had in place,” the personal trainer reflected, referencing the caffeine pill controversy in the U.S. show that was called out in the documentary.
He continued, “So I’m glad that we can take a step back away from that. Other than that, you know, my methods are my methods. Bob has his, and Jillian obviously has hers.”
Read the full article here
