One of the most shocking shows on television right now is Netflix’s Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser, which goes behind the scenes of one of America’s most popular weight-loss programmes.
Known for its extreme (and some may argue degrading) approach, participants were forced to face off against each other in a bid to lose the most weight alongside the help of no-nonsense personal trainers.
Jillian Michaels, a coach made famous from The Biggest Loser, was namechecked several times in the series, apparently bending the rules by allowing some contestants to take caffeine pills before crucial weigh-ins (Michaels declined to appear in the Fit for TV documentary).
However, it seems Michaels, 51, has taken umbrage with some of the claims made in the Netflix documentary, with celebrity gossip site TMZ now alleging that she may even sue Netflix, as well as fellow The Biggest Loser coach Bob Harper and the show’s medical advisor, Dr. Robert Huizenga.
TMZ adds that Michaels has since met with ‘powerhouse’ lawyer Bryan Freedman to plot next steps. Michaels has also taken to her Instagram page to debunk allegations made in the documentary: that caffeine pills were banned on the set of The Biggest Loser.
Sharing a number of screenshots of messages that she alleges are from those involved, Michaels wrote: “Here is an email chain with Bob Harper - The Biggest Loser's producers – Dr Huizenga’s guy, Sandy Krum, who stayed on set with us and distributed the fat burners about which "fat burners" / caffeine pills to purchase the contestants. This is one email of many that shows:
- Dr. Huizenga did approve caffeine pills on many seasons of The Biggest Loser.
- Bob Harper not only knew about the caffeine pills, the “stackers fat burner” were actually his suggestion. I wanted to use my brand instead because they were cleaner and had no more than 200mg of caffeine (equivalent to a strong cup of coffee).
- Caffeine was NEVER banned on The Biggest Loser.”
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She added “Wild how some folks still lie like it's 1985 before texts and email were a thing.”
A final screenshot, which appears to be a text sent by Michaels in 2014, reads: “I think it’s really shitty of you to not even respond to my texts. It’s this kind of thing that always makes me so disappointed my [sic] our relationship.”
Michaels claims that this is the penultimate text she ever sent to Bob Harper.
In Fit For TV, Dr Huizenga tells cameras: “Caffeine, a weight loss pill, was absolutely against everything in the show. It was in the show rules, and the patients signed off to that and the trainers signed off to that, and all the producers signed off to that."
Cosmopolitan UK has contacted representatives for Netflix, as well as representatives for Michaels, about these reports.
Kimberley Bond is a Multiplatform Writer for Harper’s Bazaar, focusing on the arts, culture, careers and lifestyle. She previously worked as a Features Writer for Cosmopolitan UK, and has bylines at The Telegraph, The Independent and British Vogue among countless others.
