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The Biggest Loser on ITV

By WLR Staff

Imagine a world with no television, newspapers or contact with the outside world, no alcohol, cigarettes or food not supplied by the nutrition police!

That’s the life to be endured by the 16 Biggest Loser UK contestants in Britain’s version of the Hit TV series, as they strive to lose enough weight to scoop the £10,000 Biggest Loser prize.

Hosted by Kate Garroway The Biggest Loser is a new show on ITV that follows the progress of contestants which will air every weekday from Monday 27th April.

Biggest Loser contestants live together in a house in Leicestershire where they face intense physical exercise and dramatic change in diet in their battle to lose weight, transform their bodies, their health and their lives.

The contestants are made up of eight pairs, including combinations of mums and daughters, best friends, dad and son, husband and wife, sisters and two single men who’ve never met before.

Each week personal trainers Angie Dowds and Richard Callender put the contestants through a gruelling exercise programme, which includes a split of three hours of cardio a day and two hours of resistance training.

The highlight of the Biggest Loser’s week is the all important weekly ‘Weigh In’ where Kate reveals just how well the contestants have all done.  At this stage the two couples who have lost the least amount of weight are put up for elimination and the remaining contestants must vote out the couple that they want to leave the house.

After four weeks the teams’ change and the competition intensifies when the remaining pairs are divided into two teams – Black and Blue. The contestants’ individual weight loss forms part of their teams’ total weight loss. The team with the lowest percentage faces elimination with each member of the losing team voting on whom they want to be eliminated.

Over the weeks the Biggest Loser contestants must endure a series of tough challenges including: pulling themselves along on rafts in a swimming pool, tobogganing down a snow slope and then race up it, returning to an old-school sports lesson, digging strawberry plants on a farm, running with hay bales, pumping a hand cart down a quarter of a mile track on an old steam railway, building and climbing on top of a tower of milk crates, pulling a 7 ½ tonne truck and then facing the final challenge of completing a triathlon under the expert supervision of Darren Campbell, Jamie Staff and Mark Foster.

Contestants are also wickedly enticed by a series of temptation challenges to see if they have found a new born strength to resist what has previously helped them pile on the pounds.

At the end of the gruelling eight weeks the remaining contestants are weighed and the Biggest Loser finalists chosen. They are then sent home where they must continue training and maintaining their new lifestyle. Two months later they are brought back for the final weigh in and the contestant who has battled the bulge the best will win a cash prize of £10,000 and the title of The Biggest Loser.

Kate Garraway said: “Every contestant has a different reason for wanting to take part, some are longing to have a baby, but their weight is preventing them, some are looking for love and others have been told that if they don't shed the pounds they could die, so for them the show really is a last chance, literally a matter of life and death. I have been so moved and often completely inspired by many of the contestant’s stories and I know people watching at home will be gripped too."

The Biggest Loser has a UK club site where members can find a buddy and use the site’s tools to help them lose weight Biggest Loser Club

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