Dr. Terry Dubrow and Heather Dubrow have thoughts about Fit for TV exploring the dark side of The Biggest Loser.
“We, like the nation, are obsessed with Fit for TV,” Heather, 56, said on the Wednesday, August 20, episode of their “Between Us” podcast. “It’s the No. 1 show on Netflix right now. So, interestingly, we are not only friends with Dr. Robert Huizenga, [but] he is our personal physician.”
Huizenga served as a doctor and medical consultant on 17 seasons of The Biggest Loser, a show that helped individuals with obesity lose weight by switching up their diet and workout routines. The contestant with the biggest weight loss difference ended up winning a cash prize.
Heather and Terry, 66, also claimed on their Wednesday podcast episode that Huizenga personally told them that he “turned down” a cut of Biggest Loser merchandise over ethics.
“Dr. Huizenga is a Harvard-trained [physician],” Heather said. “He’s a brilliant, brilliant doctor, who is such a safety guy. I know this because he’s my doctor. Trust me, I have to talk him into things.”
Terry, meanwhile, asserted that Huizenga was never “some TV doctor they hired who’s going to follow exactly what they say, no matter how crazy” the production request.
“This is a guy who’s extraordinarily gifted, went to Harvard Medical School, [has] a high moral compass, has an enormous practice of fundamentally basically celebrities and is one of the most principled physicians I’ve ever known,” Terry said. “If not the most principled.”
The Dubrows, especially Terry as a doctor himself, had been familiar with The Biggest Loser when it initially aired on television.
“I remember in 2003 and 2004, I did the show The Swan,” Terry recalled. “[It was] sending the worst message about ‘you’re not good enough.’ I remember … when they canceled The Swan, this new show was about to come out, called The Biggest Loser.”
Terry recalled that The Biggest Loser tried to differentiate itself from The Swan, which documented plastic surgery journeys, by stressing it was about the “healthy” way to lose weight.
“‘We’re going to send the right message, and they’re going to lose weight through diet and exercise,’” Terry recalled of the show’s marketing plan. “It turns out to be the worst reality show of all time. It sends the wrong message with a whole bunch of characters on the show, who did it the absolute wrong way. The Biggest Loser was the biggest loser of reality shows.”
According to Terry, Fit for TV did a “really good job” at highlighting the issues behind the scenes of The Biggest Loser.
“So, what was supposed to replace The Swan was this great reality show that was empowering and treating the No. 1 disease that affects America, turns out to be the worst on so many levels,” Terry quipped. “It portrayed the whole show [as] basically starving these people, exposing them to five to eight hours of exercise a day, [which is] not sustainable.”
Fit for TV is streaming on Netflix.
