The bad fan

I could very well be the only Detroiter excited for something other then tomorrow night's Red Wings Playoff game. I know I'm gonna catch a lot of flack for this but I intend to spend tomorrow evening watching one of my favorite shows as it airs its 3 hour season finale on NBC, The Biggest Loser. Thanks to the goddess of hair, Alex Noll of Ashka Salon, I was clued into this show when, while sitting in her chair with 50 foils attached to my head, she asked if was watching the current season. I told her that I'd never seen it and that I didn't know much about it other then the obvious goal of helping people lose weight. At her suggestion I recorded the 3rd episode of the season and once I had viewed all my other recordings while running on the treadmill I decided to give it a chance. My DVR is currently scheduled to record the following: Flip This House, Big Love, Californication, Weeds, The Tudors, Law & Order: SVU and Lost. In the not so distant past I was guilty of being a reality addict but I'm in recovery and rarely watch such shows unless you consider Cathouse and Katie Morgan's Tips on HBO to be reality trash TV, I personally consider those to be of high educational value!

I watched my first episode and 15 weeks later haven't missed a single one. I'm gonna sound like an advertisement for this show but it's one of the only reality shows I know of that you can honestly feel good about watching. The contestants are split up between two trainers, either Jillian Michaels, a tough chiseled brunette with a gravelly voice and some serious eyebrows or Bob Harper, a high energy, lovable, flamboyant southern boy with tattoos and reddish blond hair who whip them into shape (I have a major crush on Bob!). Each week the contestants are faced with physical challenges that test every kind of athleticism. One week they fought to stand on a block with only one foot and another week they had to hold themselves up in cages 50 feet above ground. They test endurance, strength, and what usually wins the competitions, mental toughness. Along with the physical challenges comes the psychological effects of people who were so void of self confidence and a belief in themselves that they go through a dramatic emotional and mental transformation. I quit watching it while on the treadmill because it's really hard to keep your pace while getting teary eyed and having to blow your nose. Seriously, I've cried at least once in every episode. They cross a finish line, I cry, they lose 8 lbs, I cry, they pick up a carrot stick...I cry. Okay the carrot stick is a stretch but I always find myself emotional over what these people are accomplishing and how it's changing their lives. At the end of each episode they all weigh in and the two people with the lowest percentage of weight loss are the two candidates for elimination. It's down to four finalists and shock, three of them are from Michigan. Yep, those studies placing Michigan in the top 10 fattest states every year isn't a hoax people, we're fat! And the finalists aren't from just anywhere in Michigan, the two on the right are from South Lyon and one is from Sterling Heights. I don't know whether to be a little ashamed that they likely represent way too many overweight people in Michigan or whether to be proud of our fellow neighbors for having the drive and determination to lose 100's of pounds! Either way I'll be on the edge of my seat watching as someone takes home $250K and the rest take home a new lease on life. I understand if the Red Wings take priority, promise to at lease record the Wings so that I can watch it on commercials.