NBC's the "Biggest Loser" has been a wildly popular reality show since its launch in 2004. Each season, obese contestants compete against each other to see who could lose the most weight and nab the grand prize. Contestants have walked away from the experience hundreds of pounds lighter but a shocking new claim alleges that the trainers mentally and physically abused contestants to get them in shape.
Kai Hibbard, who came in second place on Season 3, told the New York Post that she's "embarrassed to have participated" on the "Biggest Loser."
"The whole f**king show is a fat-shaming disaster," she said.
Hibbard began her journey in 2006 and went on to shed more than 100 pounds on the show but claims she and the other contestants were constantly berated. Hibbard told the Post the tactics used by the trainers were allegedly emotionally and physically abusive.
"They would say things to contestants like, 'You're going to die before your children grow up. You're going to die, just like your mother. We've picked out your fat-person coffin' - that was in a text message," she said.
The mother of one said the only reason she didn't bail on the show was because she was brainwashed to feel that she was "so lucky to be there."
"I was thinking, 'Dear God, don't let anybody down. You will appear ungrateful if you don't lose more weight before the season finale,'" Hibbard told the Post. "[Despite] the harassment and the bullying, I wanted to please them."
If you've ever watched the "Biggest Loser" it's clear the trainers take the process seriously but Hibbard said the intense workout sessions often led to her "feet bleeding through [her] shoes for the first three weeks" at the ranch. She also said she believes the trainers enjoyed seeing the contestants in pain.
"They'd get a sick pleasure out of it," Hibbard told the Post. "They'd say, 'It's because you're fat. Look at all the fat you have on you.' And that was our fault, so this was our punishment."
Despite the alleged horrific conditions, Hibbard finished the show but not without some health problems. She's revealed in the past that she developed an eating disorder and told the Post that she now has issues with her thyroid.
"My period stopped," she claims. "I was only sleeping three hours a night. My thyroid, which I never had problems with, is now crap."
This isn't the first controversy to plague the reality competition show. Last year, fans were worried about winner Rachel Frederickson's health after she dropped 155 pounds on the show.
NBC responded to Hibbard's claims, saying in a statement that the "contestants are closely monitored and medically supervised. The consistent Biggest Loser health transformations of over 300 contestants through 16 seasons of the program speak for themselves."
