One of the top rated reality TV shows begins a new season tomorrow night as NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” resumes with its 8th season. The theme of this season is “second chances,” and features a former contestant getting another shot for the first time in the show’s history. That contestant is Daniel Wright, who competed in Season 7 and began, at 454 pounds, as the heaviest entrant to date, and he starts at a comparatively svelte 312 pounds.
There are others receiving “second chances” in life–a firefighter who has let his weight get away from him, a military mom who always put her family first, and a mom and wife who lost her husband and two kids in a horrible car crash.
As always, this show continues to push the envelope, and that is no more evident than in the first episode, as the 16 contestants are pushed to the limit on their first challenge. They also weigh in to find that there are several contestants over 400 pounds, including someone even heavier than Daniel’s 454 last season.
Trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels return, but will be training the contestants as a team instead of against each other, something that both trainers are happy about.
“I think that that’s been evident to America who see us struggle with that dynamic (having each trainer responsible for teams),” said Michaels on a conference call recently. “And so I personally never want to see it go back another way. I think the competition exists between the contestants and should not exist – should not involve the trainers whatsoever.”
And the theme of second chances speaks to the reality that several contestants from past seasons have ballooned back up to their previous weight.
“There’s no finish line,” said Harper. “There’s no like quick fix here. These guys have to like take responsibility of their lives and be able to learn what we give them and take the tools that Jillian and I give them to live a better life and realize that it’s hard.”
So how will it turn out this season? Will the trainers teaming up make a more positive impact on the players and keep the gameplay to a minimum? Tune in tomorrow for the season premiere, and each Tuesday at 8pm/7pm central on NBC, and tune in here for the weekly recap of each episode.
