New direction is weighing ‘Losers’ down

One appeal of NBC's "The Biggest Loser" is that it's always been the show everyone would kind of like to be on, if the criteria to be a contestant didn't include being extremely overweight.

The thought of spending three months with a series of personal trainers at the ready in an environment geared toward weight loss doesn't seem like such a bad idea, particularly after the holiday season. Plus, the trainers and contestants have been pretty likeable, making it easy to root for people.

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There's a sense of camaraderie among the contestants, there’s always the feeling that while somebody gets voted off every week, rarely is there anything personal behind the decision.

But the fourth season has gone in a different direction, placing more emphasis on gamesmanship among the contestants and the training staff. An increasing amount of airtime has been devoted to strategy, plotting and the occasional backstabbing instead of focusing on challenges and workouts.

The results may have brought in a few new viewers who like the intrigue, but it's come at a cost. Now, the show is straddling the fine line between being a uniquely feel-good program and a typical reality show.

Too big of a role
Every season has its favorites and the occasional hopeful who confuses the game with "Survivor," but for the most part everyone seems to be out to help each other succeed. That's been less true this season, as the speeches about how much the decision to vote someone off hurts have seem less genuine every time.

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The trainers deserve a big share of the blame for that. More than ever this season, we've seen the trainers insert themselves into all aspects of the game. Instead of coaching the players on how to lose weight, they're also telling them how to win.

Kim Lyons got the ball rolling early in the competition as her Red Team was in the midst of a long losing streak that saw her players getting picked off. Faced with the certainty that her team would see someone else go, she told her squad that Amy Zimmer would have to be voted off to win challenges.

Kim, however, never thought having that person in the room while discussing the strategy wasn't the world's best idea. Both angry and forewarned, Amy managed to save herself, then dumped Kim for the Black Team.

That put Amy under the thumb of Jillian Michaels, who proved to be much better at forming a unified, dedicated team. She's also proved to be a great trainer, as evidenced by the fact that all four of the remaining hopefuls — Bill Germanakos, Julie Hadden, Isabeau Miller and Hollie Self — are members of her team.

That's impressive, given that halfway through the premiere, none of them thought they would make it onto the show. That first episode saw two captains picking teams of six from a field of 18 contestants to train under the guidance of Kim and Bob Harper. Six players were left undrafted to presumably head home, until Jillian Michaels roared up on her motorcycle to form a secret third team that would rejoin the others later.

It seemed to be a great touch — and a nice revenge story for everyone out there who's been among the last picked for anything. But it's spiraled out of control since that moment. Jillian's Black Team members appear to have a chip on their shoulders, but Jillian has something between a two-by-four and an entire lumberyard — and she's not afraid to use it to beat her crew into toeing the line.

A daring vote

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That was most evident a few weeks ago. One of the contestants up for elimination was Byron Washington, the last remaining member of the Red Team. The other was Amy, the recent addition to Black, but not someone who seemed to have a lot of respect from anyone in the house.

Isabeau ultimately found that she couldn't vote off Byron over someone who had just joined her team, worked less hard and had already made a career out of stabbing her Red Team members in the back. Moreover, the decision still left the Black Team with more contestants than any other team, so it was a decision that was justifiable both ethically and strategically. So she voted to send Amy home.

That made her a villain in the eyes of her trainer and her teammate. Jillian talked about the betrayal of trust, and that Byron would always beat her in the standings and would forever be a threat. Of course, two weeks later Byron was gone, and Isabeau is among the final four. But there's little doubt that had she ever been below the line and up for elimination against another member of the Black Team, that vote would have sent her packing.

Bad for the game?
Has that approach been bad for the Black Team? Obviously not, considering four of them are still there while everyone else is gone. But it may have come at a cost to the show.

Inserting the trainers into the game-playing process, as opposed to having them simply help everyone lose weight, makes them far less sympathetic. In previous seasons, the worst the audience has seen them do is drive their teams really hard, pushing them to exceed their mental limits in order to achieve a healthier lifestyle.

Though occasionally that leads to friction on the treadmill, it's rarely been anything controversial and it's never been the focal point of the show. This season, they've taken on a more central role, with the trainers emphasizing the need to work against the competition even as they work for themselves.

The “Biggest Loser” has always been the kind of show that tries to get viewers to root for everyone. That's been a lot harder to do this time, regardless of which member of the Black Team winds up winning. And without that rooting interest, it may be hard for the show to keep its momentum. Ultimately, “The Biggest Loser" took its biggest edge and instead moved closer to being just another reality show.

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