How upset were you that Carlo lost to David in the first season of The Biggest Loser Asia? I know most of you don’t give a flying hoot, but I (somewhat) do. I was excited when the season began but I lost interest after the 4th or so episode. Sorry to say but at that point, it was not compelling enough for me to sacrifice my 9-10pm on Tuesdays. For contestants who got this lucky, lucky break in life by being handed almost all the equipment they need to lose weight and be healthier and fitter, some of them just didn’t seem to put in the expected effort.
Maybe I am being harsh. After all, the whole show was held in what, 3 months? Perhaps the contestants had a culture shock, didn’t mentally prepare themselves, didn’t know it would be so tough, etc etc etc. Or maybe the editing of the show was skewed to make us feel a certain way towards certain participants. I don’t know and I suppose at this point, it doesn’t matter.
Of course I’m not putting down the hard work and effort that some of them do put in. It couldn’t have been easy, doing all this in front of Asia’s brutal eyes. All the reps that Carlo said he did after leaving the show, well I’ll be honest and confess that I myself do not have the stamina to do that. I admire their passion and continued dedication to improving themselves.
That’s the draw of reality shows. The human drama, emotions on blatant display, dirty tricks and what-not, improvement or otherwise… those are reasons that keep us coming back for more. It is fun to watch somebody else transform on our TV sets week after week while we sit on our comfortable couches making snide remarks about what they did, or give suggestions to nobody in particular about what they should have done. In short, we celebrate human accomplishments as much as train wrecks. We are creepy that way.
But last night’s season finale left me with much thoughts, most of which I have already… errr, coherently expressed on Facebook, heh. David Gurnani from Indonesia beat Carlo Miguel from Philippines to clinch the title of Asia’s first ever Biggest Loser. How did he do it? Apparently he quit working for 2 months and worked out in the gym everyday for 8 hours before the final unveiling. Carlo on the other hand slipped in his exercising at the gym in between his full-time job as an executive chef and caring for his pregnant wife. Below are two photos of the two men’s transformations, nicked from TBLA’s Facebook fan page.
Perhaps the photos are insufficient to describe what went on last night so I’ll tell you. Carlo looked fit, healthy and full of life. David on the other hand looked weak, haggard, disoriented and dehydrated. You may argue that hey, it’s fair game, it’s a show, you do whatever you can to win that USD100k. It’s a lot of money, you know. Of course and David did win the competition. But did he win in life? Well, that’s open for debate. If you’d look at forums and what-not, you’d see everyone wanting to feed David a
It’s not just about losing weight, it’s about getting a whole new lease on life.
Okay lah it’s a TV show, etc etc etc. But these are real people’s lives involved here, not to mention the influencing factors of the The Biggest Loser franchise. Well, I wish the contestants good luck in life, and I’ll chip in $2 for David to buy a sandwich.
p/s: Gary rocked!
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[This is a Xpax Advertorial]
If you’re a Xpax, U.O.X. or S.O.X. subscriber, did you know that you’re entitled to some pretty cool discounts on Channel X?
As part of the Xpax Big Freekin Sale, you get to half price off Channel X downloads all day long. Items include music, caller ring tones and games. Not sure if you’ve heard of them but I just recently ‘discovered’ Bunkface and I really like them. Even more pleased to know that they are Malaysians. Don’t know, odd sense of patriotism that way.
Bunkface has this song, ‘Situasi’ that I quite like. It’s available as a downloadable Call Me Ringtone on Channel X for RM3.50. With 50% off, it now costs RM1.75. Not bad eh.
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