History Series / TheBiggestLoser

* GenreSavvy: Subverted season after season when the contestants who claim to have watched several seasons before coming on the show completely freak out during the initial workouts.

** A {{Exergaming}} game for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, in the mold of ''WiiFit''

%%* EliminatedFromTheRace

''The Biggest Loser'' (2004-) is a RealityTV show on Creator/{{NBC}} where a number of overweight individuals compete to lose the greatest amount of weight while living at a special ranch. The contestants are divided into two (or more) teams, each of which works out with a specific trainer, while facing temptations and reward challenges. At the end of each week, each contestant is weighed, and the participants vote out one of the two contestants who lost the least percentage of their body weight during the week. The final remaining contestant wins $250,000. A second prize of $100,000 is awarded to the contestant who loses the most weight after being eliminated as a motivation to continue to lose weight after elimination.

As of January 2014, fourteen full seasons and two specials have aired in the United States, with the 15th season underway, as well as 22 seasons in 11 other countries.

* ClusterFBomb: The reaction during week 14's weigh in from all four trainers and several contestants in season 11, [[spoiler: when Courtney lost 1 pound, 2 pounds short of what was needed to keep herself on the ranch, therefore automatically eliminating not only her, but her trainer Brett, from the competition]]. The censorship bleeps were heard for about 30 seconds after the final number popped up on the scale.

* ConfessionCam

* EliminatedFromTheRace
* EliminationStatement

* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler: Rachel]] winning Season 15. This was the first and only example to date of a contestant beginning the show morbidly obese and actually ending the show ''underweight''. This victory received a lot of backlash, even from the trainers themselves, such as Jillian who appeared flabbergasted at the finale. Thankfully, [[spoiler: Rachel]] gained back 20 pounds after the finale and says that the weight loss, was, indeed, healthy.

** [[spoiler: Sean and Antoine]] from season 8 also sacrificed themselves when [[spoiler: Daniel and Shay]], arguably the most desperate team in the game at the time, were up for elimination with them.

* LastOfHisKind: [[spoiler: Danni]] in Season 14 was the last/only member of the Jillian's team after all 4 of her teammates were eliminated within the first 4 episodes.

* SenselessSacrifice: An infamous example occurred in the Season 13 Final Five. [[spoiler: Twice]]. The remaining 5 contestants caught wind of the news that [[spoiler: an eliminated candidate would be returning for the finale after winning a final challenge]], and given their experiences with [[spoiler: [[KnightOfCerebus the]] [[TheScrappy Aqua]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad Team]]]] they were furious and collectively [[spoiler: quit in protest of the decision]]. 3 of the contestants wound up coming to their senses but [[spoiler: Buddy and Mark quit for good and left the ranch, disqualifying themselves for the at-home prize]]. This, in itself, is a questionable move, but any basis for the action is '''totally''' negated when [[spoiler: Jeremy, one of the 3 remaining contestants, was eliminated via the red line at that week's weigh-in and ''then'' brought himself back into the game via the aforementioned controversial challenge]]. Given the primary motivation was "someone who hasn't been here doesn't deserve it as much as we do", this was absolutely painful to watch in hindsight.

* TheBadGuyWins: Season 13, where [[spoiler: [[TheScrappy Conda]]]] makes it into the final three and ends up losing, but [[spoiler: her brother ends up winning anyway]], probably also significantly benefiting her in the long run. It doesn't help that the other candidate in the final 3 (besides the two siblings) also had a rather spotty track record with fans.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: (Obviously) Non-death examples: [[spoiler: Jim (Season 4), Jerry (Season 4), Mike (Season 12), and Aaron (Season 1)]] were all exemplary, consistent contestants that were completely thrown under the bus by their (usually less capable) team members and eliminated early on, all for gameplay related reasons.

** There is one being advertised as of 2011 for the XBox360-Kinect combo.

** [[spoiler: Sean and Antoine]] from season 8 also sacrificed themselves when [[Daniel and Shay]], arguably the most desperate team in the game at the time, were up for elimination with them.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[spoiler: Nicole's]] reappearance in Season 7. After being removed from the competition in episode 1, she returned after losing 87 pounds at home. Everyone was freaking out because she had the second highest percentage of weight loss in the entire house and her appearance caused widespread fear and chaos, as well as all sorts of talk of gameplay. However, she lost her immunity at the weigh-in by gaining 5 pounds, and she was swiftly sent home. This is never mentioned in the next episode and the game continues on as it was.

BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[spoiler: Nicole's]] reappearance in Season 7. After being removed from the competition in episode 1, she returned after losing 87 pounds at home. Everyone was freaking out because she had the second highest percentage of weight loss in the entire house and her appearance caused widespread fear and chaos, as well as all sorts of talk of gameplay. However, she lost her immunity at the weigh-in by gaining 5 pounds, and she was swiftly sent home. This is never mentioned in the next episode and the game continues on as it was.

** Almost all of the nice and even the more neutral contestants in Season 13 were eliminated by the final 5.

** A {{Exergaming}} game for the {{Wii}}, in the mold of ''WiiFit''
** One on the {{DS}} that is more of a diet manager.

* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler: Rachel]] winning Season 15. This was the first and only example to date of a contestant beginning the show morbidly obese and actually ending the show ''underweight''. This victory received a lot of backlash, even from the trainers themselves, such as Jillian who appeared flabbergasted at the finale. Thankfully, [[Rachel]] gained back 20 pounds after the finale and says that the weight loss, was, indeed, healthy.

* TheBadGuyWins: Season 13, where [[spoiler: [[TheScrappy Conda]]]] makes it into the final three and ends up losing...but [[spoiler: her brother ends up winning anyway]], probably also significantly benefiting her in the long run. It doesn't help that the other candidate in the final 3 (besides the two siblings) also had a rather spotty track record with fans.

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: Season 13, where [[TheScrappy Conda]] makes it into the final three and ends up losing...but her brother ends up winning anyway, probably also significantly benefiting her in the long run.]]

* SenselessSacrifice: An infamous example occurred in the Season 13 Final Five. [[spoiler: Twice]]. The remaining 5 contestants caught wind of the news that [[spoiler: an eliminated candidate would be returning for the finale after winning a final challenge]], and given their experiences with [[spoiler: [[KnightOfCerebus the]] [[TheScrappy Aqua]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad Team]]]] they were furious and collectively [[spoiler: quit in protest of the decision]]. 3 of the contestants wound up coming to their senses but [[spoiler: Buddy and Mark quit, disqualifying themselves for the at-home prize]]. This, in itself, is a questionable move, but any basis for the action is '''totally''' negated when [[spoiler: Jeremy, one of the 3 remaining contestants, was eliminated via the red line at that week's weigh-in and ''then'' brought himself back into the game via the aforementioned controversial challenge]]. Given the primary motivation was "someone who hasn't been here doesn't deserve it as much as we do", this was absolutely painful to watch in hindsight.

* SenselessSacrifice: An infamous example occurred in the Season 13 Final Five. [[spoiler: Twice]]. The remaining 5 contestants caught wind of the news that [[spoiler: an eliminated candidate would be returning for the finale after winning a final challenge]], and given their experiences with [[spoiler: [[KnightOfCereberus the]] [[TheScrappy Aqua]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad Team]]]] they were furious and collectively [[spoiler: quit in protest of the decision]]. 3 of the contestants wound up coming to their senses but [[spoiler: Buddy and Mark quit, disqualifying themselves for the at-home prize]]. This, in itself, is a questionable move, but any basis for the action is '''totally''' negated when [[spoiler: Jeremy, one of the 3 remaining contestants, was eliminated via the red line at that week's weigh-in and ''then'' brought himself back into the game via the aforementioned controversial challenge]]. Given the primary motivation was "someone who hasn't been here doesn't deserve it as much as we do", this was absolutely painful to watch in hindsight.

* ViewersAreMorons: Some viewers don't realize that the speed of weight loss seen on the show is the result of the controlled environment provided by a small army of doctors, personal trainers, and other assorted health experts as they guide the contestants through several hours a day of intense exercise. When these viewers, who are holding down full-time jobs and dealing with everyday life instead of exercising 50 hours a week, manage to lose "only" 3 pounds in a week instead of 13, they wonder what went wrong.
** One challenge in Season 12 addressed this by only giving the teams short windows in which to use the gym, simulating the time constraints faced by most people.

* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Many contestants have partners that are of normal weight; spme of them also happen to be short, and that's how we get this trope. A fine example would be Season 4's Neil and his girlfriend.

* ActionGirl: Tara Costa in Season 7 (a 18 week season) won 12 challenges in her season.