My Early Impressions and Review of Season 8 of The Biggest Loser

Maybe this will be an unpopular opinion, but am I the only one who is already tired of this season of The Biggest Loser? We are now through the fourth week of Season 8, and I have to admit that I am considering not tuning in anymore.

I have watched several other seasons of the The Biggest Loser and have found many of the contestants and their weight loss stories to be inspiring, motivating, and uplifting. But this season, the contestants just seem to be crying all of the time, and I am not finding this to be entertaining! I understand that the contestants grow close to one another during their time on the ranch and that they may be sad when their new-found friends are voted off, but the weepiness is getting out of control. Instead of tugging at my heart strings, I found this week's love-fest between the contestants that were up for elimination (Julio from the Black Team and Liz and Danny from the Brown Team) to be depressing and annoying at the same time. It was almost too much for me to bear.

My other major problem with this season so far is that none of the contestants seem to have a real strategy for winning. Even though the contestants' primary goals are to lose weight and get healthy, this is a game, after all, so someone should be trying to play it! Tracey of the Purple Team probably comes the closest to playing the game, but in the end she just comes off as being either clueless or just plain crazy. She obviously wants control of the game, but when she gets it by winning one of the challenges, she has no idea what to do with it. This does not make for compelling television, in my opinion.

Even the trainers on The Biggest Loser, Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels, are getting on my nerves this season. For example, in week 3, they both ran Tracey through the proverbial ringer when she gave up being trained by them for the week in exchange for a 2-pound advantage at the weigh-in. This meant that Tracey had to work out completely on her own during week 3, so there was no guidance and wisdom from Jillian and Bob.

Without actually coming out and using the words, Bob and Jillian basically called Tracey stupid and idiotic for throwing away the opportunity to receive training from them. However, when Tracey managed to lose 11 pounds on her own that week (which was much more than many of the other contestants lost), Bob and Jillian were nowhere to be seen. I would have loved to hear their take on how Tracey could have possibly done so well without them, but the show chose not to address this issue. I am sure it would have been embarrassing for Bob and Jillian to have to explain themselves. So while I understand why the topic was not revisited, it definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I hate to admit this, but I find myself wishing to see Heba, Ed, Vicky, and Brady from Season 6 again. They certainly were mean-spirited and catty, but at least they were interesting, they played the game, and they didn't cry all the time!