Several former The Biggest Loser contestants have come forward, accusing the show of encouraging them to use dangerous drugs to lose weight fast.
Lezlye Donahue is just one of many former contestants who spoke with the New York Post about how they were treated while competing on The Biggest Loser.
Donahue claims she and the other contestants were actually asked to use street drugs and starve themselves to lose more weight to promote the show.
In fact, Rob Huizenga, known as Dr. H. on the show, collaborated with Dr. Kevin Hall on a study that examines the post-show weight gain in many of the contestants.
“People were passing out in Dr. H’s office at the finale weigh-in,” said Suzanne Mendonca, who competed in Season 2. “On my season, five people had to be rushed to the hospital. He knew exactly what we were doing and never tried to stop it.”
An inside source told the New York Post that Bob Harper, a trainer on The Biggest Loser, and one of his assistants frequently provided the contestants with Adderall and “yellow jackets”—pills that contain ephedra extract, which was banned by the FDA in 2004.
“Bob Harper was my trainer,” Joelle Gwynn, who appeared in 2008’s “Couples” season, said. “He goes away and his assistant comes in. He’s got this brown paper bag that’s bundled up. He says, ‘Take this drug, it’ll really help you.’ It was yellow and black. I was like, ‘What the f- -k is this?’”
While Gwynn admits she did accept the drugs the first time, she had such a negative reaction that she couldn’t take it anymore.
“I felt jittery and hyper,” she said. “I went and told the sports medicine guy. The next day, Dr. H gave us some lame explanation of why they got added to our regimen and that it was up to us to take them . . . People chastise Bill Cosby for allegedly offering meds to women, but it’s acceptable to do to fat people to make them lose weight. I feel like we got raped, too.”
Mendonca recounted similar stories to the New York Post, backing up Gwynn’s claim that the contestants were encouraged to take illicit drugs, water pills, and diuretics to lose weight.
“People would take amphetamines, water pills, diuretics, and throw up in the bathroom,” she revealed. “They would take their spin bikes into the steam room to work up a sweat. I vomited every single day. Bob Harper tells people to throw up: ‘Good,’ he says. ‘You’ll lose more calories.’”
In a statement to the New York Post, Huizenga denies the claims that he turned a blind eye to anything going on during the show:
“Nothing could be further from the truth. Contestants are told at the start of the show that there is zero tolerance for any weight-loss drugs. Urine drug screens and the evaluation of serial weights are repeatedly used to flush out possible illicit use.”
