Shannan Ponton, a coach from the Australian model of The Greatest Loser, has weighed in on the controversial Netflix documentary that explores the darkish facet of the burden loss present.
Talking to KIIS FM’s “Rob & Kip with Corey Oates” on Wednesday, August 27, the truth TV alum, 52, stated after watching Match for TV: The Actuality of The Greatest Loser, he felt that a number of the ex-contestants who participated had been making an attempt to shirk accountability.
“It was every little thing that I believed it was going to be. It was precisely what I believed,” Ponton stated. (Ponton educated the blue staff on the Australian model of the franchise, just like Bob Harper on the U.S. model.)
Ponton defined he thought ex-contestants had been “on the lookout for, I assume, a means out [rather than] to take accountability for the place they’re at.”
Nevertheless, the health guru admitted he agreed with a number of the factors the present’s former contestants introduced up within the documentary.
“With that stated, I feel weight reduction on the planet has modified so much within the final 20 years,” he stated. “And I feel, you already know, there’s in all probability benefit in a number of the factors that the ex-contestants had so far as they in all probability might have benefited so much from post-show psychology or post-show assist in that space.”
Whereas The Greatest Loser has come below fireplace because of the potential well being dangers of speedy weight reduction in a competition-based actuality present, Ponton insisted that he stood by the burden loss strategies used within the collection.
He advised the radio present he was “disenchanted, however not shocked” that former contestants who appeared within the documentary had regained their weight however insisted that “it’s not a flaw within the system” that that occurred.
“The system and the strategies that we offered to the contestants, nonetheless to at the present time, I nonetheless consider in,” he stated, “I used to be by no means advised to do something, I used to be by no means anyone’s puppet. Every part that I did on the present, I did with the very best intent and to try to get the very best outcomes for the contestants.”
Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels. (Picture by Getty)
Ponton additionally defended The Greatest Loser trainers yelling on the contestants throughout their exercises, an motion which critics consider was designed to humiliate the contestants on TV.
“I used to be no person’s puppet, and every little thing I did was executed with the pure coronary heart and naturally there are occasions the place you change into annoyed,” Ponton stated.
He added, “Among the issues that got here out within the documentary… I discovered what’s fascinating the place folks had been saying, ‘Oh, you’re simply belittling these folks as a result of they’re fats. You’re making a present on them as a result of they’re fats,’ and it’s not true. That’s how trainers and coaches are of their primal state.”
Ponton additionally shared his ideas on how the Australian model differed from the unique American collection. (As a result of success of the U.S. model, the idea was franchised globally. Harper and Jillian Michaels had been trainers for the Australian model in season 1 when it debuted in 2006 earlier than Ponton and pink staff coach Michelle Bridges took over in season 2 the next 12 months.)
“I feel effectively, we’re clearly completely different folks and every to our personal. So far as caffeine tablets and stuff like that, we by no means had any enter into the dietary supplements or something that the contestants took, and that was all monitored by manufacturing and the medical staff that we had in place,” the non-public coach mirrored, referencing the caffeine tablet controversy within the U.S. present that was known as out within the documentary.
He continued, “So I’m glad that we are able to take a step again away from that. Apart from that, you already know, my strategies are my strategies. Bob has his, and Jillian clearly has hers.”
