The inaugural winner of “The Biggest Loser” alleged the reality game show set the contestants up to fail, claiming producers would organize large, unhealthy food platters to “catch” and embarrass the cast on camera.
Ryan Benson was 36 years old and weighed 330 pounds during the show’s first episode in 2004 before losing 122 pounds in 24 weeks to weigh in at 208 pounds during the live finale on Dec. 14.
“Within three days after the show, I had gained 25 to 30 pounds back just in water weight alone,” Benson told People.
Benson, a 56-year-old SVP of Global Content Delivery at Lionsgate, believed that producers exploited the 12 contestants to catch them on camera in a desperate moment.
“In the first season, they had food out everywhere,” he said, noting the large platters consisted of fast food and desserts.
“There was a part of me that thinks that they wanted to catch people on camera, just gorging themselves on this food and kind of almost making it funny…I don’t know what they expected, but there were times that I felt like, ‘Yeah, they want us to fail.’ We were definitely exploited,” Benson claimed.
Benson noted that the show’s trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels weren’t household names during the first season.
Harper worked as a celebrity fitness trainer while Michaels operated a sports medicine facility before they were brought onto the show.
“They were there every day working out with us,” Benson said.
However, Benson blamed the production and the contestant’s lifestyle for the drastic turnaround in his weight.
“I think since I was in the first season the producers and the trainers and everyone involved with the show were kind of learning as they went,” he told the outlet.
“We would do an hour of cardio before breakfast after a good weight workout and then maybe go for a long hike followed by more cardio and then maybe more weights… anywhere from six to eight hours a day,”
Benson compared his training to that of a “professional athlete.”
“It hurt to do anything when you’d wake up in the morning. It was definitely tough for me. I was lucky I never got hurt or injured myself,” he added.
Before the weigh-ins, Benson said he would take drastic measures to cut weight under the urgings of either the show or himself.
“For the last 24 hours, I didn’t put anything in my body and just went to the gym and had a rubber suit on to sweat and then went to the sauna,” Benson said, recalling how he kicked into high gear before the final live show.
“I did a master cleanse where you just drink fresh squeezed lemon juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup mixed together, and eat nothing, for 10 days while working out a lot,” he added.
Benson credited his competitiveness as one of the main motivators for winning the show, as he initially joined to lose weight, but soon realized he wanted to win.
“It was appealing to think, ‘I get to take two or three months off work and just focus on losing weight.,” he said. “That competitive side really got into me.”
After being crowned “The Biggest Loser,” Benson gained back 25 pounds within three days and eventually weighed over 300 pounds again.
“You feel guilty for going through this and not living up to what you did on the show even 20 years later,” he said.
Benson claimed that he was so malnourished that he was urinating blood after the show.
The father of three said he appreciated seeing the show evolve as it became an inspiration for more people to start their own weight loss journeys as the production got rid of the food temptations and other aspects used to “get views.”
“My kids are in a generation that is way more accepting of all body types and the whole realm of the human condition,” he added. “They’re so much more accepting than my generation was when I was young.”
The show was canceled in 2016 after 17 seasons but got one more in 2020.
The NBC hit averaged at least eight million nightly viewers at its peak.