Biggest Loser stoush reveals behind the scenes drama

Former Biggest Loser host Ajay Rochester claims she was told by FremantleMedia producers to “shut up and go away” when she asked them to drug test a contestant.

On her blog, the one time and Excess Baggage contestant hits out at 2006 champ Adro Sarnelli in an online stoush, after Sarnelli described Rochester’s current size as “massive”  on obesity on a Biggest Loser forum.

US-based Rochester hit back, saying he displayed “no sympathy for those of us who battle obesity, eating disorders, depression etc.”

But she went further on the show’s behind the scenes drama.

“I remember how you came to the show, a lost, broken, desperate, powerless father unable to save your own life and willing to do anything to fix it, putting your life in the hands of others, a TV show, trusting they would change your life FOR you. I also remember how you presented yourself at your final weigh in (behind closed doors and a few days before filming so contestants had time to recover and look healthy)…..you were starving, pale, had shallow breathing, low blood pressure, cracked lips and you were unable to stand on your own two feet – hardly a great advertisement for healthy weight loss….. all the contestants begged me to ask the producers to have you drug tested. I took that request to the producers and was told they didn’t want to know the truth, they just wanted a good winner and told me to shut up and go away. This was one of the many problems I faced in the job I became known for being difficult in…….because I spoke up when I felt it was wrong or that we were being deceitful.

“I refused to be the face of their online diet club, I refused to sell their shakes and diet bars, I complained when someone who went on to win was living off 200 calories a week, I complained when I had to participate in a cover up for the contestant (who also went on to win) who drank bottles and bottles of tea tree oil (and whose relative was caught smuggling more in) to lose gross amounts of weight and more…..it made me NO friends, but I refused to drink or even sell the Kool Aid. When I joined Biggest Loser I truly believed I would be able to help people learn to love and care for themselves and hoped my message of loving yourself first was more important than chasing a number on a scale. I quickly learned I was never going to be able to do that. And I am grateful for the good that came from that job but I am sick and tired of people like you who forget how hard the struggle can be and the arrogance and judgement you wield while making us feel inferior, forgetting that fat people have feelings too and deserve just as much love and RESPECT as anyone else.”

You can read more here.

Sarnelli admits he shouldn’t have used the word ‘massive’, telling News Limited, “I guess it was Ajay’s victim mentality I was referring to. You have to get past that if you really want to make changes.”