| The Biggest Loser |
Call me skeptical but I think I have found the biggest loser. Let me tell you why and see if you agree.
I rarely watch reality shows. I watched the final episode of Celebrity Apprentice which made I think the second episode of that show I watched. That is almost all I watched of reality shows. I just wish they would die out and the networks would bring us real programming. Well there is this one reality show I like and I have caught many of their episodes. It is The Biggest Loser, a reality show on NBC that they work with the people to help them lose a significant amount of weight.
Last night was the penultimate show, the show before the final show. It is amazing that they do not kill someone on that show. The man who lost the most weight came in at about 144 pounds I believe. The woman that lost the most weight came in at 99 pounds. All this weight loss in 15 weeks. Of course they toss in a lot of exercise and also training on exercise and eating and motivation and I am sure they are closely monitored. I find it so hard to believe that what they are doing can be healthy. I man the man lost on average 9 1/2 to 10 pounds a week. The woman lost on average 7 pounds a week if I have my math right. The amazing part, the two women that were in the final show had more relative weight loss than the two guys although both the guys lost over 10 pounds which is not to shabby. So now one of the men will be eliminated but they threw in a twist. They are allowing the viewers to vote on which if the two men stay in the contest for next week. You go to the NBC web site and vote. Now here is what this post is all about.
NBC asks several things of you to allow you to vote. Your name, OK. You eMail address, OK I can give them a spam address. Your zip code, I am OK with that. Your cell phone number but I think that one is optional unless you want them to send you SMS messages. Here is the killer and what makes me skeptical of them. They require that you enter a valid phone number. Now I could give them the local NBC affiliate phone number and probably be OK but I will not give them my phone number and here is where my paranoid tendencies come out. If I give NBC my phone number they can call me for anything they would like. I mean I did business with them when I voted. Why do I care?
I signed up for the National Do Not Call list back 5 years ago (time to update your registration if you have not already done so by the way). I enjoy the fact that I rarely get any phone calls with someone trying to sell me something. Now here is the problem. NBC would have permission to call me anytime since they did business with me. And, should some telemarketing firm also want to call me, all they would need to do is become a partner with NBC and they no longer need to worry about the Do Not Call list. Would NBC do that to me? You bet they would as I am sure each phone number would be worth a lot to these "affiliate" firms. So am I seeing conspiracy where there is none? I think if they do not take advantage of this now then they will take advantage of it sooner or later. All they have to do is add to their FAQ they have and say what they are using the phone number for and state that your information will be help in confidence. In the mean time I think I will simply place NBC on my Biggest Loser list unless they prove me wrong.
I have been trying to get ready for my coworker to leave. Yesterday morning that meant marathon cooking as I made three crock pot things for a pot luck for the person leaving. I also stopped and got some donuts to add to the kitty. Between that and all the learning I have been doing I have been real out of it. Hopefully after today I will be back to posting more regular and to visiting. Oh by the way, everyone was seeing them but not me. Seeing what? Robins! I finally saw some over the weekend at my Sisters and then I saw about a half dozen of them at my house yesterday. Yes it is true, spring is here. But why do we have possible snow coming over the weekend? Sigh!
I rarely watch reality shows. I watched the final episode of Celebrity Apprentice which made I think the second episode of that show I watched. That is almost all I watched of reality shows. I just wish they would die out and the networks would bring us real programming. Well there is this one reality show I like and I have caught many of their episodes. It is The Biggest Loser, a reality show on NBC that they work with the people to help them lose a significant amount of weight.
Last night was the penultimate show, the show before the final show. It is amazing that they do not kill someone on that show. The man who lost the most weight came in at about 144 pounds I believe. The woman that lost the most weight came in at 99 pounds. All this weight loss in 15 weeks. Of course they toss in a lot of exercise and also training on exercise and eating and motivation and I am sure they are closely monitored. I find it so hard to believe that what they are doing can be healthy. I man the man lost on average 9 1/2 to 10 pounds a week. The woman lost on average 7 pounds a week if I have my math right. The amazing part, the two women that were in the final show had more relative weight loss than the two guys although both the guys lost over 10 pounds which is not to shabby. So now one of the men will be eliminated but they threw in a twist. They are allowing the viewers to vote on which if the two men stay in the contest for next week. You go to the NBC web site and vote. Now here is what this post is all about.
NBC asks several things of you to allow you to vote. Your name, OK. You eMail address, OK I can give them a spam address. Your zip code, I am OK with that. Your cell phone number but I think that one is optional unless you want them to send you SMS messages. Here is the killer and what makes me skeptical of them. They require that you enter a valid phone number. Now I could give them the local NBC affiliate phone number and probably be OK but I will not give them my phone number and here is where my paranoid tendencies come out. If I give NBC my phone number they can call me for anything they would like. I mean I did business with them when I voted. Why do I care?
I signed up for the National Do Not Call list back 5 years ago (time to update your registration if you have not already done so by the way). I enjoy the fact that I rarely get any phone calls with someone trying to sell me something. Now here is the problem. NBC would have permission to call me anytime since they did business with me. And, should some telemarketing firm also want to call me, all they would need to do is become a partner with NBC and they no longer need to worry about the Do Not Call list. Would NBC do that to me? You bet they would as I am sure each phone number would be worth a lot to these "affiliate" firms. So am I seeing conspiracy where there is none? I think if they do not take advantage of this now then they will take advantage of it sooner or later. All they have to do is add to their FAQ they have and say what they are using the phone number for and state that your information will be help in confidence. In the mean time I think I will simply place NBC on my Biggest Loser list unless they prove me wrong.
I have been trying to get ready for my coworker to leave. Yesterday morning that meant marathon cooking as I made three crock pot things for a pot luck for the person leaving. I also stopped and got some donuts to add to the kitty. Between that and all the learning I have been doing I have been real out of it. Hopefully after today I will be back to posting more regular and to visiting. Oh by the way, everyone was seeing them but not me. Seeing what? Robins! I finally saw some over the weekend at my Sisters and then I saw about a half dozen of them at my house yesterday. Yes it is true, spring is here. But why do we have possible snow coming over the weekend? Sigh!
Posted by barman at 8:12 AM::
I've never watched it but I've seen ads from it. They REALLY kick some ass on that show. Those trainers are brutal I tell ya.
It's amazing the work outs those people go through....DAMN!!!!!
I am not a fan of reality shows. EXCEPT for American Idol. I got sucked into that one a few years ago...oh my! lol
the transformation on that show is really amazing. certainly puts me to shame.
I have issues with the Biggest Loser premise. First of all, if someone can't lose weight by training 8 hours a day and having someone else purchase the correct foods for them, then they truly are losers. Don't we all wish we could just stop everything including work and our families and focus on working out with a trainer?
And what is up with the water works on this season? I've never seen so many tears in all my years and I'm talking about the men.
Don't get me wrong, I think the show is inspirational but I think it's hard for the average Joe to realize that the results are not typical.
*whew* Sorry to spout off on you.
I do think NBC will be selling your phone number. Why else would they need it?
Jillie they do kick butt for better or worse. Lets start a new work out. Get up, poor some wine, sit down, drink it, repeat. That should be plenty of exercise, shouldn't it? I watched a season and a half of idol. The voting drives me crazy so I avoid the show now. That and what is up with Paula? :)
Lime I think losing 2 inches a week is just unreal for anyone. But it is how amazing the change and so quickly.
Sign it is pretty amazing to see someone stay the same or even gain weight in a week with all they go through. They must not have cared to begin with. I only saw some of this season but I noticed the waterworks. I agree about not typical. There is no way to do what they do safely without being under closer supervision and management. Lose what they do and the typical person is losing a ton of muscle and water leading to depletion of minerals. Thanks Sign, I really agree with you all the way.
I don't watch TV, hardly ever. I saw last year's final of that show though, and the transformation WAS amazing.
What I found amazing was the change in some former participants, who had been eliminated too. The one girl had become a personal trainer. Now THAT is a transformation!
But healthy? Yeah, I question that too.
So, how do you go about getting on this Do Not Call List. I may be on it from 5 years ago, but I'm not sure.
Ugh.
biggest loser is one of my faves...i wasn't too concerned about the ph # thing, but maybe i should have been?
anyways, no, these are not typical results, but they are monitored through the entire 3 mos that they are on it. i do believe there is a period of time between the show before the finale and the finale. this is where the true test comes in...what happens when they go home? i know that from previous seasons, some of the contestants even gained a bit of the weight back before the final weigh in.
i will say this though...before i got thyroid disease i went from 180 lbs to 120 in 3 months WITHOUT exercise. i just changed the way i ate. my job did require walking around a bit, so i guess that helped. but can you imagine if i did weight training and cardio everyday on top of changing the eating habits??
of course now i'm like a beached whale thanks to thyroid disease, but i've been working at losing the weight. it comes off very slowly, but at least it's coming off LOL
p.s. sorry for the novel LOL
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