Biggest Loser: Fear of Failure

Losing weight on a reality show that’s shown to millions of viewers for weeks is only temporarily different from the rest of America trying to get healthy at home.

For now, they’re isolated from junk food.

They get to have personal trainers and registered dietitians tell them what to do in the gym and in the kitchen.

And they are regularly checked by physicians and physical therapists.

But all that is going away.

In just a few weeks, the remaining contestants will be back in their homes for the rest of their lives making the same choices that anyone else makes when trying to lose weight.

Talk about scary.

Many of them admitted during this week’s episode that they are absolutely petrified of leaving the show. Will they be able to resist eating junk food? Will they work out as hard as they have on the show? Will they fail?

To help contestants overcome this mental hurdle, the show’s producers arranged a lineup of adrenalin-pumping thrill challenges. Some of them had to bungee jump off of a bridge. Others got to cliff dive.

Austin had to climb the steep face of a cliff. His trainer, Brett, coaxed him at one point into letting go of the mountainside and leaning back into the canyon. It’s all about letting go of emotional baggage, Brett told him.

At the top of the cliff, Austin appeared ready to forge ahead on his weight loss journey.

“I’m overcoming the obstacles I’ve never been able to face,” he said, referring to being overweight and believing in himself.

“It’s such a metaphor for the fight uphill we’ve had,” he said looking out at the vista. “At the top of this cliff, I get to see out at everything I’ve done. I get to see, I accomplished this.”

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Alice Warchol is a fitness instructor and freelance health writer.