Network: NBC
Episodes: Eight (hour)
Seasons: One
TV show dates: June 1, — July 20, 2010
Series status: Cancelled
Performers include: Jillian Michaels (host).
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TV show description:
Jillian Michaels ventures out of the trainer role on The Biggest Loser to her own show. She transforms families through diet, exercise, and even lifestyle and attitude adjustments. She makes it her goal to get everyone in the family leading a healthy lifestyle from the parents to each of the children.
A personal trainer, Michaels was once overweight herself as a young teenager. Her mother enrolled her in a martial arts class at the time, and it completely changed Michaels’ life. She reflects back to that martial arts training, and also uses yoga, Pilates, plyometrics, and weight training to hopefully inspire the same positive changes in her clients. Becoming well-known on The Biggest Loser as being tough, Michaels has released a series of exercise DVDs and video games.
In her own series, Michaels uses that same tough love to transform these families, with extra pressure since she only has one week to do it. She moves into their home and observes their eating habits, then goes through the kitchen and gets rid of every unhealthy item she can find. After she gets them into a gym and working out, she tries to find fun exercise that these families will keep doing. Along the way, Michaels usually finds an emotional problem within the family (such as the death of a family member) that helps explain why they have let themselves get so unhealthy. She helps them with their emotional journey, getting them to see they don’t have to stay locked into those emotions the rest of their lives.
At the end of the week, the family members state their goals and what they hope to change for the near future. Michaels leaves them to their own devices, then returns in a few months to see if the families have met their goals.
Episode Eight — Alvarez
Michaels travels to Florida to help the Alvarez family, a large and close-knit Cuban extended clan. Carmen and David Alvarez Sr. have a nine-year-old son, David Jr., who is already pre-diabetic and on his way to having serious health complications because of his weight. David Sr. is also overweight but doesn’t see this as a big deal. Unfortunately, his weight problem is a bad influence on his son because he idolizes him. Michaels takes the parents on a boat trip to get David Sr. and Carmen to open up about their health, lack of communication, and to find a way to kick-start a new and healthier way of life.
First aired: July 20, 2010.
Image courtesy NBC.
UM KEEP IT! That’s a no brainer! Shows like this can help an entire country to be healthy! She is an inspiration! We need more shows like this!
I think they should bring the show back. It has helped a lot of people to change their lives. In this world today, there are so many people over weight and don’t care or don’t know what can happen to them, Jillian has made people and myself take a deep look at what we eat, and what can happen to us if we don’t start putting the right things into our body’s. We need show’s like this to give us the reason to fight. If we can see how eating right, and making the right choices can help us live… Read more »