Michelle Bridges was a trainer on The Biggest Loser. She agrees the show wouldn't work today.

The Biggest Loser was one of the most-watched shows on Australian television back in the 2000s.

It was a show centred on 'medically overweight' contestants trying to lose weight while engaging in restrictive exercise and diet practices. We as viewers would judge the individual's body, work ethic and determination, despite many of the contestants going on to say the show was "no magical cure" for their body image.

Despite this reality, the show was marketed under the guise of 'health and wellbeing'. 

In reality, it was far from that. 

One of The Biggest Loser's trainers, Michelle Bridges, has this week reflected on the show.

Bridges was part of a roundtable discussion facilitated by The Project, alongside body positivity activist April Hélène-Horton AKA The Bodzilla, body positive advocate Mark Mariano and health expert Dr Ramy Bishay.

And it was a positive and reflective conversation that has since made its way into many group chats.

Watch part of the discussion. Post continues below.

For Hélène-Horton, she said to The Project that people often feel "really entitled to speak to me about how I look when I don't even know them".

"As an impressionable teen, I felt really strongly that my body was a failure, that I was a failure — because I wasn't able to be like the people who had aspirational bodies. I now know that the messages I received from the media, from television, from every source of public voice [were wrong]," she explained. 

"I'm not a failure. I'm not the problem. This message around bodies and perfection is the problem."

It's a sentiment Bridges said she wholeheartedly agrees with.

It was at this point Hélène-Horton said The Biggest Loser and what it represented had an impact on her body image. 

"It's mainstream media, it's fashion, doctors who don't want to see fat patients, social media that normalises being fatphobic and glorifies thinness over health. And I'll be really honest and say I was somewhat nervous about coming here to today to see you [Bridges] because I would genuinely say that the show The Biggest Loser was one of the most traumatic things that ever happened to me," Hélène-Horton said.

On the show, weight loss became a competition — and that sort of mentality has the potential to lead people to disordered eating and exercise. 

Ultimately, it not only had a knock-on effect for some contestants but also the audience.

The Biggest Loser, and its trainers - Shannan Ponton, Tiffiny Hall, Michelle Bridges, and 'Commando' Steve Willis. Image: Channel 10.

Hélène-Horton felt the show and the trainers behind it would make her "feel shame".

For Bridges, she said to Hélène-Horton: "I absolutely hear you."

"Going on a show like that back in the day, I really had to dig deep and question my morals around why I am in the health industry and why I am in the fitness industry."

Bridges continued: "When I look back on it 17 years ago, it was a totally different culture back then. I don't think that show would work today, in fact, I know it wouldn't."

It's a reality Bridges has touched on before, saying to the podcast The Good Chat with Anita Anabel that there's "no way" a reboot of the show would work in this body positivity climate.

"When we were coming to the end of it, I was starting to feel like we needed to change. We needed to pivot in order to stay relevant. There were some times in it where I just thought 'why', like the temptation [challenges]. I mean do we really need that? A lot has changed in the world in those years."

Bridges went on to share that body image is something she has also struggled with, particularly in her younger years.

"I think like most young girls and boys too, you look in the mirror and think 'I don't stack up to what I'm supposed to look like, maybe I'm not the fittest or the strongest or the prettiest girl in school and what can I do about that'," she reflected during The Project. 

It's an experience universal to so many in Australia.

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A post shared by Michelle Bridges (@mishbridges)

According to The Butterfly Foundation, at least one in four young people have serious body image concerns.

As The Butterfly Foundation's CEO recently said: "Shifting national conversation about body image is a huge undertaking that requires investment in stigma reduction and health promotion but, if we acknowledge the complexity of the problem and each play our part as individuals, it is more than achievable."

In response to Bridges sharing her story, Hélène-Horton said: "Now having talked to you and hearing everything you've just said about how you feel about yourself, you like me are just somebody who has struggled against the idea that you need to be perfect."

For those impacted by diet culture and unrealistic body standards, it's conversations like these that matter, Hélène-Horton noted. And it's particularly relevant when it comes to stopping the poor body image cycle for good.

If you need help or support for an eating disorder or body image issue, visit www.butterfly.org.au

Feature Image: The Project.

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