The Biggest Loser (UK TV series)

The Biggest Loser is a British reality television show that began airing on LIVINGtv from 2005 to 2006, before moving to ITV in 2009. The show is a spin-off of the American reality television show of the same name. The show originally featured Angie Dowds and Mark Bailey as the personal trainers, with Richard Callender replacing Bailey from series 3. Dowds took what the ITV press centre called a "back seat" for part of the fourth series after having been found to have encouraged participants to undereat before a weigh-in. The first two series of the show were hosted by Vicki Butler-Henderson, a motoring journalist turned television presenter who races cars and has hosted shows such as Fifth Gear, the third series was hosted by Kate Garraway. The fourth series is being hosted by Davina McCall. In the first two series, the person who won the competition received £25,000 in cash, the third series winning prize was reduced to £10,000 but was reverted to the £25,000 cash prize in the fourth series.

Format

The basic format of the show is that overweight contestants compete to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of their starting body weight.

In its first two series, it was an individual competition, even though the contestants train together in teams, and immunity from elimination is initially based on team competitions. The red team was trained by Angie Dowds, who used a hard no-nonsense approach. The blue team was trained by Mark Bailey, who trained with a more nurturing approach.

The third series changed to the new 'couples' format, where 8 pairs of friends, relatives or colleagues started together for the first 5 weeks, before they got split up into a 'black team', trained by Angie Dowds, and a 'blue team', trained by Richard Callender, and started competing against each other, similar to the first two series.

Series Guide

Series 1 (2005)

The first series aired on LIVINGtv from 6 October to 15 December 2005.

• WINNER: Aaron Howlett Total 138 pounds (63 kg; 9 st 12 lb) at the Final.

Series 2 (2006)

The second series aired on LIVINGtv from 11 October to 27 December 2006.

• WINNER: Jodie Prenger Total 119 pounds (54 kg; 8 st 7 lb) at the Final.

Series 3 (2009)

The third series aired on ITV1 from 27 April to 19 June 2009.

• WINNER: Kevin Sage Total 132 pounds (60 kg; 9 st 6 lb) at the Final.

Series 4 (2011)

The fourth series aired on ITV1 from 10 January to 28 February 2011.

• WINNER: Wil Graham Total 119 pounds (54 kg; 8 st 7 lb) at the Final.

Series 5 (2012)

The fifth series began airing on ITV1 on 3 January 2012.

The fifth series has been commissioned to begin in 3 January 2012, with Davina and Richard staying on. ^[1] Former Trainer Angie Dowds was found dead on 20 November 2011, an apparent suicide.^[2] She will be replaced by two new trainers - Charlotte Ord and Rob Edmond.^[3] The series will again contain seven pairs of people, and feature the heaviest UK contestant ever, and an opening 5k race where the first team to cross the line at the house wins immunity, and the last team automatically faces the yellow line.

Transmissions

References

External links

• The Biggest Loser at itv.com
• The Biggest Loser at UKGameshows.com
• "Article from Hull and East Riding at Hull and East Riding Article about the new show.