The Biggest Loser has been canceled by NBC, according to multiple media reports and none other than the hit show’s resident doctor.
An incredible 17-season run for TBL on the network has ended following a weight loss drug scandal, the origins of which go back years.
According to Dr. Robert Huizenga, this can be traced back to a former contestant who alleged that participants were given drugs on set.
Ones to make them lose weight, if that wasn’t obvious.
The bombshell revelation was made in court documents in which the doctor accuses a participant of bringing bad publicity to the show.
Last year, Huizenga sued Joelle Gwynn, who appeared on the show in 2008, and the New York Post, over an article implicating him.
Both sources claim the doctor was behind giving participants illegal weight loss pills, and he wasn’t the only player involved, allegedly.
Gwynn also accused the show’s trainer Bob Harper of supplying contestants with Adderall, a drug prescribed to patients with ADHD.
Adderall is also known to suppress appetite; Harper also supplied, allegedly, pills containing ephedra extract, which is banned by the FDA.
She told the New York Post that the pills left her “jittery and hyper” and alleged that he approved the distribution of the pills on the show.
Gwynn, along with other past contestants, also claimed they were encouraged to lie about their calorie intake during the NBC program.
As a result, multiple reality stars have said that after the competition, they quickly gained back all the weight as a result of the regimen.
Gwynn told the newspaper last year:
“People chastise Bill Cosby for allegedly offering meds to women, but it’s acceptable to do to fat people to make them lose weight.”
“I feel like we got raped, too.”
For his part, Huizenga has denied all allegations and has filed a lawsuit stating the story was “fabricated, fictitious and outright libelous.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he says.
He calls himself “a world-renowned health expert and esteemed sports doctor who advocates for safe and effective weight loss methods.”
Gwynn fired back, reaffirming her statements on the record, and demanded his suit be thrown out and that the doctor pay her legal fees.
In new court documents, Huizenga demands that Gwynn’s motion be denied, by virtue of her public comments getting the show axed.
Gwynn’s “outrageous” accusations, his lawyer says, “resulted in the cancelation of The Biggest Loser” and other opportunities for him.
This is particularly egregious for Dr. Huizenga (above), he says, because of his “strict life-long anti-drug beliefs and strict anti-drug policy.”
On The Biggest Loser, he wouldn’t even allow contestants to take “caffeine pills or drink more than one cup of coffee, much less illegal drugs.”
Though Gwynn never named names, his legal team claims that a “defamed person need not be named in the defamatory words” necessarily.
If the statements are enough to identify him, it’s all academic, he says, and it was enough to cost him multiple other TV show opportunities.
Season 17 of the show aired last year, after which NBC did not publicly announce a decision on future installments of The Biggest Loser.
NBC has yet to formally announce the cancelation.