Former My 600 Lb Life has alarmed fans in recent months with his naked videos and strange, inexplicable behavior.
Now, in the video that you can see below, he"s singing "Santa Baby" while wearing nothing but Christmas lights.
Is this an issue with substance abuse and mental health, or is it a ploy for attention and money. Or, as some fans fear, is it both?
Usually, social media is a wonderful tool, especially when it comes to keeping up with the lives of low-level celebrities who"d otherwise slip below the radar.
Following contestants or reality stars after they leave their shows, however, isn"t always a carousel of Instagrammed meals and puppy videos with the occasional plug for somebody"s weight loss tea that definitely doesn"t work.
Sometimes social media access means that you watch a troubled contestant spiral out of control, with no one around to help them.
Case in point: former My 600 Lb Life contestant Steven John Assanti.
His recent behavior is erratic and worrisome.
Steven John Assanti is one of the most controversial figures to have appeared on My 600 Lb Life.
In fact, because he continued to (allegedly) abuse drugs, he ended up being released from the program that might have transformed his body — and life.
Assanti had seemed to mellow since then. For a while, during 2017, he was making encouraging posts for new contestants who were trying to lose weight.
He had also announced that he didn"t resent Dr. Now for shaming him for his body in front of a mirror, saying that it was "not fat-shaming" and calling the experience a "wake-up call."
In late 2017, that changed.
Assanti has begun to, simply put, behave in a manner that appears to be an attempt at "shock value."
In various videos, some of which have gone viral in the worst ways, he has appeared naked. While we"re not body-shaming him, it appears that he"s attempting to bait his haters … for reasons that we can only guess.
In one video, he sits naked on a toilet, caresses his body, and chants: "sitting on the toilet," interspersed with humming.
In another, in which he"s actually wearing clothing, he allegedly admits to "hospital shopping" for pain pills.
And, in the video that you can see below, he dances naked while covered in Christmas lights while singing "Santa Baby."
Commenters range from concern to condemnation.
"You really need to lay off the drugs, dude."
"Purely out of morbid curiosity, I watched the video…..my heart breaks for you, Steven. It is glaringly obvious you are in desperate need of help. I hope you get it."
"This guy has been given so much help and so many opportunities to get better and lose weight and deal with his mental and drug issues…… but he is an egotistical and self obsessed human who doesn"t want the help."
"Yup still waiting for the day he flashes his tiny peepee and gets banned from facebook. We"re getting close folks."
"This guy was on the extreme weight loss documentary and he was the biggest asshole I"ve ever seen. I"ve never seen someone who has been offered so much help and tossed it away like he did. I have zero sympathy for this guy at all."
Assanti"s behavior is alarming.
But is he losing his mind? Or is there a method to his apparent madness?
Facebook videos can be monetized, just like YouTube videos. In fact, the process works very similarly.
The video that you"re going to see below has more than 200,000 views. The toilet video? Has more than 5 million.
By trolling in this manner, is he just working to rack up ad revenue? Maybe.
But we"re concerned for his well being, regardless. Assanti"s long-awaited Where Are They Now? airs tonight at 8pm on TLC.
