The Biggest Loser

Television broadcast
Original title	The Biggest Loser
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Year (s)	since 2009
Production company	RedSeven Entertainment
length	60–180 (gross) minutes
Episodes	114 in 11+ seasons
Broadcasting cycle	weekly
genre	Game show
Moderation	Katarina Witt (season 1) , Regina Halmich (season 2–3) , Christine Theiss (since season 4)
First broadcast	January 5, 2009 on ProSieben

The Biggest Loser ( English for: "The biggest loser" in the sense of losing weight) is an American television show that is also produced under license in Germany, among other places. Obese candidates live in one camp and vie for the greatest weight loss. The first season was broadcast on ProSieben in 2009 with presenter Katarina Witt . Kabel eins showed the second and third season of the show under the title The Biggest Loser - Slimming in a double pack , moderated by Regina Halmich . Sat.1 has been showing the show since the fourth season under the moderation of Christine Theiss .

concept

At The Biggest Loser , candidates must try to lose as much weight as possible through exercise programs and diet changes. In addition, advantages for weekly weighing can be acquired in competitions. In the first season the participants competed individually, from the second season in pairs. After five weeks, the last three (Season 2) or four (Season 3) pairs were separated and evaluated as individual candidates. The two candidates or pairs of candidates with the lowest weight loss, which is given as a percentage of the initial weight, are nominated for deselection from the camp. The remaining teams then decide which team has to leave the warehouse.

background

The concept comes from the United States , where the broadcast on NBC started in 2004 under the same name. The Biggest Loser has been licensed in more than 20 countries including Australia (2006), Brazil (2005), India (2007), the Netherlands (2005) and South Africa (2008).

Scientific perception

In a study of 14 participants in the US format of the series in the journal Obesity , it was found that six years after the show, all participants had a decreased basal metabolic rate . While they lost an average of 58 kg during the show, they gained 41 kg in the following six years.

Season overview

Season	year	Production site		Moderation	Coaches		Winner
1	2009 details	Budapest, Hungary		Katarina Witt	Nele Sehrt Wojtek Vetter Jola Jaromin (nutritionist)		Enrico
2	2010 details	Mallorca, Spain		Regina Halmich	Silke Kayadelen Andreas Büdeker Christine Tabacu (doctor)		Heino
3	2011 details	Ischgl, Austria		Regina Halmich	Silke Kayadelen Andreas Büdeker Christine Tabacu (doctor)		Carlo
4th	2012 details	Andalusia, Spain		Christine Theiss	Bineta Coulibaly Nunzio Esposito Christine Tabacu (doctor)		Jack
5	2013 details	Andalusia, Spain		Christine Theiss	Silke Kayadelen Ramin Abbot Christine Tabacu (doctor)		Parid
6th	2014 details	Andalusia, Spain		Christine Theiss	Silke Kayadelen Ramin Abbot Christine Tabacu (doctor)		Marc
7th	2015 details	Andalusia, Spain		Christine Theiss	Ramin Abtin Detlef Soost Christine Tabacu (doctor)		Stefan
8th	2016 details	Andalusia, Spain		Christine Theiss	Ramin Abbot Mareike Spaleck Victor Lorenzo da Silva (doctor)		Ali
9	2017 details	Andalusia, Spain		Christine Theiss	Ramin Abbot Mareike Spaleck Victor Lorenzo da Silva (doctor)		Alexandra
10	2018 details	Andalusia, Spain		Christine Theiss	Ramin Abtin Mareike Spaleck Dr. Christian Westerkamp (doctor)		Saki
11	2019 details	Andalusia, Spain		Christine Theiss	Ramin Abtin Mareike Spaleck Dr. Christian Westerkamp (doctor)		Mario
12	2020 details	Naxos, Greece		Christine Theiss	Ramin Abbot Petra Arvela Dr. Christian Westerkamp (doctor)		Daniel

Seasons

First season

The first season was broadcast on ProSieben in January and February 2009. Originally eleven episodes were planned, but the decision was made to only air five two-hour episodes on Thursdays at 8:15 p.m. and show the finale on a Saturday. But there were five two-hour episodes, one hour-long episode and the two-hour finale broadcast. Katarina Witt was the moderator . Due to poor audience ratings, the sixth episode of the show was given a new slot. The average market share was 5.6%. The winner received a prize of € 100,000. The winner Enrico lost 96.6 kg, 50.4% of his initial weight.

Second season

The second season was broadcast by Kabel eins in 2010. The episodes were moderated by Regina Halmich and produced on Mallorca . The motto was slim down in a double pack . The candidates competed in teams of two and were looked after by trainer Silke Kayadelen, known from Besser Essen on ProSieben, and Andreas Büdeker. The prize was € 25,000. The audience ratings were above the channel average for Kabel Eins. The winner Heino lost 60.4 kg, 40.8% of his initial weight.

Third season

The third season aired from March 8, 2011 to May 24, 2011. The concept of the second season remained unchanged. The episodes were produced in the Tyrolean resort of Ischgl . The winner Carlo lost 59 kg, 40.5% of his starting weight.

Fourth season

The fourth season with 12 couples was broadcast by Sat. 1 from March 4 to May 20, 2012 . The season, which was filmed in Andalusia , was moderated by kickboxer Christine Theiss . The winner Jack Handl lost 66.1 kg and thus 46.45% of his starting weight. The prize money was 50,000 euros. For the first time in the history of The Biggest Loser in Germany, two women stood next to the winner Jack Handl in the final of the show.

Fifth season

The 5th season of The Biggest Loser started on February 22nd, 2013 , still moderated by Christine Theiss and produced in Andalusia.

The semifinals, which aired on May 5th, were produced three months after the camp in Austria. In a weigh-in among the last four candidates from the camp and the candidate who had lost the most weight at home after leaving the camp, three participants were determined for the final. In the final, which was broadcast on May 8th, the participant Paride won. He lost 63 kg and with 49.9% of his starting weight secured the victory bonus of 50,000 euros. Among the candidates who did not make it to the final, there was also a ranking that was referred to as the small final. The participant Bahar decided this for herself.

Sixth season

The 6th season started on January 8, 2014, and was also produced in Andalusia. Christine Theiss is still the presenter.

In contrast to the first five seasons, in which all participants moved into the Biggest Loser camp at the same time , in the sixth season two teams were only present from the second week, which had to qualify as challengers for the actual camp through their weight loss performance for one episode . From the fifth week the couples were separated and the participants were divided into two teams. In the final, which was broadcast on March 19 and took place with four finalists, the participant Marc won. He lost 86.3 kg and with 46.9% of his starting weight secured the victory bonus of 50,000 euros. As in the previous season, there was a ranking among the candidates who did not make it to the final. The participant Falko decided this for himself.

Seventh season

On February 4, 2015, the seventh season started with the motto The Battle of the Sexes , again moderated by Christine Theiss.

At the beginning of the season, the eight male participants (under the direction of Ramin Abtin ) competed as a team against the eight female participants (under the direction of Detlef Soost ). In the further course of the season, several different team constellations were formed. Stefan won the season. He managed to lose 65.4 kilograms and thus reduced his weight by 45.7%.

Eighth season

On April 3, 2016, the eighth season started again under the direction of Christine Theiss. Trainers were Ramin Abtin and Mareike Spaleck.

What was new was that a team of ten candidates was losing weight in a hotel complex with professional sports equipment, while the other ten candidates lived in a tent camp and had to do functional training with simple fitness equipment . The groups alternated between the two camps depending on their weekly weight loss. The team with the worst overall performance selected the one who had to leave the camp from among its members with the worst individual performance. The season won the candidate Ali and won 50,000 euros. He lost 49.71% of his weight, which corresponds to a loss of 86.4 kg. Christine Theiss was not in the final because she gave birth to a daughter a few weeks earlier. The ranking of the non-finalists was won by candidate Bernd, who made his announcement true that he would lose more weight than the Biggest Loser winner. He lost 79.5 kg, which corresponds to 51.36% of his initial weight.

Ninth season

From January 15, 2017, Sat.1 broadcast the ninth season under the direction of Christine Theiss. She was again supported by Ramin Abtin and Mareike Spaleck. The total of 18 candidates weighed 2,664.3 kilograms at the beginning of the season. At first they fought in pairs again, and this time there were two camps, one the feel-good camp and on the other side a tent camp. The participant Alexandra won the season as the first woman. With an initial weight of 103 kg, she lost 53 kg and thus 51.45% of her body weight and thus set another record. In total, the 18 candidates lost around 580 kilos.

Tenth season

The tenth season was broadcast from February 4 to April 22, 2018 under the renewed direction of Christine Theiss, again supported by Ramin Abtin and Mareike Spaleck. The contestant Saki won the relay.

Eleventh season

The eleventh season, which was also a ten-year anniversary season, was broadcast from February 3 to April 28, 2019. The relay was won by the candidate Mario with an absolute weight loss of 101.4 kg and a relative weight loss of 51.71%, with which he was able to set a record for both absolute and relative weight loss.

Twelfth season

The twelfth season has been broadcast since January 5, 2020 and is referred to as the eleventh season by Sat.1. Mareike Spaleck was replaced by the fitness trainer Petra Arvela . The best non-finalist was Anthony. Daniel won the final with a weight loss of 104 kg, which is 51.03%.

Broadcasting and audience ratings

Season	consequences	Channel	Time slot	Season premiere	Season finale	spectator		Market share
						total	14 to 49 years	total	14 to 49 years
1	7th	ProSieben	Thursday 8:15 p.m. Saturday 7:10 p.m. & 8:15 p.m. (Feb. 7, 2009)	0Jan. 8, 2009	0Feb 7, 2009	1.71 million	1.24 million	5.6%	10.2%
2	9	cable one	Tuesday 8:15 p.m.	02nd Mar 2010	Apr. 27, 2010	1.27 million	0.84 million	4.0%	6.5%
3	12			0March 8 2011	May 25, 2011	1.35 million	0.87 million	4.3%	7.0%
4th	12	Sat 1	Sunday 5:00 p.m.	04th Mar 2012	May 20, 2012	1.78 million	0.95 million	9.3%	12.9%
5	13		Sunday 6:00 p.m.	Feb. 22, 2013 (Friday 8:15 p.m.)	0May 8, 2013 (Wednesday 8:15 p.m.)	2.28 million	1.19 million	9.4%	13.4%
6th	11		Wednesday 8:15 p.m.	0Jan. 8, 2014	19 Mar 2014
7th	12			0Feb 7, 2015	Apr 22, 2015	1.72 million	0.91 million	5.8%	8.5%
8th	11		Sunday 5:45 p.m.	0April 3, 2016 (Sunday 5:00 p.m.)	0June 8, 2016 (Wednesday 8:15 p.m.)	1.91 million	1.00 million	8.5%	13.4%
9	12			Jan 15, 2017 (Sunday 4:50 p.m.)	0April 2, 2017 (Sunday 8:15 pm)	2.14 million	1.17 million	8.0%	13.3%

Offshoot

The Biggest Loser Teens

In September and October 2014, The Biggest Loser Teens broadcast an additional season with candidates between the ages of 16 and 20 years. As usual, it was produced in Andalusia and moderated by Theiss. Detlef Soost acted as an additional coach . The winner Erfan from Hanover lost 59.1 kg. An average of 1.35 million viewers watched. In the total audience there was a market share of 7.3 percent. In the target group, 0.69 million viewers were measured with a market share of 10.1 percent.

Big Stars - Celebrities lose weight

In 2013, Sat.1 produced an offshoot of The Biggest Loser with prominent candidates including Iris Klein , Patricia Blanco and Costa Cordalis . The program was not included in the program after the filming was finished.

Web links

• Websites of The Biggest Loser on the website of Sat.1
• The Biggest Loser in theInternet Movie Database(English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.21538/abstract
2. ↑ Nina Weber: "Biggest Loser" diet study: yo-yo effect XXL. In: Spiegel Online . May 5, 2016, accessed June 9, 2018 . 
3. ↑ fernsehlexikon.de
4. ↑ spiegel.de
5. ↑ quotenmeter.de
6. ↑ tv-serie.org ( Memento of the original from April 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ quotenmeter.de
8. ↑ quotenmeter.de
9. ↑ "The Biggest Loser" Alexandra wins with a weight loss record - her trainer cries for joy. express.de, accessed on April 3, 2017 . 
10. ↑ http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/fernsehen/the-biggest-loser-2017-alexandra-ist-die-gewinnerin-im-finale-aid-1.6731352
11. ↑ Saki is the Biggest Loser. On Sat1.de, accessed on January 8, 2019.
12. ↑ Quota check: "The Biggest Loser" (Season 1) . Oddsmeter.de . Retrieved February 11, 2009.
13. ↑ ^{a b} Quota check: "The Biggest Loser" (seasons 2 and 3) . Oddsmeter.de . Retrieved May 28, 2011.
14. ↑ Quota check: "The Biggest Loser" (season 4) . Oddsmeter.de . Retrieved May 21, 2012.
15. ↑ Quota check: "The Biggest Loser" (season 5) . Oddsmeter.de . Retrieved June 20, 2013.
16. ↑ Quota check: "The Biggest Loser" (Season 7) . Oddsmeter.de . Retrieved April 26, 2015.
17. ↑ Quota check: "The Biggest Loser" (season 8) . Oddsmeter.de . Retrieved July 27, 2016.
18. ↑ https://www.dwdl.de/zahlenzentrale/60870/tatortkonferenz_biggest_loser_stark_henssler_leidet/
19. ↑ Quota check: "The Biggest Loser" . In: quota meter . April 4, 2017 ( quotenmeter.de [accessed April 10, 2017]).
20. ↑ Quota check: "The Biggest Loser" . In: quota meter . April 4, 2017 ( quotenmeter.de [accessed April 10, 2017]).
21. ↑ The Biggest Loser Teens: Season 1 (odds check) on quotenmeter.de, accessed on April 26, 2015.
22. ↑ Big Stars: Celebrities slim down on Sat.1 ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at starflash.de, accessed on January 17, 2015.