For 11 successful seasons, Australian viewers watched in intrigue as The Biggest Loser trainers helped struggling contestants on their journeys to better health.
Yet after a Netflix documentary shone a light on the darker sides of the US version of the reality show, Aussie trainer Steve ‘Commando’ Willis wants to remind people that over here, the ultimate goal was always to help people be their best self.
“I saw it very much as a positive. I always found that exercise had been the means to keeping me upright, to moving forward in life. And I thought if it had such an impact on my life, I want to do the same and help others,” Steve tells Woman’s Day of his time on the show, from 2007 to 2015.
“At the heart of what I did was transformation, and that’s what the show was about. And we had such a blast,” he says.
“I did workouts with my contestants, and embraced it in a manner like I did in the army. We were a unit, and my job was to lead that unit.”
Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser explored the controversial seasons of the American version, with claims of undereating, overexercising and neglect of the contestants’ wellbeing, among others. On our version, Steve maintains everything was run above board and there were no cheap grabs for ratings. He believes “100 per cent” the documentary overshadowed all the good the local show did.
“I [saw] a post the other day, and there’s probably three, four, five contestants who have been on different seasons of The Biggest Loser that I had worked on, saying how without the show, they’re unsure of where their life would be today,” the 49-year-old says. “One of them actually said, ‘I’d probably be in the ground’.”
On the possibility of a Biggest Loser reboot here in Oz, Steve would be up for the gig and firmly believes there’s still a place for the weight loss challenge, as “obesity hasn’t gone anywhere”.
“I’d love to structure something that encouraged people to work on being a better version of themselves,” he says. “I would love to return. Whether I got that phone call or not… I’m a bit older now, a bit greyer. But I’m smarter, I’ve lived life more, I would be able to offer a lot of value in that mentor space.”
Steve says every nutritional plan and challenge had its purpose on the Aussie series.But if there was to be a revamp he’d push for some changes to the format, mostly to cater to the cultural shift around helping people’s mental health.
“We would definitely need to address the psychology of things. I know towards the end of my time on the show, there were conversations about involving other health professionals in that space, but how do you do it in a way that interests people?” he poses.
“I use that SAS show [as a good example], they utilise strategies and produce it in a manner that is captivating.
“But a lot of the work of the everyday life of a special forces soldier is nothing like that – it’s a grind, it’s monotonous.”
