Podcast: Conspirituality

Episode 272: Jillian Michaels is the Biggest Loser
Date: August 28, 2025
Hosts: Derek Beres & Julian Walker (Matthew Remski on vacation)

Episode Overview

This episode examines Jillian Michaels’ controversial legacy as a fitness influencer and trainer on "The Biggest Loser" in the wake of the new Netflix docuseries Fit for TV. The hosts dismantle the show’s fat-shaming, cult-like mentality and its connections to current conspirituality trends in wellness, particularly as Michaels and other "fitfluencers" become involved with the reactionary "MAHA" (Make America Healthy Again) movement associated with RFK Jr. Broader issues about public health, fitness culture, and political manipulation of wellness are explored in depth.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jillian Michaels and Mainstream Wellness Grift

• The episode’s titular focus is on Jillian Michaels and her recent mainstream media appearances, including a controversial CNN segment where she commented on slavery (16:34).
• Michaels’ transition from reality TV to current political-wellness authoritarianism is traced, notably via her involvement with RFK Jr.’s "MAHA" circle and her use of her platform to call out “Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Insurance” (47:01).
• Quote (Julian, 18:44): “She’s completely unqualified for any position she’s been in, in her career, but willing to speak very loudly and aggressively on whatever topic is in front of her.”

2. The Netflix Docuseries: ‘Fit for TV’ and Revisiting ‘The Biggest Loser’

• The new docuseries critically examines the rise and cultural impact of "The Biggest Loser," focusing on its methods and aftermath for contestants.
• Julian describes it (19:51): “This documentary depicts a sickening blend of desperate enthusiasm, relentless shaming, and that weird live audience, reality TV kind of circus vibe.”
• The documentary’s approach to follow up with former contestants sets it apart from the original show, exposing deeper harms—metabolic, psychological, and societal.

3. Gym Culture, Fatphobia, and MAHA Parallels

• Crossover between Biggest Loser-style bootcamp cruelty and today’s political wellness grifting is made explicit. The hosts draw lines from “fitfluencer” body shaming to RFK Jr.’s public health policies and personal gym challenges.
• Derek on Kennedy and gym access (34:38): “What Kennedy and many other fitfluencers miss is that people don’t like gyms and for a number of reasons. One is that fat people are relentlessly judged in them.”

4. ‘Personal Responsibility’ Versus Structural and Genetic Realities

• The myth that obesity is simply a matter of personal willpower is dissected, with attention to the biological and societal contributors—genetics, medication, economic status, built environment, and more.
• Julian (31:35): “Genetic factors are between 40% and 70% responsible for obesity too… all of this is based on BMI, an extremely flawed heuristic… that also incorrectly skews many very healthy people with athletic muscle mass into overweight or even obese categories.”
• The show and corresponding wellness movements’ “personal responsibility” rhetoric is compared to Reagan-era individualistic health ideology.

5. Metabolic Realities and the Damage of Rapid Weight Loss

• The hosts emphasize the research showing that contestants’ metabolisms tanked after the show and seldom bounced back, leading not just to weight regain but significant biological hardship.
• Julian reads New York Times, 50:56:
  “When the show ended, their metabolisms had slowed radically and their bodies were not burning enough calories to maintain their thinner sizes… It was as if their bodies were intensifying their effort to pull the contestants back to their original weight.”
• This metabolic “revenge” contradicts the “eat better, move more, and you’ll be fixed” narrative pushed by both the show and the MAHA movement.

6. The Spectacle of Reality TV and Its Cultural Consequences

• Discussion of the show’s humiliating twists (e.g., mass eliminations, temptation challenges to binge-eat junk food on TV), and the normalization of public shaming for entertainment.
• Julian (54:39): “How exciting is a TV show in which you’re losing one or two pounds a week? … The premise is so cruel. It creates spectacle out of people who are already socially devalued and seen as lacking in self-respect and discipline… There’s something very Roman Coliseum about it all.”
• The hosts observe that the popularity of such spectacles reflects—rather than creates—societal disdain for fat bodies and those perceived as lacking “discipline.”

7. Contestants’ Aftermath and Lack of Accountability

• Michaels’ response to post-show scrutiny includes legal threats and scapegoating. She has posted evidence that producers and showrunners allowed or encouraged questionable practices (e.g., caffeine pills), but remains unrepentant.
• Derek (46:17): “She is a terrible human, but so is everyone on this show. I have to give her credit for shoving it back in their face, but overall, I’d rather they all burn for partaking in this cruel project.”

8. Larger Patterns: Alternative Medicine, Conspiracy Rhetoric, and Biohacking

• The episode critiques "holistic" fertility treatments being promoted by anti-abortion and wellness circles (11:57) and the recent stripping of “diversity” language from scientific grant proposals (07:30) as further signs of pseudoscience, privatization, and culture-warring within public health.
• The hosts discuss the emergence of a strange alliance between crunchy alt-wellness and authoritarian conservatism, as encapsulated in the language around “root cause,” "restorative reproductive medicine," and the disparagement of “woke” health initiatives.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (With Timestamps)

• Julian (02:08): “Why is Jillian Michaels on CNN commenting on slavery? Exactly. As it turns out, Netflix provides the answer.”
• Derek on gym culture (34:38): “Only 20.6% of Americans have a gym membership. On top of that, many gyms survive because people pay but don’t go.”
• Julian (31:35): “Having a first-degree relative with type 2 diabetes increases the prevalence by two to three times… genetic factors at between 40% and 70% responsible for obesity.”
• Derek (47:01, quoting Michaels): “I’m 51 years old, you know, trying to take on bigger things. I'm trying to help facilitate a change with Big Food and Big Pharma and Big Insurance. And These are the 800-pound gorillas. I want to jump in that ring with.”
• Julian (50:56): “As the years went by and the numbers on the scale climbed again, the contestants’ metabolism did not recover—they became even slower and the pounds kept piling on. It was as if their bodies were intensifying their effort to pull the contestants back to their original weight.”
• Derek (46:17): “She is a terrible human, but so is everyone on this show… but overall, I’d rather they all burn for partaking in this cruel project.”
• Julian on the show’s “temptation” challenges (57:29): “Picture that production meeting. Hey, I’ve got a great idea, guys! Let’s have all these fat people… stuff food into their faces—the most high calorically dense junk food possible—while we film them. They can have an advantage… The whole thing is just really bizarre.”
• Derek (49:34): “The Biggest Loser couldn’t exist if our culture didn’t buy into the idea that obesity is a personal failing.”
• Julian (54:39): “The premise is so cruel. It creates spectacle out of people who are already socially devalued… There’s something very Roman Coliseum about it all.”

Important Segments by Timestamp

• 03:09 – 08:00: Critique of MAHA, RFK Jr., anti-vax and anti-public health trends
• 18:00 – 22:26: Jillian Michaels’ CNN controversy, her career arc, and "Biggest Loser" context
• 22:26 – 28:10: In-depth breakdown of "Biggest Loser" cruelty and reality TV’s exploitative mechanics
• 31:35 – 34:38: Genetic, social, and BMI-based realities of obesity
• 34:38 – 36:56: Gym membership statistics, fatphobia in fitness, and the myth of personal responsibility
• 46:17 – 50:56: Jillian’s legal tactics, docuseries criticism, and metabolic aftermath
• 54:39 – 57:29: The spectacle and humiliation of "The Biggest Loser" and its winners/losers

Tone & Language

Maintaining the podcast’s blend of biting humor, righteous anger, and clear-eyed analysis, Derek and Julian combine personal anecdotes from the fitness world, scholarly insight, and media criticism. The episode utilizes sarcasm (“I’d rather they all burn for partaking in this cruel project”), meme-ready one-liners, and moments of empathy, all while retaining the hosts’ hallmark skepticism toward wellness authoritarianism and cultic spectacle.

Summary Takeaway

The episode ultimately contends that both "The Biggest Loser" and the modern conspirituality-wellness movement perpetuate harm by pushing individual “willpower” while ignoring bigger, more complex truths—biological, social, and political. Whether in a reality show or Congress, figures like Jillian Michaels and RFK Jr. sell spectacle and blame as “solutions,” profiting while the vulnerable remain the real losers.