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Biggest Loser contestant claims he was “hung out to dry”

A contestant on The Biggest Loser claims he has been unfairly vilified and "hung out to dry".

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2013-05-28_0111A contestant on The Biggest Loser claims he has been unfairly vilified and “hung out to dry” for the sake of ratings and is not the bully he is depicted as in the show.

“I’m a tough bloke and I can take whatever is thrown at me, but the (online) abuse my daughter has received has brought me to my knees,” 45-year-old Richard Roach has told Woman’s Day magazine.

“She’s too scared to go to work, because people are threatening to bash her. She now says this is the worst experience of her life.”

He says he went on the show to help save his clinically depressed daughter but although both he and Amber achieved their weight goals – he lost more than a third of his 139kg – in many ways, he was happier before. He claims to now in the cross hairs of angry fans in public, and says the show has strained his relationship with his family.

Roach is hardly the first Reality TV contestant to criticise a show’s editing, and he won’t be the last.

Reality TV has always been about manipulation. The key is to manipulate it your way, not theirs…

The show has its grand final on TEN tonight at 7:30pm.

16 Responses

  2. Last night was a perfect example. he was filthy that Robyn and Katie saved the green team. All he could think about the whole time was the money. Ok who wouldn’t want it but he made it an obsession. What he said to Robyn was horrible and im glad she stuck up to him.

    Robyn summed it up brilliantly last night in her speech and Todd and Gerald could teach the blue team a thing or 2 on manners and respect.

    The thing that frustrates me was Richard put in all the hard work and Amber just coasted through.

    The funny thing is at the beginning of the series when they played the messages form hom Richards wife said I dont care about the money you make I just want a healthy husband. He hasnt learnt. He is still obsessing about money.

    I hope they lose. The green team should win. they have been nothing but classy through the whole series.

  3. That’s what you get these days if you treat people like shit on a reality tv show! You will be hammered by social networking. Take note people if your thinking about going on reality.

  4. Oh boo hoo King Richard. He gave the show’s producers and editors great sound bites and eye rolls to work with, and guess that they used them!
    He is the most blatantly ambitious contestant i can recall across 8 seasons. I really like Robyn, Janet and Gerald – they have conveyed much in the way of character and development. Gerald and Todd for the win!

  5. If they only showed the times when he was nice to people then there would be nothing to show because he was never nice and amber was lazy both of them were only in it for the money and they only made it to the end because they got immunity twice and then got a golden ticket into the final if they hadn’t have got immunity then they would have been out long ago and they should have been if they win I will be pissed off @samfan good point about the prize

  6. I don’t condone violence directed toward them but I can see how people would be put offside by them. Does he not remember all the things he said? The way he shook his head when Robyn (rightly) voted to keep the green team in was just nasty. Go green team! It’s a pity Richard didn’t learn some humility from them. @KFed-love it lol!

  7. This has been a terrible season of the biggest loser. I have not bothered to watch the last three episodes but I did watch the voting part online once I heard the green team got through. I will watch tonight because the green team is there but it has to improve a lot for me to watch next year if it returns.

  8. Don’t you hate it when in real life you’re only a **** 70% of the time, but you go on TV and they make it seem like it’s all of the time by cutting out the bits where you’re sleeping?

  9. Richard, your daughter is feeling embarrassed about the experience of being TBL not because you were edited to look like a villain but because you acted smug for the majority of the season. Humility will always carry the winner to victory in a series like TBL.

  10. Cry me a river.

    No matter how talented an editor is they can’t make something out of nothing. He was obviously using strategy and forming alliances to make sure he and his daughter made it to the end.
    A story line like that has to be shown because the show is as much about losing weight as it is about prolonging your stay in the house.

    From the few episodes I’ve watched, I do remember seeing everyone else talk alliance too, but no one else did it in such an aggressive and bully like way.

  11. I have no issue with him, he is good. He really makes it interesting by driving the competition aspect. As for the daughter I cant stand her. I have no issue with people “playing the game, being big headed and even saying how good they are. I cant stand the girls that whinge and complain because they have to exercise, your on the biggest loser. The pink girl and the blue girl nearly destroyed the show for me.

  14. Sorry,..this shows been around long enough now..you knew what you were getting yourself into.
    You go on reality TV and start to form alliances and dividing, you are going to be portrayed as the villain.
    Saying that, he carried his team. His daughter was the laziest contestant in the whole thing this year.

  15. He has come across as arrogant and even a bit nasty. I admit the blue team have been my least fave. Maybe I’m a victim of the show’s manipulation but – go the green team 🙂

  16. I’ve said it before that this series of TBL was poor and that the contestants were not particularly nice people. Richard and his daughter, regardless of the editing, made it clear on many occasions that they were there mainly for the money. If there is another series of TBL, there should not be any prize money for the winner but instead a free, lifetime gym membership and clothing vouchers to get a new wardrobe.

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