How is the big loser such a big secret?

February 8, 2010 12:36 PM

How does The Biggest Loser keep early results a secret during filming when eliminated players are sent home?

I can't believe I'm dropping a question on this, but it's been bothering me, so here goes.

On The Biggest Loser, one or more players are eliminated each week. However, unlike on other reality shows where eliminated players are sequestered until filming is completed, these eliminated players are sent back to their homes and families, where they are expected to keep competing for an "at home prize."

Presumably, while they're at home, huge numbers of people (friends, family, coworkers, the checker at the grocery store, etc.) know that they've been eliminated from the show before the end of the regular season, and thus that they did not win the overall prize. However, episodes of the show are taped some time before they're aired. So how does NBC keep a secret which players were eliminated before the finale? They can't get confidentiality agreements from everyone who might possibly recognize a contestant while filming is still going on, right? So why isn't there some gossip site where we could all find out right now who was sent home when during the season that is currently airing?

posted by decathecting to Media & Arts (23 answers total)

Response by poster: They film big reunions with their family and loved ones when they get home, and many of them mention going back to work. So unless all of that is staged and everyone has been coached to lie, they're definitely at home for at least some portion of the time before the end of the regular season.
posted by decathecting at 12:51 PM on February 8, 2010

well, everyone is home before the finale - everyone goes back home and works - so the eliminated players are really only home a few weeks before even the finalists. as it is all pretaped, people who see them on the streets don't actually know they're part of the biggest loser until the show starts to air and by that point, no one is still on the ranch.

last season danny said that during the time he was home between the show and the finale, no one at the gym recognized him.
posted by nadawi at 12:54 PM on February 8, 2010

I knew a guy that was on "Pros vs. Joes". He was eliminated in the last round, and only just missed the grand prize.

There as a period of several months between when he was there for filming and when the episode actually aired. He was under contract to not reveal the outcome to anyone - not even his wife. If the result got out and it was provably him, he would be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages and other penalties.

It had to be murder to watch the episode, at the bar, with half the town there and not be able to say anything.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 12:55 PM on February 8, 2010

It had to be murder to watch the episode, at the bar, with half the town there and not be able to say anything.

You know, that would make an excellent meta-reality show.

As others have said, it's not live. It was done and decided a year ago, and whether they keep them in hotels or send them back to their lives, they're saddled with nondisclosure requirements anyway.
posted by rokusan at 12:57 PM on February 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

As I understand these reality shows: everything is done long before it airs, so when people leave the show has no relationship to what you see on TV (as they left the filming months ago). As for keeping cast & crew from talking: that's what NDA's are for. They aren't foolproof but the lawyer stick hurts like hell and no one wants that.
posted by chairface at 1:00 PM on February 8, 2010

Best answer: I think that most reality shows don't really have to worry about this kind of information being widely available. For instance, there are already spoilers online about the list of people voted off the upcoming season of Survivor. The thing is, major news sources aren't going to report this kind of thing, so the only people who find it are fans specifically looking for it. If you're enough of a fan that you're going to hunt down spoilers online then you're probably going to watch the show no matter what. They don't have to worry about losing your viewership.
posted by shesbookish at 1:01 PM on February 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I think that for the most part, and I say this as someone who has never watched more than a few seconds of the show beyond its commercials, that if people really really wanted to, they could find out at least some spoilers based on information they find online. I did a quick search on "biggest loser spoilers" and a similar one on the Television Without Pity message boards to try to help answer your question, and found discussions based on who appeared at challenges that were already filmed in public locations, so they know who is remaining based on certain weeks. Likewise, if you hunted down people and asked folks who knew them when they got home, you could probably figure something out.

However, though this show is popular (certainly by NBC's current standards), it doesn't have the media focus... or rabid fans... like a show like Survivor does/did. I bet that NBC isn't really that worried about people guessing because most people who watch the show regularly or consider themselves fans aren't interested in spoiling it for themselves.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:02 PM on February 8, 2010

Confidentiality agreements, whereby they agree not to talk about the show. If you violate the agreement, you will have to pay a penalty fee, which might be pretty huge. Here's a NYT article discussing a CBS show called Kid Nation: apparently, the confidentiality conditions extend for three years after the end of the show, and the penalty upon breaching the contract can be up to $ 5 million. This is most likely an extreme case, though.
posted by daniel_charms at 1:05 PM on February 8, 2010

On The Biggest Loser, one or more players are eliminated each week. However, unlike on other reality shows where eliminated players are sequestered until filming is completed, these eliminated players are sent back to their homes and families, where they are expected to keep competing for an "at home prize."

Are you sure they're not actually being sequestered until the winner is chosen, then sent home to do the "at-home prize" after the results for the final episode were already finalized?

I just naturally assume that any difficulty in so-called "reality shows" can be explained away by editing.
posted by muddgirl at 1:06 PM on February 8, 2010

ok - a lot of people are answering that obviously don't watch the show.

there is no winner until a couple months after everyone goes home, so there is no need to sequester anyone. the final episode has everyone, 60 days after the last day at the ranch on stage together. everyone is fighting for the final prize, just most are fighting for the final prize for those sent home and 3 are fighting for the final winner prize. but everyone is going for the same goal, to lose the biggest percentage of weight.
posted by nadawi at 1:12 PM on February 8, 2010

nadawi - Presumably, if the first couple people who were eliminated get sent home without being sequestered, their family will be like "Gee, So and So was only gone for one week - he must not be in the running for The Ultimate Prize or whev."

Yeah, it's quite likely that the answer is "no one cares".
posted by muddgirl at 1:14 PM on February 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

muddgirl - yeah, but only the friends and family would know - no one else knows they were even part of the show, as the show hasn't aired yet.

as was pointed out up thread - if you really go hunting for it, spoilers for TBL are out there - but like with all reality shows that don't do sequestering, only the most rabid of fans care.

i would wager that "you're still competing for a prize" along with "here is an NDA, and one of the penalties for breaking the NDA, or your family breaking your NDA, is that you can't go for the prize" keeps most things pretty quiet.
posted by nadawi at 1:24 PM on February 8, 2010

I think this is a very valid question, as many more people than just friends and family would know if someone was leaving work/daycare duty/PTA mtgs etc for three months. Word would get out, especially in a small town. And if someone got sent home in week one, it's not like they can avoid seeing those people for the next three months.

My guess is, there are probably a fair number of eyewitness spoiler reports, though how trustworthy they are ("I spotted Rudy at Dunkin Donuts!") depends on how much you trust random people on the internet.

I don't think any sequestering CAN be done in this case due to the home reunions and "workouts while back at home" sequences.
posted by egeanin at 1:37 PM on February 8, 2010

I was once cited in the National Enquirer since I could corroborate that a particular contestant on a reality show had been to visit someone else at my apartment complex. True story. I was quoted as "a neighbor."

Not Batboy-ist.
posted by zpousman at 1:38 PM on February 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

Non-disclosure agreement.
posted by Ironmouth at 1:44 PM on February 8, 2010

Response by poster: My actual question is, I guess, not so much about the contestants themselves or their families and close friends. Clearly, they can all be asked to sign NDAs as a condition of the contestants' participation. What I'm curious about are people who wouldn't ever be asked to sign NDAs because they're not part of the contestants' inner circles, but who would clearly know whether the contestant was home. The guy at the dry cleaners, the other moms at the kids' school, the regular who always sits alone at the bar at a favorite restaurant...

Apparently, the answer is security through obscurity, which I guess makes sense. But if anyone knows any different, I'd love to know.
posted by decathecting at 2:26 PM on February 8, 2010

what i'm pointing out is that the guy at the dry cleaner, the moms at school, etc won't know the shooting schedule since it's all shot way ahead of promotion and airing, so they'll have no idea of time line. since everyone goes home ahead of the finale, and no one knows the winner (contestants included) until the finale, you seeing someone that you know has been on an unaired season of biggest loser doesn't give you any idea to their vote off order.
posted by nadawi at 2:32 PM on February 8, 2010

Response by poster: Right, but if they're fans of the show, they'd know that the contestants get about 3 months at the ranch, then 4 months at home. So if someone you know goes away to be on the show for a month, then comes home for 6 months, you can figure it out right? It seems as though the "people know, but no one much cares" explanation is the most likely.
posted by decathecting at 2:36 PM on February 8, 2010

decathecting, your average bystander would have to know exactly when filming started and then exactly when the contestant returned home, and then calculate when they were sent home (or not, depending on how long it's been). Add that to the fact that's already been mentioned, that you wouldn't even know who the contestants are until after they've all been sent home, and it becomes very difficult to figure out.
posted by telegraph at 2:49 PM on February 8, 2010

decathecting, your average bystander would have to know exactly when filming started and then exactly when the contestant returned home, and then calculate when they were sent home (or not, depending on how long it's been).

how does that follow? the show comes on, you see that one of your co-workers was on it, and although they are contractually obligated not to tell you anything, you can just think back to last year when they were away from the office for ___ months. If they were gone for one month, it's a pretty safe bet they got eliminated. If they were gone for longer, there's a good chance they made it further into the show. Maybe you don't remember exactly but what's to stop you from conferring with your colleagues or looking at old emails/calendars? And wouldn't natural curiosity drive people to do this, and then to share what they learned?

So I agree with decathecting, this is a tricky question and the stuff about NDAs and the lag from filming to airing doesn't answer it. If those were enough, why would any show bother with sequestration in the first place?
posted by pete_22 at 3:07 PM on February 8, 2010

Best answer: pete_22 - as was said upthread - the info is out there, buried in fan message boards - after the steps they do take (lag, everyone goes home before the finale, NDAs) you're left with the most curious and that runs straight into what the poster surmised "It seems as though the "people know, but no one much cares" explanation is the most likely."
posted by nadawi at 3:18 PM on February 8, 2010

On many shows, eliminated contestants don't actually go home the day they are eliminated. Instead, they stay in a hotel (paid for by the show) until all episodes have been taped and a winner has been chosen. I can't remember where I've seen this, but I've read in more than one place that often the eliminated contestants have very limited access to the outside world -- no phone, no internet, and they may not even be allowed out of the hotel unsupervised. From here:

Q: When a person is voted off a show like "American Idol" or "Project Runway" it is usually in an evening. Do the losers really get kicked to the curb or what sort of facility is made for them to spend the night in after losing? —Cassie, Pennsylvania

A: It depends upon the show. Each series has a different way of making booted cast members disappear.

Most shows (and “Idol” is an exception here) don’t let their participants go home until after the entire production has concluded. First, of course, come exit interviews and perhaps meetings with psychologists—and if cast members have been deprived of food on the show, a big meal.

Cast members on exotic shows such as “The Amazing Race” and non-jury-member “Survivor”s are sequestered at hotels and then sent on paid vacations to semi-remote destinations, where they wait until production has concluded. On “The Apprentice,” booted cast members all live together in a hotel away from the production. “American Idol” takes its eliminated contestants out to dinner with the other finalists, and sends them home the following day, after they’ve done interviews and press.
posted by kitty teeth at 4:42 PM on February 8, 2010

Best answer: I worked with a guy on the Biggest Loser... and he never told us officially when he was kicked off the show. In fact, he didn't stop working out at all... it might appear like those guys spend all their time in LA or whatever, but he spent huge parts of time back at home, working at regular jobs like any other jerk.

... we, of course, asked him if he won, but he was pretty coy about it. I suppose it was pretty obvious that he hadn't won, but we didn't press him on it. I mean, is it really a secret at all?
posted by ph00dz at 5:04 PM on February 8, 2010