Forget the battle of the bulge on The Biggest Loser. There’s a real war brewing between former Olympian Lisa Curry and trainer Michelle Bridges.
Fired up by trainer Michelle Bridges’ take-no-prisoners approach towards the contestants on The Biggest Loser, former swim star turned fitness guru Lisa Curry has slammed the show as “disgraceful”. Lisa believes the show, in a quest for better ratings, belittles and humiliates people who need care and support and reckons Michelle should apologise to the contestants she has berated.
“It’s wrong!” Lisa, 50, tells Woman’s Day. I just think it’s a disgraceful display when you are in a leadership role as a trainer. I don’t like it at all. I think it’s gone a bit far – maybe they’re struggling with the ratings.” As for whether Michelle’s approach could be described as “tough love” – as international model Megan Gale tagged it on Twitter – Lisa scoffs at the term.
“You have to put yourself in their shoes, walk a week in their shoes, and feel the hurt that they feel every day and you might treat them with a little more respect,” she says. Lisa vented on social media last Sunday after watching Michelle tell Brett to “either go down man-up road or pussy street”, that he was “embarrassing himself” before ordering him out of the room.
“OMG… you DO NOT belittle people on National TV Biggest Loser…. I cannot believe some of the comments coming from the trainers mouths…. I hope Michelle apologises to that guy. These people need encouragement and support not ridicule…. #nothappy” Lisa wrote. “I felt for that young boy so much it made me so angry!” she explains to Woman’s Day. Lisa said while she had nothing against Michelle personally, in her own coaching and personal training business she would never speak to people like that.
In a statement, Ten said it was unfair to focus on “one line spoken by Michelle”. “Anyone who watched [that episode] would have seen Michelle being tough and fair on the contestants, and showing a lot of support, encouragement and concern,” the spokesperson said.
Read more the full story about Lisa and Michelle’s clash in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday April 1, 2013.
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