At the time this letter was written Madonna had just delivered an abysmal, embarrassingly amateurish performance in the overwrought, laughably bad Basic Instinct ripoff Body Of Evidence. It was an obvious ploy to become the new Sharon Stone. So it seems she was aspiring to achieve mediocrity and fell far far short of…

All kinds of horrors. A couple of ladies who were close to the finish were so incredibly weak from hunger that they had to sit in a shower and wash EACH OTHER’S hair because they could not lift their own arms above/behind themselves.

The calorie restrictions were indeed insane. I saw one of the early seasons and this woman, who worked out all day because they work out like they’re going to war, was trying to stay at 1200 calories for the day.

They basically gave them all eating disorders while praising them for it. . . I wonder how many viewers got eating disorders by following the advice from the show.

Seriously.

That’s what I always think of, too. I wasn’t even a watcher of the show, but I remember the reaction. And the winner really was shockingly thin.

YES. This show was horrifying. They acted like they were making these people’s lives better...and it kind of seemed that way with all of the applause and shit. But all I could think of was exactly, how long, did these people wake up in some sort of Twilight Zone wondering who they were. Like, if it actually improves…

Multiple former contestants have said the show gave them permanent health issues because of the insane calorie restriction and exercise they were doing to lose all of that weight.

EWW YES

speaking of deeply f’ed up premises (premii?) does anyone remember, the swan:

I remember when that one contestant walked out at the finale looking nearly emaciated and in a split second cut to Jillian, she had this absolutely horrified look on her face. I like to think that was her “this is actually really fucked up” moment.

Didn’t one of the contestants say they were coughing up blood after being made to run miles in the heat? It’s easy to get a bunch of couch potatoes to lose weight rapidly when you starve them then work them to death. This show didn’t promote health or a healthy lifestyle.

Finally, goddamn. The only shame is that it was cancelled over a dispute, and not because someone had a come-to-jesus moment and realized this entire premise is deeply fucked up.

Her voice is making me dizzy.

She’s a piece of work.

It’s probably better to disregard bourgeoisie, reading the users comment history.

Yeah, holy shit she doesn’t get it. Producers wouldn’t have had to make that call if she didn’t fucking out him in the first place. (And BTW If they hadn’t aired it, you still outed him! What only on-camera outings count? No, it doesn’t work like that.)

According to her site, she is reliving this daily.

She kind of seems bat shit.

Also, listening to this interview with her was nauseating.

Why are we still talking about this? Please tell me she has found other work and she isnt making a living discussing this single incident? Sarah McLaughlin’s got some dogs she can watch.