One of the brightest reality TV hits from the 2000s and 2010s was The Biggest Loser, which saw people compete to lose the biggest percentage of weight for a cash prize by the end of the season. Though we’d known that participants on the 18-season series endured some pretty insane things to lose weight during the competition, a docuseries that just hit the 2025 TV schedule (which you can watch with your Netflix subscription) has put new focus on those methods and one of the show’s trainers, Jillian Michaels. Now, an OG contestant has spoken about his relationship with her while appearing on the hit.
What Did An OG Biggest Loser Contestant Say About His Relationship With Jillian Michaels?
It was recently that the three-part 2025 Netflix show, Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser, shared interviews with one of The Biggest Loser’s trainers, Bob Harper, former contestants, and others to give viewers an in-depth look at what went on behind the scenes of the show. One of the shocking stories has included a contestant revealing that the physical training she underwent on her first day filming led to her waking up in the hospital and realizing “I knew I died that day.”
Just from watching, series fans could see that Jillian Michaels definitely had a very hard-nosed approach to trying to get people to stick to their diet/exercise regimens, but one of the documentary’s allegations against her is that she gave contestants banned caffeine pills to help them lose weight. TMZ recently spoke with Season 1 competitor David Fioravanti, who talked about his relationship with Michaels, and said:
My relationship with Jillian was flawed and was contentious because of what I just said; I was an athlete, I own a gym, I knew a little bit about what I was doing, more so than any of the other contestants, because unfortunately, they were all pretty much obese since they were little, little kids. So, they didn't know better.
According to Fioravanti, he had a bit of a leg up on his first season competition because he had experience in the fitness space, whereas others didn’t seem to, and this led to him having issues with some of Michaels’ methods. He continued with his thoughts about how those methods affected others in the contest:
Like I told you on the phone, if Jillian said 'Drink a cup of sand, you're gonna lose weight, you're gonna do great in the weigh in,' the other kids would be grabbing sand and downing it like it was ice water. And I'd say 'No, no, no, that's B.S. that's not gonna work.' Then we'd fight and we'd brawl. It made for great TV, I'll tell you that.
The Biggest Loser absolutely had some deeply emotional moments, and they could include those attempting to lose weight coming into conflict with their trainers. He also noted that he believes Michaels had more say in the outcome of the season than she should have, adding:
Jillian absolutely, and I will tell this to her face, tried to manipulate who was staying and who was going, which shouldn't have been the case.
Though it’s clear that Fioravanti wasn’t 100% on board with how Michaels handled her duties on Loser, he doesn’t think that his season saw her offer contestants caffeine pills, as the doc claims. He added:
I can only speak to my season, right? And the only thing we did that was a 'competitive edge' that you could argue is maybe cheating is Preparation H.
Fioravanti said that using the cream, which is probably most widely known as a treatment for hemorrhoid symptoms, helps extract water from the skin, meaning that it would be easier for participants to lose weight before weigh-ins.
How Has Jillian Michaels Responded To The Biggest Loser Documentary Allegations?
Michaels, who was a trainer for all but six seasons of the series, responded to the allegations on Instagram, in a post where she showed evidence (in the form of texts and emails exchanged during that time) against the claims that she gave contestants anything that had actually been banned from the show. She said, in part:
Dr. Huizenga [the show’s doctor] did approve caffeine pills on many seasons of Biggest Loser. Bob Harper not only knew about the caffeine pills, the “stackers fat burner” were actually his suggestion…Caffeine was NEVER banned on The Biggest Loser. Wild how some folks still lie like it's 1985 before texts and email were a thing.
Only time will tell whether or not more people who were involved in the competition come out to give their side of the story and speak about their time being trained by Michaels and the current claims against her.
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