The Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser is a reality television format which started with the American TV show The Biggest Loser in 2004. The show centers on overweight and obese contestants attempting to lose the most weight; the winner receives a cash prize. There are different variations of The Biggest Loser around the world. Each country has made its own adaptation of the show; however, the contestants always have the same goal: to lose the highest percentage of weight (or most weight) to become the "biggest loser". There is no minimum or maximum weight limit for the show but most males tend to weigh over or near 300 lb (136 kg). Females tend to weigh over or near 200 lb (91 kg).

The Biggest Loser
Created by	Ben Silverman Mark Koops Dave Broome J. D. Roth
Original work	The Biggest Loser (United States)
Owner	Banijay^[1]
Years	2004–present

In addition to individual contestants, some seasons in some international adaptations have featured couples or even whole families.

International versions

  Franchise with a currently airing season

  Franchise with an upcoming season

  Franchise whose status is unknown

  Franchise no longer in production

Country/Region	Title	Television network	Winners	Presenters	Trainers
Algeria	The Winner Star النجم الرابح	Samira TV		Salima Souakri	Azzdine
Argentina	Cuestión de peso Matter of weight	Canal 13	Season 1, 2006: Maximiliano Oliva Season 2, 2007: Amadeo Season 3, 2008: Marcela Season 4, 2010: Gabriel Season 5, 2012: Gastón Villegas Season 6, 2013: Micaela Belén Rutti Season 7, 2017: TBA	Andrea Politti (1-4) Claribel Medina (5-6) Fabián Doman (7-) Lucía Rubio (7-)	Sergio Verón (1-)
Asia^[2]	The Biggest Loser Asia	Diva Universal	Season 1, 2009: David Gurnani Season 2, 2010: Raj Devaraj	Sarimah Ibrahim (1) Marion Caunter (2)	Kristy Curtis Dave Nuku
Arab world	الرابح الأكبر Ar-Rabeh Al-Akabar The Biggest Winner	MBC 1	Season 1, 2006: Abdullah Hammad Season 2, 2007: Walead hemayed Season 3, 2008: Mohammad Mazboudi Season 4, 2009: Karim Abdullah	Carolina de Oliveira	Noor Khatab (3–4) Lina Rahma (3–4) Patci Saliba (2) Hani Abu Al-Naja (1–2) Zaina Habi (1)
Australia	The Biggest Loser	Network Ten	Season 1, 2006: Adro Sarnelli Season 2, 2007: Chris Garling Season 3, 2008: Sam Rouen Season 4, 2009: Bob Herdsman Season 5, 2010: Lisa Hose Season 6, 2011: Emma Duncan Season 7, 2012: Margie Cummins Season 8, 2013: Katie & Robyn Dyke Season 9, 2014: Craig Booby Season 10, 2015: Daniel Jofre Season 11, 2017: Brett Smith and Lynton Dalla Rosa	Ajay Rochester (1-4) Hayley Lewis (5-9) Fiona Falkiner (10–11)	Bob Harper (1-3) Jillian Michaels (1-3) Michelle Bridges (2-10) Shannan Ponton (2-) Steve Willis (4-10) Emma Hutton (4) Tiffiny Hall (6-7, 10) Libby Labet (11-)
Brazil	O Grande Perdedor The Biggest Loser	SBT	Season 1, 2005: Andreia Dutra	Silvio Santos	Alexandre Viotti Melina Pardo
	Quem Perde Ganha Who Loses Wins		Season 2, 2007: Reginaldo de Souza	Lígia Mendes	Marcelo Piacentini Patricia Beires
Brunei	The Biggest Loser	BNC	Season 1, 2010: Ahmad Ali Azizul Season 2, 2011: Muhammad Zahin Season 3, 2012: Nurul Hannah Season 4, 2013: ?	Current Sarah Rahman (3) Former Stacy Sandra (1-2) Emma Pangiran Raden (1)	Rudy Salleh Arifin Yahya Cristine Phoebe Ezuan Aziz Juliana Mikael
China^[3]	The Biggest Loser: 超级减肥王 (2013) The Biggest Loser: Super Diet King The Biggest Loser: 减出我人生 (2015- )	CCTV-2 (1) Jiangsu TV (2–)	Season 1, 2013: Zu Jiaze (祖嘉泽) Season 2, 2015-2016: Zhan Changrong (詹昌荣) Season 3, 2017: Shi Guibin Season 4, 2018: ?	Current Wang Jue (3) Will Liu (3-) Zu Jiaze (2-) Former Lola Xie (1) Zhu Dan (2)	Current Elaine Zhang (3-) Kai Zhang (3-) Gao Chilin (3-) Former Xinyu Zheng (1-2) Will Liu (1-2)
Croatia	Život na vagi Life on the Scales	RTL Televizija	Season 1, 2017: Ivan Krolo Season 2, 2017: Dorian Crnković Season 3, 2018: Alen Abramović Season 4, 2019: Robert Baković Season 5, 2020: Matej Petrović	Marijana Batinić Sanja Žuljević (5)	Mario Mlinarić (1-3) Sanja Žuljević (1-3) Edin Mehmedović (4-5) Maja Ćustić (4-5)
Finland	Suurin pudottaja Biggest Loser	MTV3	Season 1, 2006: Hardy Dieter Season 2, 2007: Virpi Heikkilä Season 3, 2009: Kaisu Romppainen Season 4, 2014: Teemu ?	Eeva Jaakonmaa Sini Rantanen Heidi Suomi Lola Wallinkoski	Jani Sievinen (1-3) Eva Wahlström (1-3) Mikko Nummenmaa(4) Jenni Levävaara (4)
Germany	The Biggest Loser	ProSieben	Season 1, 2009: Enrico Proba	Katarina Witt (1)	Nele Sehrt (1) Wojtek Vetter (1)
		kabel eins	Season 2, 2010: Heino Herrmann Season 3, 2011: Carlo Werner	Regina Halmich (2-3)	Andreas Büdeker (2-3) Silke Kayadelen (2-3)
		Sat.1	Season 4, 2012: Jack Handl Season 5, 2013: Paride Loreto Season 6, 2014: Marc Haile Season 7, 2015: Stefan Pries Season 8, 2016: Ali Season 9, 2017: Alexandra Season 10, 2018: Saki Season 11, 2019: Mario Pohl Season 12, 2020: Daniel Season 13, 2021: Ole Season 14, 2022: Unknown	Christine Theiss (4-)	Bineta Coulibaly (4) Nunzio Esposito (4) Silke Kayadelen (5-6) Ramin Abtin (5-) Detlef Soost (7) Mareike Spaleck (8-11) Petra Arvela (12-)
	The Biggest Loser Teens (Teenager-Version)		Season 1, 2014: Erfan Khorasani	Christine Theiss (1)	Silke Kayadelen (1) Ramin Abtin (1) Detlef D! Soost (1)
	The Biggest Loser – Power Couples		Season 1, 2021: Unknown	Christine Theiss	Ramin Abtin Hassina Bahlol-Schröer
Hungary	A Nagy Fogyás A Great Loss	TV2	Season 1, 2007: István Ferencsik	Gabriella Jakupcsek	Norbert Schobert Alexandra Béres
Iceland	Biggest Loser Ísland	SkjárEinn	Season 1, 2014: Jóhanna Elísa Engelhartsdóttir Season 2, 2015: Stefán Sverrisson Season 3, 2016: Agla Steinunn Bjarnþórudóttir Season 4, 2017: Ólafía Kristín Norðfjörð	Inga Lind Karlsdóttir^[4]	Gurrý Torfadóttur Evert Víglundsson
India	Biggest Loser Jeetega	Sahara One	Season 1, 2007: Sandeep Sachdev	Suniel Shetty	Deepika Mehta Yusef Khan
Israel	לרדת בגדול Laredet Begadol Losing Big Time	Channel 10	Season 1, 2006: Limor Hazaz Season 2, 2007: Tsvika Hilf Season 3, 2008: Avi Koriat Season 4, 2011: Karen Glasner	Tzipi Shavit	Nadav Meirson Or-ly Hoffman Bar Tse'ela Evroni Barak Tzur
Jordan	Al-Semina السمينة	Jordan Channel One	Unknown	Abdallah Al-Khawaldeh	Mohamed Al-Shakhriti Moath Al-Shawarbeh
Latvia^[5]	XXL	TV3 Latvia	Season 1, 2008: Karl Ventaskrasts^[6]	Zane Vaļicka	Raivis Vidzis Aivars Vysotsky
Mexico	¿Cuánto quieres perder? How Much Do You Want to Lose?	Televisa	Season 1, 2008: Ignacio Mestas	Galilea Montijo	Unknown
Netherlands	De Afvallers The Slimmers	SBS 6	Season 1, 2005: Daan & Irma Steenkamp with kids Season 2, 2006: Bert & Grietje Bakker with kids Season 3, 2006: Marco & Suzy Niels van Boxtel Season 4, 2007: Mark Dakriet Season 5, 2007: Nijmeijers Family Season 6, 2011: Unknown	Marlayne Sahupala	Current Yneke Vocking (1–) Imro Beuk (1–) Hein Vergeer (5–) Former Barbara de Loor (3–4) Gianni Romme (3) Mo Achahboun (1–2) Lenny Versteegden (1) Jessica Gal (1) Sandra van de Kamp (2)
	The Biggest Loser Holland		Season 1, 2013: Unknown		Sandra van de Kamp Arjuna Lakner
Norway	The Biggest Loser Norge	TVNorge	Season 2, 2015: Lars Dahlum Johansen Season 3, 2016: Unknown	Henriette Bruusgaard	Tonje Jenssen Adrian Paul
Paraguay	Cuestión de peso Matter of weight	Latele	tba	Karina Doldán (1-7)	Gigi Díaz (IFBB PRO) (6-7)
Peru	Dale con ganas^[7] Give It All You've Got	Univision	Season 1, 2012: Dieter Goldschmidt	Alfonso de Anda	Luis Alberto Aracena Marcelo Crudele Maria Simon Oscar Luna
Philippines	The Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition	ABS-CBN	Season 1, 2011: Larry Martin Season 2, 2014: Bryan Castillo	Sharon Cuneta (1) Derek Ramsay (1) Iza Calzado (2) Matteo Guidicelli (2) Robi Domingo (2)	Jim Saret (1-2) Chinggay Andrada (1) Toni Saret (2)
Poland	Co Masz Do Stracenia? What Do You Have To Lose?	TV Puls	Season 1, 2008: Jaroslaw	Małgorzata Ostrowska-Królikowska	Unknown
Portugal	Peso Pesado Heavyweight	SIC	Season 1, 2011: Fábio Neves Season 2, 2011: Marco André Season 3, 2015: João Manuel	Current Bárbara Guimarães (2–) Former Júlia Pinheiro (1)	Current Joana Mota(3) Mauro Policarpo(3) Pedro Correia(3) Former Rui Barros (1-2) Conceição Gonçalves (2) Sara Freitas (1)
Puerto Rico^[8]	Transformación total Total Transformation	WAPA-TV	Season 1, 2010: Vivian V. Rodríguez^[9] Season 2, 2011: Ángel "Joel" Díaz^[10]	Zuleyka Rivera	Unknown
Romania	Marele câștigător The Big Winner	Antena 1	Season 1, 2010: Grațian Stan	Daiana Anghel	Florin Uceanu Cori Gramescu
Russia	Взвешенные люди / Взвешенные и счастливые люди (4 сезон) Vzveshenniye lyudi / Vzveshenniye i schastlivye lyudi (season 4) The Weighted People / The Weighted and Happy People	STS	Season 1, 2015: Pyotr Vasilyev Season 2, 2016: Timur Bikbulatov Season 3, 2017: Boris Baburov Season 4, 2018: Anton Avduevsky	Yulia Kovalchuk (1-3) Anfisa Chekhova (4)	Irina Turchinskaya (1-3) Denis Semenihin (1-3) Sergey Parkhomenko (4) Natalia Lugovskikh (4) Sergey Badyuk (4)
Scandinavia	Biggest Loser	Kanal 5	Season 1, 2005: Rooy Rodriguez Ramirez	Martin Björk	Pauline Nordin
Serbia   Bosnia and Herzegovina	Najveći gubitnik The Biggest Loser	Nova S Nova BH	Season 1, 2023: Aleksandar Stevanović	Hristina Popović Danijela Buzurović (Season 2)	Stefan Nevistić Maša Kuprešanin
Slovakia	Super Telo	STV	Season 1, 2006: Ján Mäsiar	Iveta Malachovská	Unknown
Slovenia	The Biggest Loser Slovenija	Planet TV	Season 1, 2017: Bojan Papež Season 2, 2018: Klara Hrovat Vidmar Season 3, 2019: Cristian Baranašič	Špela Grošelj	Nataša Gorenc Jan Kovačič
South Africa	The Biggest Loser South Africa	E.tv	Season 1, 2008: Sharon Haarhoff	Jasmyn Asvat	Unknown
Spain^[11]	La báscula The Scale	Canal Sur	Season 1, 2013: Unknown Season 2, 2014: Unknown Season 3, 2015: Rafael Cintado	Enrique Sánchez	Unknown
	La báscula The Scale	Aragón TV	Season 1, 2015: Unknown	Luis Larrodera	Unknown
Sweden^[12]	Biggest Loser Sverige Biggest Loser Sweden	TV4	Season 2, 2010: Karl Fredrik Jonsson Season 3, 2012: Ralph Nicolaisen	Jessica Almenäs	Current Sabina Dalfjäll (7-) Mikael Hollsten (5-) Former Mårten Nylén (1-4) Tanja Djelevic (1, 3) Olga Rönnberg (2) Sabina Dufberg (4-6)
		Sjuan	Season 4, 2013: Simon Kachoa Season 5, 2014: Hristos Adoniadis Season 6, 2015: Robert Sander Season 7, 2016: Sandra Wikström Season 8, 2017: Michael Fridebäck VIP, 2017: Anna Book	Current Anna Brolin (6-) Former Kristin Kaspersen (3-5)
Thailand	The Biggest Loser ลดน้ําหนักกระหึ่ม	Channel 7
Turkey^[13]	Yeni Bir Hayat New Life	Star TV	Season 1, 2012: Hakan Aktürk	Ebru Akel	Figen Yorgancıoğlu Ufuk Sönmez
Ukraine^[14]	Зважені та щасливі Zvazheni ta schaslyvi Weighted and Happy	STB	Season 1, 2011: Mykola Voroshnov Season 2, 2012: Oleh Zakrevskyy Season 3, 2013: Mariya "Mariyka" Vdovenko ^[15] Season 4, 2014: Yuliya Fomina Season 5, 2015: Alexander Repyanchuk Season 6, 2016: Arkadiy Vasylyshyn Season 7, 2017: Nataliya Tokaryeva and Olexiy Dobryanskyy Season 8, 2018: Bohdan and Oleh Buryak Season 9, 2019: Nataliya Kyrylenko and Pavlo Nazarenko	Lyubava Greshnova (1) Olesya Zhurakivs'ka (2–5) Yana Solomko (6) Anita Lutsenko (7, 9) Myroslava Ulyanina (8)	Anita Lutsenko (1-5) Igor Obukhovs'kyy (1-5) Vyacheslav Uzelkov (4-8) Maryna Borzhems'ka-Uzelkova (6-9) Vasyl Virastyuk (8) Irakli Makatsaria (9)
United Kingdom &   Ireland	The Biggest Loser	Living TV	Series 1, 2005: Aaron Howlett Series 2, 2006: Jodie Prenger	Vicki Butler-Henderson	Angie Dowds Mark Bailey
		ITV^[16]	Series 3, 2009: Kevin Sage Series 4, 2011: Will Graham Series 5, 2012: Kevin McLernon	Davina McCall (4–5) Kate Garraway (3)	Charlotte Ord (5) Rob Edmond (5) Richard Callender (3–5) Angie Dowds (3–4)
United States	The Biggest Loser	NBC (2004–2016) USA Network (2020–)	Season 1, 2004: Ryan Benson Season 2, 2005: Matt Hoover Season 3, 2006: Erik Chopin Season 4, 2007: Bill Germanakos Season 5, 2008: Ali Vincent Season 6, 2008: Michelle Aguilar Season 7, 2009: Helen Phillips Season 8, 2009: Danny Cahill Season 9, 2010: Michael Ventrella Season 10, 2010: Patrick House Season 11, 2011: Olivia Ward Season 12, 2011: John Rhode Season 13, 2012: Jeremy Britt Season 14, 2013: Danni Allen Season 15, 2014: Rachel Frederickson Season 16, 2015: Toma Dobrosavljevic Season 17, 2016: Roberto Hernández Season 18, 2020: Jim DiBattista	Current Bob Harper (17-present) Former Caroline Rhea (1–3) Alison Sweeney (4-16)	Former Dolvett Quince (12-17) Jennifer Widerstrom (16-17) Jessie Pavelka (16) Anna Kournikova (12) Brett Hoebel (11) Cara Castronuova (11) Kim Lyons (3-4) Jillian Michaels (1-2, 4-11, 14-15) Bob Harper (1-16)

Biggest Loser records

Heaviest contestant

• Male: Kevin Moore of The Biggest Loser Australia: The Next Generation and The Biggest Loser Australia: Challenge Australia The Biggest Loser Australia 9, weighed 254.7 kilograms (562 lb).^[17]
• Female: Shay Sorrells of The Biggest Loser Second Chances (U.S.) weighed 476 pounds (216 kg).

Biggest weight loss

• Male: Alexander Repyanchuk of the Weighted and Happy 5 (Ukrainian version) lost 60.13% of his total body weight
• Female: Rachel Frederickson of The Biggest Loser 15 of the US version lost 59.62% of her total body weight

Other

Jodie Prenger from series 2 of the UK version was the first female biggest loser worldwide, losing 46.85% of her original body weight.

Other media

The Biggest Loser RunWalk is the official race series of The Biggest Loser.^[18] Dan and Jackie Evans from Season Five are the national spokespeople.

The Biggest Loser is a video game for Wii and Nintendo DS. It was released in North America on October 6, 2009 and Europe on November 13, 2009.

The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout is a video game for Xbox 360 which uses its Kinect camera.^[19] Developed by Blitz Games and published by THQ, it was released in North America on November 4, 2010 and Europe on November 10, 2010.

The Biggest Loser: Challenge is a video game for Wii released on November 4, 2010 in North America and November 12, 2010 in Europe.

See also

• Weight loss camp
• Downsize Me!
• Operation Transformation (TV series)

References

1. Programmes Banijay
2. Cassandra James (July 12, 2013). "How to Audition for the First Season of the Biggest Loser Asia: Almost Anyone in Asia Can Enter". Yahoo! Voices. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
3. "The Biggest loser《超级减肥王》即将登陆中国" (in Chinese). China Network Television. May 17, 2013. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
4. "Inga Lind stýrir Biggest Loser" (in Icelandic). mbl.is. July 8, 2013. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
5. ""TV3" jauno televīzijas šovu "XXL" vadīs Raivis Vidzis, Zane Vaļicka un Aivars Visockis" (in Latvian). EasyGet. August 13, 2008. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
6. "XXL Winner: Karl Ventas Krasti". TV3 Latvia. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
7. Karla Walsh (December 23, 2011). "Top 10 Tips from Univision's Weight-Loss Reality Show Dale Con Ganas". Fitness Magazine. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
8. "Transformación Total". WAPA-TV. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
9. "Vivian fue la ganadora de Transformación total". Primera Hora (in Spanish). May 9, 2010. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
10. "Emotiva victoria en Transformación total". Primera Hora (in Spanish). May 15, 2011. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
11. "Canal Sur comienza el casting para 'La báscula', un nuevo reality para perder peso". FormulaTV. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
12. "Biggest Loser Sverige". TV4. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
13. (in Turkish). Magazin City. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
14. (in Russian). STB. September 29, 2011. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
15. Кастинг шоу "Зважені та щасливі" 3 сезон. Кастинг шоу "Зважені та щасливі" 3 сезон (in Ukrainian). STB. February 15, 2013. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
16. Nicola Methven (September 15, 2012). "Fat's yer lot: ITV shed The Biggest Loser after seven years for being massive loser in ratings battle". Daily Mirror. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
17. Zoe Nauman (March 25, 2013). "Aussie Kevin Moore is the world's heaviest Biggest Loser contestant in show's history". News Limited. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
18. "Biggest Loser RunWalk Race Series: Half Marathon / 5K / 10K /15K". The Biggest Loser. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
19. "The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout". Xbox 360. Retrieved December 26, 2012.