A show focused on helping people lose weight is meant to be motivating and, at times, heartbreaking.
Yet, NBC's The Biggest Loser has been plagued with accusations, from extreme weight loss to creating an unrealistic environment for contestants to continue after they leave the show.
A few contestants have revealed that they gained all of the weight they lost, and then some. This led to an even bigger discussion about metabolism and extreme weight loss.
Now, Los Angeles County police are looking into possibly "drug activity" at the King Gillette Ranch, where contestants stayed during their time on the show.
A few contestants have come forward with claims that trainer Bob Harper not only handed out appetite-suppressants, he also promoted eating disorders.
The point of The Biggest Loser is to retrain those with obesity issues to lose weight the healthy way, through diet and exercise.
TV ratings, however, matter more.
According to Radar Online, season two contestant Suzanne Mendonca claims that "People would take amphetamines, water pills and diuretics," and vomit in the bathroom.
"I vomited every single day," Mendonca admitted.
"Bob Harper tells people to throw up: 'Good,' he says. 'You'll lose more calories.'"
Joelle Gwynn participated on the "couples" season, and remembers Harper's assistant giving her "a drug inside a brown paper bag," and telling her that it would "really help" her lose weight.
Then, Gwynn said, the show's physician, Dr. Robert Huizenga "gave us some lame explanation of why (the drugs) got added to our regimen and that it was up to us to take them."
Dr. Huizenga refuted these claims, clarifying that the show administered drug tests to make sure diuretics and other weight-loss drugs weren't being used.
Gwynn doesn't buy it, though, and recalls Harper telling her off-camera to lie about her caloric intake of 1500 per day.
"I want you to do 800 calories or as little as you can," Harper allegedly told his charge, likely in hopes that she would lose the most amount of weight and win the competition.
Harper spoke up about the claims, calling them "absolutely false."
Trainer Jillian Michaels left the show in 2014 amid disagreements with producers. Though she never stated exactly why, some wonder if it was due to the treatment of contestants.
"I went to them and said I'd like to see these changes and they said no," Michaels told the Daily Mail.
"So, I did not quit; they basically said, 'No we're not interested in changing x, y and z, so we will part ways.
"In all fairness, it was their show, so I said if we can't do this, this and this, I'd like to be released, and they said you're released."
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