Biggest Loser

I don't have a category in my blog for name-dropping, but I suppose this post would fit.

We're watching The Biggest Loser for the first time because one of the contestants is a guy we know from our days at Northwestern College, O'Neal Hampton. I gave him a ride home to northern Indiana on my way home to Miami one year and had a great meal at his house that evening. I think I spent the night there too, but I'm not sure.

I hadn't yet taken out my yearbook to look at the young O'Neal I knew in college, but when they showed a picture of him on the show from his younger days, it all came flooding back. He was quite an athlete and looked it too. I'm not sure how long he and his daughter will be on the show since the end of the first hour threw everyone a curve, but I'm wishing him the best.

By the end of the show we were cheering for everyone, and it feels tragic that anyone is sent back without finishing the task. I was happy to discover that there are incentives to keep working at it for those sent home and that it sometimes works. Very interesting and emotional show.

One more thing: I heard that this show inspires people to exercise and eat better. Three quarters of the way through the show my mom said it was only making her hungry! I, on the other hand, was inspired to go to the gym today, but I was too emotionally exhausted from the show to actually work out. (Okay, only the thing about my mom is true.)