Biggest Loser suckitude

[beelzebabette]

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2...ggest-los.html

One of my long-longtime readers, David Kleeman, writes: "I'm a huge fan of 'The Biggest Loser.' Love the show and all that it stands for. I'm also big into the marathoning community and knew back in January that one of the members of the Black team (either Blaine or Dane) had attempted a marathon in Arizona, but did not complete it. Instead, he had been picked up by a van along the course and dropped back down somewhere prior to the finish and then he crossed the finish line and collected a medal a la Rosie Ruiz. He is not listed in the finishers results (it was the Arizone Desert Classic on 1/31).

"What I didn't know was how the producers at NBC would report it. I was so disgusted to see that at the end of the Biggest Loser last night they did the whole segment on Dane and his wife doing a marathon and then reported that Dane completed the 26 mile race in 3 hours and 53 minutes."

This pisses me off a little. I don't even care about the Pattersons right now.

"Hi! I'm Carli Patterson wife to the biggest loser contestant Dane Patterson. I had herd about your post and wanted to give you an explanation of what happened. I am so proud of my husband and his accomplishments. This has been an amazing experience for our family and unfortunatly this marathon has been a little exaggerated. In this industry you are always on a time frame and sometimes it is out of your control. We had stopped along the way to film at a water station and to make up for lost time our producers drove us ONLY 3 miles up the road. I am sorry if this has offended you in any way, but we are still incredibly happy about the 23 miles we ran. We were not listed as completing the marathon. Dane is an honest LDS Dad and I hope that they do say he completed this marathon because had time allowed he would have!"

Unfortunately Carli is contradicted by her own husband, who says in the above video clip, "It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life to run side by side with my wife for an entire marathon."

UPDATE: In the comments, Jerry Nairn, another racer, says the Pattersons did not volunteer the information that they had van-aided times. "They were reported to the race director and disqualified," he writes, "not that they were honest about it."

Why would TBL bill it as a complete marathon with a phony time?

[Solon]

Why would TBL bill it as a complete marathon with a phony time?

Cheaters are lame. 3:53 is a respectable time (about 9 minute miles). If you're going to lie about finishing, you should at least put him in the 5+ hours camp.

Who's the biggest loser now???

[Teenage Dirtbag]

Ridiculous.

It seems there are conflicting numbers: most say he rode 9 miles to the finish, she says he rode 3. My guess is it was 9. I could be out of line, but with his weight, if he was just 3 miles from the finish at the 3:40-3:45 mark, I'd be very surprised.

There are scores of runners working their butts off legitimately, who have as their big goal to get a sub-4 marathon, and this liar hops in a car and rides to the finish. I don't suspect most people will see it as a big deal, but to runners, it's an outrage. TBL needs to clarity what they did immediately, and God bless the race director for DQ'ing those two. And why exactly did his wife bring their religion into it?

"I hope that they do say he completed this marathon because had time allowed he would have!” What the crap does that even mean? Doofus, he didn't complete the marathon, so why would anyone say he did? Some people are so damn stupid.

[ERCougar]

I agree. Why not just report what he did? 23 miles for a guy to run, coming from where he did, is pretty impressive. Doesn't NBC/TBL know that these things always get out? Just dumb.

[beelzebabette]

There are scores of runners working their butts off legitimately, who have as their big goal to get a sub-4 marathon, and this liar hops in a car and rides to the finish. I don't suspect most people will see it as a big deal, but to runners, it's an outrage.

Exactly. My jaw dropped last night when they showed the time as I thought that's not enough training time to run at that pace. Guess it's one more instance of "if it seems to good to be true..."

And why exactly did his wife bring their religion into it?

'Cause some other idiot brought it up first. A Mormon father would never dare lie.

"I hope that they do say he completed this marathon because had time allowed he would have!” What the crap does that even mean? Doofus, he didn't complete the marathon, so why would anyone say he did? Some people are so damn stupid.

My thoughts there are that this has to be her first marathon because there's a huge difference between finishing 17-18 miles and 26. When I finished my first marathon, I made everyone got the .2 at the end of the distance 'cause it was just as hard as the rest.

But, like I say, they're not the first people to make dumb claims regarding a marathon. It's all on the show here (in my mind) for willfully misrepresenting.

[Teenage Dirtbag]

My thoughts there are that this has to be her first marathon because there's a huge difference between finishing 17-18 miles and 26. When I finished my first marathon, I made everyone got the .2 at the end of the distance 'cause it was just as hard as the rest.

I don't know who said it originally, but my favorite saying about the marathon is that when you finally get to mile 20, you're only halfway done. So true. If the last 6.2 miles don't make you question your sanity, you're not running hard enough.

I would never discount running 17 miles. Good for him. But he missed everything that makes the marathon so great. And lying about a sub-4...well that's just not cool.

[RC Vikings]

When they showed he had done a sub 4 hour marathon I was really wondering how he did that so I'm glad I know. The other thing i wondered about when I watched that was how in the hell did he get her (she was kind of hot) and how did he keep from killing her when they had sex.

[ewth8tr]

Ridiculous.

It seems there are conflicting numbers: most say he rode 9 miles to the finish, she says he rode 3. My guess is it was 9. I could be out of line, but with his weight, if he was just 3 miles from the finish at the 3:40-3:45 mark, I'd be very surprised.

There are scores of runners working their butts off legitimately, who have as their big goal to get a sub-4 marathon, and this liar hops in a car and rides to the finish. I don't suspect most people will see it as a big deal, but to runners, it's an outrage. TBL needs to clarity what they did immediately, and God bless the race director for DQ'ing those two. And why exactly did his wife bring their religion into it?

"I hope that they do say he completed this marathon because had time allowed he would have!” What the crap does that even mean? Doofus, he didn't complete the marathon, so why would anyone say he did? Some people are so damn stupid.

Agreed, I'm really mad about this, I was watching last night and was shocked that he was able to put in a sub 4:00 time, I can't imagine why they would lie about this when it can be so easily checked out.

[il Padrino Ute]

[Surfah]

Now I don't feel so bad watching it while eating my heaping bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and chopped macadamia nuts.

Don't tell Gidget. I did do 6 miles on the elliptical machine though too. So it was really only like 1300 calorie bowl of ice cream and not 2000 calories.

[il Padrino Ute]

Now I don't feel so bad watching it while eating my heaping bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and chopped macadamia nuts.

Don't tell Gidget. I did do 6 miles on the elliptical machine though too. So it was really only like 1300 calorie bowl of ice cream and not 2000 calories.

Ok, we won't tell your wife who just happens to post here.

[Surfah]

Ok, we won't tell your wife who just happens to post here.

Doh.

[SteelBlue]

This is awesome! See, I ran 20 miles training for my marathon but got hurt before I could run the actual race. So I guess that means I'm a marathoner too! Life is fantastic when you don't have to prove anything.

[cowboy]

If the last 6.2 miles don't make you question your sanity, you're not running hard enough.

My first was the Marine Corps Marathon in DC. At mile 25, I honestly didn't know if I was going to be able to finish. Then the last .2 miles is straight uphill. It's probably only a 5 or 6 percent grade, but it feels like a 20 percent grade after running 26 miles. The real heart-breaker was my time - 4:00:45. I'm such a loser.

[BigPiney]

This is awesome! See, I ran 20 miles training for my marathon but got hurt before I could run the actual race. So I guess that means I'm a marathoner too! Life is fantastic when you don't have to prove anything.

I ran 16.5 miles last fall. I too am a marathoner. In fact this was the 1/2 distance in an ultra marathon race, so I guess I am an ultra-marathoner.