Season 1
The Biggest Loser South Africa is a South African reality competition television series based on the international format of the same name that offers overweight South Africans the opportunity to undergo a radical physical makeover without surgery.
The show premiered on e.tv on Monday, 7 January 2008 and ended on 14 April, 2008. The show was made for e.tv by Red Pepper Pictures and produced by Gail MacLellan.
Synopsis
Hosted by Jasmyn Asvat, the series challenges and encourages overweight contestants as they compete in a safe and recommended manner through comprehensive diet and exercise.
The unscripted one-hour reality series gathers contestants from across South Africa to face real-life temptations while being provided with weight-loss skills and resources in an effort to help them transform their bodies, health and ultimately their lives.
Along the way they're faced with the difficulties of regular weigh-ins, physical challenges, rewards, alliances and enemies.
The contestants live together in a beach villa outside of Durban and compete against each other in two teams - the red and the blue team. Each team has their own personal trainer: Lisa Raleigh and Bruce Classen.
There are 15 episodes across the season and by the end the person who's lost the most weight out of everyone wins the title of The Biggest Loser.
Contestants prepare for the first day of the week only to find a situation that involves temptation. The temptation usually requires contestants to gamble by eating or drinking delicious but high-calorie foods in exchange for what they may deem as a beneficial trade-off.
The benefits may or may not be known to the contestants in advance.
Examples include eating sweet foods for a chance to call their loved ones. Another example is eating a big slice of cake to win an unknown prize (which turned out to be an exercise bike).
Contestants are given a set amount of time before the offer passes.
2. Reward challengeTeams compete to win a prize. After the challenge, viewers are shown the winning team savoring their reward while the losing team bitterly accept their loss.
During team-based challenges, in the event that one of the teams has an extra member, the winning team can decide who should sit-out during the weigh-in. If the challenges become individual-based, the winner of the challenge is given immunity from being eliminated at the next weigh-in.
3. Weigh-inAll contestants are weighed to determine the pounds they lost. During team-based competition, the team that lost the most weight wins. The losing team must vote who they should eliminate among them.
When the competition has turned individual-based, the two contestants who lost the least weight are in danger of elimination.
A similar setup to individual based weigh-in happened when the beginning two teams are broken up into four teams of two.
4. The voteThe losing team enter a dining room half-surrounded with refrigerators filled with sweets. Each refrigerator has the name of each contestant lit.
During the team-based competition, losing members each carry a covered plate containing the name of the person they wish to vote out. In the event of a tie, the winning team decides who from the losing team must be voted out.
During the individual-based competition, the fate of the two contestants on the chopping block will be determined by the other players. In the event of a tie, the one contestant who lost the least weight is eliminated.
In all scenarios, the refrigerator with the eliminated player's name is shut off.
Companion Show
The Biggest Loser Extra was a 10-episode companion show to The Biggest Loser SA. It was on e.tv on Sundays at 16h00. Eliminated contestants went to a second secret house where they spent a week trying to lose as much weight as possible. The winner got the opportunity of returning to the main show.
In Week 10 Louis Hand won the title of Biggest Loser Extra and returned to join the four semi-finalists. He was eliminated the following week.
Full story.
The Season ResultsThe three finalists for the season were: Asanda Siloti, John Dokos and Sharon Haarhoff.
On Monday, 14 April 2008 Sharon Haarhoff won the season at the show's Grand Finale.
She lost a total of 61.8kg's across the show, 45.74% of her total body weight.
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The week prior to the finale - on Monday, 7 April 2008 - Jacques Pienaar was named the show's runner-up at the Reunion Show. The 11 eliminated contestants weighed in to see who had lost the most weight across the show and Jaqcues took the title.
He lost a total of 59.9kg, 40.07% of his total body weight.
Full story.