[Thor]

Apparently this will appear, in ENGLISH in one of the papers tomorrow, anyhow I just wrote concerning the little bit of criticism the show has received in Iceland so far. Overwhelmingly it has been getting rave reviews, even from die hard skeptics of BL USA.

Since the Biggest Loser Iceland has brought about so much discussion, most of it positive, but some of it negative I wanted to discuss a few issues being brought up on social media, and on various news sites here in Iceland.

The biggest one right now is the discussion about the former contestant from the Australian version telling the world about some behind the scenes tricks and of course the recent winner of Biggest Loser USA where she lost an astonishing 60% of her body weight in only 6 months.

I can only speak on my experience here, but I want everyone to know that firstly the weekly weigh in was exactly 7 days apart, no tricks, no gimmicks and nothing being asked of us contestants to bring down our weight every week other than eating healthy, working out, and getting our sleep.

As for the USA winner, I have the same reaction as most people, I worry that the end result was not healthy. I'm not a fitness expert, but that amount of weight loss in such a short time can't be healthy, and I only hope she can find health and keeps it for good.

The producers and crew went out of their way to promote health first and took all our health concerns very seriously. Nothing is perfect the first time around, but I have no complaints after my experience and I came into the show worrying we would be asked to do things that were not healthy, or that the show would show us in a negative light. After 3 episodes I am thrilled to see not only is that not the case, but that I think this show can be a great motivator for people.

If nothing, this show is creating a lot of discussion here in Iceland about health, about diet, and about the psychological side of this which is a great thing.

As for fat shaming or the show being about putting us down for ratings is nonsense. Both our trainers care a great deal for each of us, yes they are not perfect and you may not agree with everything you see, but the ultimate goal was always first and foremost about safe, healthy exercise with healthy eating, nothing complicated. I think any trainer asked to be on this show would have seen some ridicule and you have to always remember you only see a tiny percent of what happens daily at Ásbrú.

The most positive part of this experience for me outside of weight loss is the impact it has had on my confidence, my energy, my sleep, and my happiness. I see people inspired by what they see on this show and for all its faults, you get what you see on the Icelandic version, no tricks, no script, just real people struggling to find their way back to health. I see people around me at work, on the street who seem very excited about the show and I have heard of plenty of people who are getting into shape because this show helped inspire them to change their habits.