Lindy Kato (Writer)

I’ve been reading Ben Elton’s book Dead Famous. I don’t usually read fiction but I’m a Ben Elton fan, I saw him in the early 80s at the comedy store in London. We are about the same age and have the restlessness trait.

If I see a second-hand Elton book, I’ll always pick it up. Sorry Ben, I did pay proper money for your excellent biography What Have I Done?

Dead Famous is about a murder in one of those Big Brother type situations where a bunch of young people, desperate to be famous, are stuck together in a house with cameras rolling 24/7 in the hope of seeing a bit of flesh, or nooky, or a row…not usually a murder.

I never even fully watched one of these programs – they were more famous back in the early 2000s. In the Big Brother franchise there were more than 500 series in sixty-three countries and plenty of spin-offs based on a similar idea, like the various ‘tribal games’ on desert islands, jungles and the like. All with the aim of cheap TV for the masses who are essentially voyeurs.

What interested me about Dead Famous was the description of the narrative of the people in the house being controlled from the outset by the editing of the megatons of footage and unbeknown to the contestants. They are fully manipulated. I think that much should be obvious to everyone though I know it isn’t. What hadn’t occurred to me, and it should have, is that news in many cases is gathered in much the same way. The editor knows the slant they hope will sell. Then they write the story and the reporter goes out to find the people who will supply the substance to fit the saleable view.

Am I cynical? I don’t know. I’m always told I have the rose-tinted glasses. Surely the ethical journalist is trudging about looking for the best story to reveal itself on the hoof?

I vaguely had an online connection to someone who got themselves into a Bog Brother house in Australia. He was bonkers. I don’t know if the production team knew, and it made his application rise above the tsunami of others. He had a good job and would have presented well, but I’m not sure they are looking to put ten or so normal people into a glass house when they could populate it with vulnerable competitors specifically to see who folds first. If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know that normal is just a setting on a dishwasher, but throw in some pots that are already cracked and a slow burning show could turn into a firecracker.

One similar show I did watch was the Biggest Loser. Ironically while I was on the wind trainer in the lounge, trying to train for an Ironman. I swim like a rock does which made it difficult, I’ve described it in Acts of Defiance, likely to be ready September(ish). The Biggest Loser has challenges and temptations which they attack in teams. It’s a bit different because the team with the lowest total weight loss as a percentage of the initial total body mass must lose a member. So, only a few people are at risk and are voted out by their team members. In some cases a contestant who felt they could carry on at home would sacrifice themselves.

I recall the interview with the doctor looking after these people describing how he was presented with the pitch of a seriously restricted diet coupled with a massive amount of exercise. Initially he refused. He said they would surely kill them. They replied, “That’s why we want you.”

Despite the show claiming the contestants are supervised, they still must sign a waiver:

“No warranty, representation or guarantee has been made as to the qualifications or credentials of the medical professionals who examine me or perform any procedures on me in connection with my participation in the series, or their ability to diagnose medical conditions that may affect my fitness to participate in the series”.

The people they took were desperate. For them it wasn’t just about the money but also their lives. I realise now the footage will have been manipulated in much the same way as the Big Brother style of house arrest in Dead Famous. The competitors lost a ton of weight though. It seemed like a good thing, and this is something I know a bit about because I lost 40 kg.

I don’t believe the weight was mine. My entire family are lean, and I got fat after being treated for eight years for something I didn’t have. That’s detailed in Bleak Expectations. Losing weight wasn’t a fix; it was the start of a continuous battle. For the competitors at the ranch, it turned out to be even worse.

They all looked better than they did at the start at the gathering for the grand finale. Many of them had carried on with the diet and exercise regimen after they were booted out.

There were seventeen seasons in the USA alone so it would have been in excess of 2,000 competitors and eventually an eighteenth at a slower pace. There are a few countries still running the competition.

Does it work? As far as I am aware only one US contestant kept the weight off. Competitors regained all the weight and often more within a few years. Remember these people were morbidly obese when they started but their metabolic rate was normal, the excuse people often give for being overweight is a slow metabolism, but it’s almost never true.

A six-year study found the levels of the hormone leptin, which tells you when you are full, never recovered. This makes them hungry all the time. Their thyroid had become sluggish, so now they could claim a slower metabolism – making it inevitable that they wouldn’t keep the weight off. Their metabolic rates slowed significantly more than predicted and never rebounded. The Harvard study now reckons surgery is a better bet.

I know I struggle and mine wasn’t a life-long thing, not a hereditary thing but a medically induced ‘thing’. There’s no point being grumbly about it, I’d better get back on the treadmill…