For the 15th time, “Life made easy – The Bigget Loser” on SAT.1 has been slimmed down as much as it can. This time, too, the well-known motto was brought out: “In order for life to be easier, it first has to be harder.” And: “Without sweat there is no diligence and without diligence there is no gain.”
30 overweight candidates fought on Naxos for one of only 20 places in the actual “The Biggest Loser” weight loss camp. The “Kilo-Touris” had one week to convince team boss Christine Theiss (42) and their top coaches Sigrid Ilumaa (42) and Ramin Abtin (50) in the boot camp.
“The boot camp will be harder than ever,” announced Theiss. “You have been chosen from thousands of applicants. Take your chance! We will open the door for you – only you can go through yourself.” Abtin is there as a trainer for the twelfth time and the TBL senior, Theiss, who was once coached by Abtin to become the kickboxing world champion, only joined a year later. He also left little room for half measures: “I want to see the irrepressible will here, who is willing to change themselves and their attitude to life.”
Who is worth it, that he can then prove himself daily in the ten-week camp and assert himself with will, assertiveness, ambition, motivation and discipline against the “bosses” pain, nausea, hunger, homesickness and fear.
Ramin is also self-motivated: Sigrid Ilumaa made her debut as a coach last year and won with her protégé Patrick. He lost almost 50 percent from the initial 194 kilograms at “LLG-TBL” and secured respect, confetti and the suitcase full of 50,000 euros.
The 30 who gathered halfway up the Zas, Filoti’s local mountain, shortly after their arrival, are still a long way off. They wanted and had to prove themselves in order to get one of the coveted team t-shirts from Sigrid (orange) and Ramin (blue). The first test was a 1,000 meter long “summit challenge” in the scorching sun and with a permanent incline, which would not be easy even for lightweights.
Some started like the fire brigade, others couldn’t do it at all, even if they wanted to. At 227.1 kilograms, Torsten is the heaviest candidate of all time, he even tops Jürgen (219.8) from 2021. And Torsten can only walk, but he has the others at his side. When he was the last to approach the finish line, the others literally carried him over the line with their cheering. “It was great that complete strangers cheered me on, made me euphoric.”
With Silke it was Christine Theiss who gave her the right boost with her calm but persistent motivation. Although, in the end it was the gesture that counted. “She put her hand on my shoulder and it went uphill from there.” In both senses of the word.
The first shirts were distributed at the summit. Salvo got the first orange shirt, Robert the first blue. Over the days more and more were awarded. Here one in the evening at the camp, there two at circuit training. The winners of the first challenge each received a shirt: lifting sandbags over their heads. Pia (29) prevailed in the girls after eight minutes and strengthened Sigrid’s team, in the men’s team – the sun was already setting – Daniel (37) won the blue Leiberl after almost eleven minutes.
This is how the teams were formed over the week and finally on the last boot camp evening. Jessi (33), Manuela (25), Matea (31), Pia (29), Silke (40), Vivienne (22), Leon (28), Marvin (26), Salvo (37) and Torsten (42) tried to get as far away from their total take-off weight of 1576.5 kilograms as possible.
Ramins Blaue, Angelina (25), Ása (48), Laura (24), Sandra (48), Valentina (34), Daniel (39), Oesli (36), Phillip (27), Robert (34) and Zead ( 21), weigh 102 kilograms less. A total weight of 3050.9 kilograms was determined for the 20 campers when they arrived on Naxos. Three tons! A full-grown elephant seal weighs so much (and so does a teenage blue whale’s tongue) and it’s a record weight for LLG-TBL.
But, and this is the good news, the teams showed right from the first weighing session that they were heading in the right direction in the boot camp. In total, they have already lost 154 kilograms. Among the men, Phillip lost the most weight at 25 pounds, but Salvo, around 100 pounds lighter, lost 25 pounds and was the most percentage (6.93 percent). But he was topped by Valentina. With 8.8 kilograms she clearly won the women’s ranking and in terms of percentage (6.96 percent) even across genders.
The Blues won the first weigh-in as a team. They lost 79.5 kilograms, the equivalent of 5.39 percent of their starting weight. They put Team Orange (74.7 kilos, 4.74 percent) in their place. This had an impact, because for the first time in a long time not everyone is moving into the same guest house. Only the winners of the week – team blue this time – are allowed to move into the “luxury camp”, where air-conditioned rooms, real beds with cozy blankets and pillows, a casual lounge, pool, whirlpool and a gym hall await. The orange ones are starving. On bunk beds, with scratchy blankets, showers in wooden shacks and training opportunities exclusively outdoors. This fuels the ambition even more…
Luck is changeable, the next scales are recalculated, and then the first person will have to fly home again. Like the ten who dropped out of boot camp. Consolation and appeal from Christine Theiss were on board: “Don’t see the end here as a defeat! See it as a starting point! Stay tuned and show us!”
Sigrid Ilumaa has been a personal trainer on The Biggest Loser for nine years, although she’s only been in front of the camera for the second year. She does everything to support the participants in achieving their goals. In the interview, she gives insights into how to lose weight successfully and what is particularly important in the camp.
Finale at the “perfect dinner” – participant Linda chose something very special for this. She presents an octopus with potatoes, chestnuts and mushrooms for her comrades-in-arms. At least they are surprised – the feedback for the unusual dinner is mixed.
*The contribution “”Life made easy – The Biggest Loser”: Candidates lose 154 kilos” is published by Teleschau. Contact the person responsible here.
