In the fifth season of Obese participants are followed who are morbidly obese, or seriously overweight. This season is also presented by Angela Groothuizen. According to the presenter, this season was extra difficult for the participants of the program due to the corona crisis.
The sixty-year-old presenter does not do much that this year is an anniversary season, she says in a conversation with NU.nl. “It is special every season, so this year is no more special than previous years. It has been over and over again showing the struggles some people have with food or their bodies.”
The participants have eight months to change their lives. According to Groothuizen, this is going better this year than in previous years. “The approach is so holistic this year. We tried that last year, but somehow it worked better this year,” says Groothuizen. The team consists of nutritionist Lisa Steltenpool, psychologist Hilde Jans and trainer Roberto Da Costa. “The candidates are surrounded by people who know a lot about it and have compassion. Roberto has once been fat and he really understands how much effort you have to put in to get it off.”
A personal action plan is drawn up for each candidate. “It’s so crazy: what works like a tierelier for one person, doesn’t work for another at all. One can just turn his life around in one go, the other has to work harder for it. But also speak to those people. you still have about 34 pounds of weight loss. “
‘We didn’t want to talk about coronavirus for too long’
The corona virus broke out in the middle of the recordings. This is briefly addressed in the episodes. “We didn’t want to talk about it for too long and just have a good season.” However, it had a major impact for the participants.
In the process that takes eight months, four months were under the spell of the corona virus. “With gyms that were closed and at a time when the whole of the Netherlands was arriving, they all took action.” Because not all recordings could go ahead, Groothuizen made video calls with the candidates. “I admired them so much at the time.
‘We have forgotten how it should be’
Groothuizen is very open about its own weight and its fluctuations. “I’ve always been small and slender but during the transition it suddenly went hard. Then I really had to do my best to get it off. But now that I’ve got it off, I have to do my best not to overdo it. to lose weight. “
A few weeks ago, during the heatwave, the presenter had lost a little weight. “Then I weigh 63 pounds and then everyone says, ‘You’re way too skinny.’ But I used to weigh 53 pounds. Our perception of the ordinary has changed. If you look at a headline from a 1970s newspaper, then you think: gosh, how skinny all those people are, but we have just forgotten how it should be done, which is why it is worthwhile to show the transformation of people for whom it has gone too far. “
‘Fatshaming keeps coming back’
“It always comes back fatshamen. Even though they bring their own sandwich from home while colleagues get all kinds of bad things, they are still looked at with a look of: “Would you do that?” I do hope that we can make this negotiable. “
“You may think that someone is too fat, but think before you comment. People are not that terribly fat by their own free will. They are also not fat because they have a weak character. I hope it is a season true. people inspired by getting “, said the presenter.
Obese can be seen weekly on RTL 4 from Wednesday 2 September at 8.30 pm.
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