Supersize Vs Superskinny
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Supersize vs Superskinny'' is a British television programme on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
that featured information about
dieting Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated way to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight, or to prevent and treat diseases such as diabetes and obesity. As weight loss depends on calorie intake, List of diets, different kinds of ...
and extreme eating
lifestyles Lifestyle is the interests, opinions, behaviours, and behavioural orientations of an individual, group, or culture. The term " style of life" () was introduced by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in his 1929 book, ''The Case of Miss R.'', ...
. One of the main show features was a weekly comparison between an overweight person, and an underweight person. The two were taken to a feeding clinic, and lived together for five days (later on two days), swapping diets while supervised by Dr
Christian Jessen Christian Spencer Jessen (born 4 March 1977) is an English celebrity doctor, television personality, and writer. He is best known for appearing in the Channel 4 programmes ''Embarrassing Bodies'' (2007–2015) and ''Supersize vs Superskinny'' ( ...
.


Overview

The overweight person swapped diets with the underweight person. While the underweight person was suddenly given more food than they would usually eat in a few days at one meal, the overweight person was usually given tea, coffee, a small snack, or nothing sometimes. Most of the underweight people were unable to finish their meal, though occasionally the overweight people also refused or struggled to eat their meals, usually after having been in the feeding clinic for a few days. Occasionally both were allowed to leave the feeding clinic for a meal swap, if it was part of both of the participants' diets. In earlier series, the show featured a food tube for each person. The tube contained what each person ate and drank in the span of one week. Usually Dr Jessen used shock tactics to demonstrate how poor someone's diet was. Both participants were occasionally shown the extent of their poor diet - for example, through bags of sugar. The "superskinny" would usually be shown pictures of their body and be told about the drastic long-term health effects. In the second series, the "supersizer" was sent to meet a woman named Lisa, whose obesity had meant that she could no longer care for herself and was receiving an operation because of her weight. In later series, the "supersizer" was sent to the United States to visit someone that was heavier than they were. It was used as a shock tactic to show the "supersizer" what they could become if they did not stop their unhealthy lifestyles. The show also featured
Anna Richardson Anna Clare Richardson (born 27 September 1970) is an English television presenter, writer and journalist. She has presented various television shows for Channel 4, including '' Supersize vs Superskinny'' (2008–2009), '' The Sex Education Show ...
in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd series, who in the first series examined new methods to lose weight by trying diets she found on the Internet, some of which had shocking side effects. For example, Anna attempted ''Laser
lipolysis Lipolysis is the metabolic pathway through which lipid triglycerides are hydrolysis, hydrolyzed into a glycerol and free fatty acids. It is used to mobilize stored energy during fasting or exercise, and usually occurs in Adipose tissue, fat adip ...
'', which went drastically wrong and resulted in severe bruising. Also, she discovered Diabulimia and spoke to
Isabelle Caro Isabelle Caro Rosenbohm (12 September 1982 – 18 November 2010) was a French model and actress from Marseille, France, who became well known after appearing in a controversial advertising campaign "No Anorexia" which showed Caro with verteb ...
, a French actress, renowned for her underweight figure and
anorexia Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...
campaign. In the second series, Anna recruited a group of "flab-fighters" - women who wanted to lose weight and whose weight was tracked weekly - and she visited
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
to discover ways A-listers would lose weight. The same series also saw a group of four anorexic women attempt to overcome their eating disorder through eating and preparing foods they would usually avoid with the help of a leading eating disorder specialist. In later series, formerly anorexic journalist Emma Woolf interviewed a number of people who had experienced the effects of eating disorders. The second, third and fourth series also introduced a section whereby a group of people recovering from eating disorders (the second and third series featured people exclusively suffering from anorexia nervosa, while the fourth included a mixture of eating disorders) were overwatched by a specialist psychiatrist and dietician Ursula Philpot who co-presented ''Supersize vs Superskinny'' and who worked to challenge their issues with food. During the first series in 2008, one feature involved
Gillian McKeith Gillian McKeith (born 28 September 1959) is a Scottish television personality and writer. She is known for her promotion of various pseudoscientific ideas about health and nutrition. She is the former host of Channel 4's '' You Are What You E ...
, who tried to find a way to "ban big bums" in the UK. She tested out different exercises to tone the buttocks of different groups of ladies, and made a leader board for the most effective.


Criticism

The programme has been the subject of criticism and debate, surrounding its portrayal of eating disorders to a potentially vulnerable audience, and its influence towards public attitudes on eating disorders. Clare Stephens, in an opinion piece written for MamaMia in 2022, expressed concern over the
body shaming Body shaming is the action or inaction of subjecting someone to humiliation and criticism for their bodily features. There are so many types of body shaming, including but not limited to fat-shaming, shaming for thinness, height-shaming, shami ...
behaviours exhibited by the "superskinny" subjects of the programme towards their "supersize" counterparts, along with the behaviours of Christian Jessen, concluding that "at best, the show did a lot to confuse audiences about the relationships between eating and exercise and health and weight. At worst, it put its audience at risk of the vast manifestations of disordered eating that can emerge from distorted beliefs around eating, shape and weight. That impact, unfortunately, is impossible to measure". Niamh Langton of The Oxford Blue, speaking of the "subliminal damage" caused by ''Supersize vs Superskinny'' and similar programming, stated of the show in 2021: "in its new, easily consumed form, we see the unrelenting shame which makes the show so popular. Shame, humiliation and self-loathing are the active ingredients. Shows like ''Supersize vs Superskinny'' presume that weight is something we can totally control, but weight is a characteristic, and not a behaviour. It is too easy to be drawn into such an over-simplification of weight-loss; a narrative that is neither helpful nor accurate. Regardless of what its creators may argue in its defence, ''Supersize vs Superskinny'', as it exists on YouTube, holds no positive, constructive message. In watching each short clip or full episode, we expose ourselves to harmful content. Such viewing habits become a guilty pleasure. You tell yourself – 'I'm not like her, I could never eat that, I could never let myself get that way.' Really, you’re indoctrinating yourself with a toxic teaching: 'don't eat that or you’ll look like her' – 'you'll be 'Super' too'."


Transmissions

In 2011, a 4-episode children's version titled ''Supersize vs Superskinny Kids'' was produced and aired between 21 and 25 March 2011.


References


External links

* * * {{IMDb title, id=1173421, title=Supersize vs Superskinny
Review, Leicester Mercury
2008 British television series debuts 2014 British television series endings Channel 4 original programming Eating behaviors of humans Obesity in the United Kingdom Television series by Banijay British English-language television shows