I happened to catch the episode in question in my quest for inspiration. I did see the end where the contestant named Dane was running with his wife and finished a race of somekind.
My girl friend thought it was a marathon, and I for a moment thought it was a marathon as well, but then I convinced myself it was probably a half marathon or some other distance. I looked at the time and concluded that there was no way that he could’ve finished a marathon in under 4 hours (the clock read 3:53:00 as Dane was crossing the finish line). Not given what I believed to be Dane’s physical condition.
I come to find out today, that it was indeed a marathon, but Dane didn’t finish the race as they presented in the show.
According to several reports, Dane ran the first 17 miles, then hitched a ride with a producer to the 20 mile mark and ran it in from there.
Anyone that’s run a marathon knows that mile 17 is about when you hit the wall, and mile 20 is the second half of the race. I can understand the motivation and the desire to cheat at that point, but c’mon??? Seriously???
Dane, you shouldn’t have done it. Nevermind that you “didn’t mean” for any of this stuff to happen. What you did was dishonest.
Now, it makes me think that the real reason for your 130 lbs weight loss is that you got a lap band, not that you really did exercise and do all those things on the show to lose weight.
So what if you wouldn’t have finished in under 6 hours? Didn’t you read the race packet telling you how long you had to finish the race? Why didn’t you opt for the half marathon?
Oh well, so much for “reality” TV.
I never did like the name of this show, and now Dane, methinks you are the biggest loser. What do you think about this debacle?
Thrills and inspiration top the list of reasons people plant their asses in their couch to watch television. Watching some guy lock himself in a coffin of water, to see if he can make it out must be exhilarating. There’s a whole series devoted to just that, two more on surviving outdoors with $40K of camera equipment and a toothpick, and another with mad truckers skating their big rigs on ice. A nicely compact 30 minute dose thrill.
Watching the morbidly obese run “marathons” is just another 30 minute dose of inspiration. The off-screen obese look to these people for that go-get-em feeling the infomercials can’t provide. If the guy were to pass out at mile 17, whose heart is going to feel uplifted and spring wells of joyous tears?
Who cares if he lost his weight running, or because of a lap band, or through a vacuum tube and needle. The jackass in the coffin of water is in no more danger than the guy with the cameras and a toothpick in the middle of the Rockies. They’re just TV shows people watch instead of living real lives. The shame isn’t in what they show you for your 30 minutes stagnant on the couch. The shame is that for those 30 minutes, you could’ve been out there doing it for real.
You just gave me an idea for a uStream show. Me watching TV on my couch. I wonder how many people would tune in for that…
Haaa haa and you know you do make the best facial expressions! You will get a lot of viewers. If some chic on youtube can look up at a camera and blink her eyes pretending she has huge anime eyes, you’ll get viewers watching you react to sitcom. I love it!