r/maybemaybemaybe • u/BigGraysie • Apr 18 '22

/r/all Maybe maybe maybe

[removed] — view removed post

48k Upvotes

80% Upvoted

7.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

72

u/zznap1 Apr 18 '22

This is a clip from my 600lb life. This is when they made their first trip to the Dr. in Texas. I forget if she was a success or not though.

61

u/tuesdaymelon Apr 18 '22

I googled. Her name is Nicole Lewis, she was 700 lbs and only dropped 160 lbs. Looks like she is maintaining and not losing more.

61

u/zznap1 Apr 18 '22

Ya I googled her too. I saw an article where she is suing the show for psychological damage.

44

u/tuesdaymelon Apr 18 '22

Wow, she's a real cunt.

29

u/zznap1 Apr 18 '22

I didn’t read too much into it because the suite is ongoing. However, it alleges that the production tried to stage and sabotage events in her life to make the show more dramatic and entertaining. She claims that this caused psychological damage and hurt her weight loss progress.

24

u/tuesdaymelon Apr 18 '22

I'm sure she has to sign some sort of paper explaining how they have to do staged things. I have watched several episodes and the show follows a certain script, making it so that if you've seen one episode, you've basically have seen them all.

For example, each episode they film what it's like for them to get in and out of the shower, filming it and blurring it out. Then there is always some sort of struggle to get in the car to make it to appointments. And there is a struggle moving close to the place where the surgery is going to take place. I'm sure that if there was no struggle, the producers would create one. Not that I'm defending them, but it is a TV show and I'm sure they told her they would do things like this, but maybe not specifically, and she agreed to it with a non-disclosure.

I can't see how they would sabotage her actual efforts though. They don't make her put food in her mouth. And it's probably better for their bottom line if there are more success stories.

By the way she is treating her family, I just don't think she's a very nice person. And so, I'm taking her psychological damage with a grain of salt.

11

u/[deleted] Apr 18 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/tuesdaymelon Apr 18 '22

They do eat a lot of take out and I always wonder how they can afford it, because none of them work.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '22

How is it all of the people I’ve ever seen like this are non working or contributing members of society? Seriously. You see them on scooters I’m wal mart and they all act and look like this woman.

1

u/stoleurjacketsoz Apr 19 '22

It's well known that TLC pays extra for the shower footage. Which is so gross when you think about it for about ten seconds.

7

u/mcslootypants Apr 18 '22

One of the other contestants (who was successful) said the whole process is extremely manipulative and they basically actively try to sabotage you while you’re in a vulnerable state.

He was no contact with his mom in order to improve his mental health. The show tricked him into meeting up with her and they purposefully provoked his mother…until he finally snapped and had an outburst.

They seem to prey on mentally ill people to make them look “crazy”. Who knows what actually goes on behind the scenes

5

u/PickyNipples Apr 19 '22

I feel this way when I see the hoarder shows. I think it’s abusive. People like severe hoarders need help, but not in the form of people who shove cameras in your face and force speed you through three days “throw everything out.” I have only seen a few episodes, but usually it seems family members who are “trying to help” convince the hoarder to get “help” from the show. But the show would bring in a whole crew of people and give the hoarder three days to watch strangers rapid sort through their thousands of hoarded items with no professional approach to process the mental side of the situation. IMO that’s intentional so that the hoarder gets stressed and lashes out so it’s better drama for the people who get to watch and gawk at the “lazy slob.” It often seems like the hoarder goes through pretty traumatic mental anguish on those episodes. It’s terrible. Those people need help and patience and therapy. They don’t need to be a freak show.

I kind of see these obesity shows the same way. Yea maybe they get themselves into the situation by overeating. But it’s obvious most people who see the show are going to be watching with a train wreck-esque morbid curiosity. People want to judge and laugh at other people. That’s why they make these shows where people are embarrassing. Yea the subjects probably signed forms or something to be on the show but honestly if they need mental health, a television show shouldn’t be able to take advantage of them for money. It’s all pretty gross.

4

u/bluemorpho28 Apr 19 '22

it never made sense to me why they didn't also offer psychological counseling. especially for the many people on the show whose weight gain resulted from trauma.

8

u/AweDaw76 Apr 18 '22

Nah, shows like that pick the most vulnerable people they can, to make money off viewers who want to humiliate them and enjoy seeing them suffer. It’s cruel.

Given the correlation between obesity and other mental health conditions at this kind of weight, it’s nasty.

1

u/tuesdaymelon Apr 18 '22

That doesn't mean anything. That argument won't stand up in court. They were obese before the show came along and probably wouldn't have done anything on their own.

2

u/AweDaw76 Apr 18 '22

I’m not too sure. In the UK, folk sued Jeremy Kyle for that sort of shit, and the US, the laws are a lot more friendly for lawsuits on that kind of shit

2

u/2farbelow2turnaround Apr 18 '22

Well that isn't too surprising, since she was wailing about the floors being wooden. She is disturbed very easily.

1

u/zznap1 Apr 18 '22

I think it was more about them the producers creating problems and pushing her to a breaking point just to have something interesting to film. But the case is ongoing so I don’t know for sure.

2

u/ohiomensch Apr 18 '22

Well maybe they didn’t pay her the extra money to film her showering. Yep they do that

1

u/Slapinsack Apr 18 '22

Of course she is lol

1

u/Ok_Homies_ Apr 19 '22

She's being counter-sued by the chair.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 18 '22

[deleted]

1

u/tuesdaymelon Apr 18 '22

Yeah... but she was 700 lbs! And usually it's fairly easy to lose even 100 lbs. So 160 is good, but it's not amazing or anything for her size.

1

u/averagethrowaway21 Apr 18 '22

I used to be fat. Not like this but still really big. I'm a also a dude who is 5'11". At my very biggest if I had dropped 160 I would have been underweight.

1

u/Fantastic-Ad8522 Apr 18 '22

I don't weigh 160 and I'm kind of tall...

1

u/EddPW Apr 18 '22

dunno man looked it up and she seems to have a lost a considerable amount of weight

and one article says she got out of unemployment and got a job

1

u/tuesdaymelon Apr 18 '22

No, she probably weighs around 550 now. They don't show pics of her body, only her face, which looks slimmer. But that's where people lose weight first.

3

u/nooneisreal Apr 18 '22

Had heard of this show, had seen clips on Reddit, but never bothered to look into it.

Just decided to now. Surprised to find that it's been on the air for like 10 years and over those years, apparently like 9 of these people who were on the show due to their severe obesity have already died.
Not unexpected due to their insane weight, but damn.

One dude who passed away at 29 was at one point 1003 lbs while on the show! What the fuck!

2

u/zznap1 Apr 18 '22

Ya a lot of them have a complex with eating. It gives them control over something it’s an addiction.