The Biggest Liar

There are two T.V. shows that I watch religiously: House and The Biggest Loser. (I've been off the Heroes kick for about a month now). Part of the draw to The Biggest Loser is watching the inspirational transformations of the people trying to change their lives around for the better. It also gives me extra motivation when I'm running, especially when I'm in a rut and thinking about quitting on a run early. The way the episodes work, the contestants with the lowest percentage of weight loss are in danger of getting voted off the show. When a contestant does get voted off, the show then fast forwards to current day (I think the show was taped a few months ago). They talk about what the contestant has been up to and how he/she looks today. Well, last week's contestant, Dane, who weighed 420 pounds at the start, got voted off. So at the end of the show, it showed how he was doing. One of the things that he did with his wife was run a marathon! They showed segments of them running the race and the joy of crossing the finish line together. It was quite a feel-good moment. Then they showed the time that he finished in:

3:53

I yelled out, "3:53?!?!" in disbelief, which I said loud enough for Lisa to hear upstairs. 'There is no way he ran that in 3:53!' I thought. Lisa came downstairs and said nonchalantly, "They train all day long, it's possible." I thought, it could be possible, but considering that this guy ran a sub-4 hour marathon in his first attempt, supposedly out of shape just 2 months prior at 300+ pounds is mind-boggling and a little disheartening to someone like me, that had a 4:40 first marathon time! It bugged me for the rest of the night and then I forgot about it until tonight when I was browsing the Runner's World Discussion Boards. It turns out that the show fabricated the achievment. He was actually running closer to a 6 hour time and got picked up by a van and driven for 3 of the closing miles! The time when he crossed was supposed to show 5:53, but the first 5 was doctored to show a 3. Here's a link from the L.A. Times with the apology from NBC. Here's the other link to the Runner's World Discussion.

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It's disappointing that they tried to sensationalize his accomplishment (to his credit, he did run 23 miles), but they should have at least consulted a runner before putting that time up. I'm sure many vocal marathoners questioned the time and called them out on their mistake. As for the show, I'm still hooked. Dane is off the show, NBC apologized, all is forgiven!