This is unbelievable! Kyle & Jackie O do it again
Happiness, Health, Nourishing Food — By Laura E on June 7, 2010 at 5:59 pm
The latest crazy competition from a Sydney radio station 2Day fm is a shaming, hurtful and appalling act!
See the stupidity here >> The Fat Bet
My history of disordered eating and messed up body image, led me to becoming a Nutritionist and Disordered Eating Specialist. Day in, day out I see the effects of this kind of crash dieting and I’m utterly appalled that Kyle & Jackie O are getting away with this childish competition!
Public humiliation? Anyone?
The competition involves listeners entering their details and a before picture of themselves as their ‘fat photo’. They nominate a weight that they want to lose within 8 weeks. If they don’t lose the weight, the radio station is going to shame them by putting up their before pictures on the 2 Day fm website!
Not only is this a ridiculous thing to encourage people to do, but it sets up so much potential damage in regards to body image issues and eating disorders.
For many women and young girls trying to lose weight, food, what size you are, how your clothes look and what people might be thinking of your weight is on your mind constantly. You go to bed obsessing over what foods you shouldn’t have eaten that day and how you will be perfect tomorrow; you go out stressing about seeing people and worrying that they are thinking you have put on weight and you spend your life trying to control what you eat and how much exercise you do in an effort to lose weight and be thin.
In this state, if you attempt an unrealistic, impractical and idealistic weight loss program or competition and fail, it is highly likely that your obsessions with food, weight and how you look intensify and potentially turn into an eating disorder.
The idea is that contestants enter because they are then forced to lose the weight they want to.
How can Jackie O support this competition?
Worst of all, this is being promoted by the female in the radio duo – knowing what women and young girls are exposed to everyday in the media, it’s completely baffling that Jackie O would be promoting this?
I would like to ask her, if she had the guts to face some opposition, what would she say if she had a daughter and her daughter entered a competition like this, failed to lose the weight, and her picture was displayed on a website to make her feel guilty, fat and ashamed that she is now stuck being who she is, left to feel disgraced at the sight of her own body!
Loving your body and the way you look
What about feeling grateful for the body you have? How about promoting acceptance of the gorgeous and unique body that is yours? I know what self-acceptance does for you and I see the results of people nourishing rather than abusing their bodies because they are grateful to be them.
As far as feeling shameful, this radio duo should be ashamed of themselves for not having the brains to think of something that would actually help rather than harm people.
Laura E is the founder of Nutrizione
A note from LA @ Gorgeous Things
I’m encouraging women everywhere to Enter the Competition just to tell Kyle & Jackie O how much this competition stinks!
Tags: emotional eating, emotions, nutrition
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8 Comments
You are absolutely right Laura! Lets hope that with sensible people like you can bring attention to this absurd and humiliating ‘competition’ and create some serious public outrage…..young women have a tough enough time as it is without this crap.
Jackie O – you are a disgrace – young women already have so many obstacles to overcome with beauty, fashion and the whole weight size O thing – the peer pressure is tough enough – for a radio station to endorse and allow Kyle and Jackie O to do this is an outrage. The focus should be on healthy eating, exercise and support not shaming someone so publically – it is difficult enough to lose weight and stunts like this don’t help anyone at all – thank goodness for Triple J!!!
Good on you Laura for taking on this ridiculous ‘competition’. Well done LA for posting this article. I am constantly amazed at what passes for newsworthy or interesting radio content. The sooner these two are off the air the better all the listeners will be. This is absolute rubbish!!!
Well Done Laura,
My contempt for Kyle Sandilands has risen to an all time high.
Crap like this gives the whole health and wellness industry an even tougher job when it comes to convincing people that wellness is not a game show.
Maybe there is a job for Kyle on Biggest Loser, beside The Commando and Emazon.
I’m so proud of Laura for taking ‘action’ on this issue.
Thanks to everyone for your support – you’re a fabulous bunch
To put this in context, Gorgeous Things core value #2 “Awareness & Action” – sometimes you have to act, awareness just isn’t enough.
Now, where’s that email address for Jackie O?
Thanks so much everyone for your support. Unfortunately women and men are exposed to pressures daily that may affect their body image, and for those with disordered eating patterns already, this could be a catalyst to pushing them over the edge.
Have spoken to someone from 2day FM and they were trying to convince me that people could pull out when they wanted.
Does that magically save them from the disgust they feel towards themselves when they fail?
Does that protect them from the feeling of not wanting to be in the body they are in because they haven’t lost weight?
Irresponsible guys, you have absolutely no idea what the effects are longterm. I have had others share their struggles with eating disorders and body image, it is much more widespread than we think. The more people who express their outrage the better!
Thank you so much Laura for standing up against this cruelty, I’ve watched too many people I love crash diet and fail and seen the pain and humiliation they suffer when they were doomed to fail in the first place. Only a horrible heartless person would want to do this to someone.
Well done Laura,
Kyle Sandilands is a complete fool.