Biggest Loser 2/24 (Page 2)

YES!  The first thing I thought was that they needed to adjust the saddle for each new rider.

Ok, so being short, 5'3", my entire life, I notice things that seem to be unfair.  For example, the lever they had to hit 100 times after dropping into the mud, they all seemed to be hanging at the same height.  Wouldn't it have been more fair to hang it a certain proportion of each contestant's height?  On Survivor, they usually have a "stand on this post with one foot while the other foot is on a higher surface" sort of deal.  Well, for short people, that means more extension and stretching than for taller people (thus probably earlier fatigue).  Ok....stepping of my soapbox...

The levers were not at the same height.  I had to re-wind to check because my husband thought that was particularly mean.   Some of them had horizontal bars placed between the two poles at different heights with the button hanging from it.  It was easiest to see when they were walking up to the challenge.

Ummm... did anyone catch at the end it said Blaine ran a full mary in 3:56.  I think the clock said 5:56.

Come on...there is no way that he pulled of a 9:20 mile for 26.

I said to my wife - I gotta like this guy - he ran a marathon.  Then they showed his time was 15 minutes faster then my current Marathon PR.  I turned to my wife and indicated my disgust for this guy... 

I caught that (and it was Dane).  Seriously?  3:56???

http://www.ontri.net/message.php?reply=102446&forum=0

Not sure if you need to be a member to read that forum, but an interesting view from someone else that ran the marathon.

lets go to the tape:

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I hate to admit this, but I was really intrigued, so I went to the Arizona Road Racers website and cannot find him or his wife listed anywhere for any race - either by their names (Gregory Dane Patterson and Carli Mae Patterson) or by their Bib #s 291 & 292.

I am REALLY glad that other people brought this up, because I was in a little bit of shock when I watched last night - and I would have felt a little petty being the first one to broach the subject. 

I was in that race, running the half, and I saw Dane and his wife on both the out and the back (I at least thought it was them that I recognized at the time) - it certainly looked like them, and they were wearing black Biggest Loser t-shirts, which I thought was really cool.  Of course, after the race, I was curious as to what event they were running and their times, but I couldn't find them in the race results. 

I ran the 1/2 in 2:14, I started five minutes after the gun, and I passed them about four miles in.  Even if I had kept my pace for a full (which I could not have done), it would have put me at roughly 4 1/2 hours for 26.2 miles.  When I saw the show last night, and it said that they broke four hours, I was dubious - I just didn't see how they could have picked up the pace that much in the second half of their first (I'm assuming) full marathon.  Knowing I am not the only one who has some questions is comforting.

That said, Dane should be HIGHLY commended on completing a full, no matter what his actual time was (and it wouldn't be the first time that Biggest Loser has been guilty of hyperbole and fudging the facts).  It is a HUGE accomplishment, and it was cool for me to see him out there and give him some encouragement as I went by.  I hope to see he and Blaine at other tris and distance runs in the future.       

I have been reading the other boards and because of all the buzz, this was posted by Dane's wife on someone's blog.  Don't know if it is her, but it is in line with what some competitors have been saying...

"Hi! I'm Carli Patterson wife to the biggest loser contestant Dane Patterson. I had herd about your post and wanted to give you an explanation of what happened. I am so proud of my husband and his accomplishments. This has been an amazing experience for our family and unfortunatly this marathon has been a little exaggerated. In this industry you are always on a time frame and sometimes it is out of your control. We had stopped along the way to film at a water station and to make up for lost time our producers drove us ONLY 3 miles up the road. I am sorry if this has offended you in any way, but we are still incredibly happy about the 23 miles we ran. We were not listed as completing the marathon. Dane is an honest LDS Dad and I hope that they do say he completed this marathon because had time allowed he would have! "

They are not listed in the race results because people saw them get in the van and complained to the race director.  I am very disappointed with TBL and NBC.  This is the second time they have misrepresented an accomplishment of a past contestant.  

What if got a ride in a van for part of his marathon?

It sounds like the producers of the show and the network had a strong influence on what happened out there that day, and it is cool that Dane's wife came forward to tell the real story.  I'm glad that the truth is coming out - makes me feel a little more sane about reconciling what was broadcast with what I saw with my own eyes.

While 23 miles isn't quite a full marathon, I think we can all acknowledge that it is still a heck of a long run, especially for someone who has come so far in a short period of time.

I am thinking about doing the same. 

Frankly I was surprised that they didn't send Ron home. His weekly losses have been low. I know he's not a threat but they need strong players to keep the team going for the next couple of weeks.

^^And that was exactly exactly my thinking about NBC and their editing. Don't they realize that alot of people who actually live healthy, active lifestyles watch the show and we know the mileage for marathon (always the same distance) and an Ironman. Showing a serious lack of respect for the contestants by misrepresenting them

It's sad, but I probably figure that they wouldn't mind paying the 'price' of having a few triathletes and marathoners complain, if they can hype up their show and results by exagerating/stretching the truth to 99% of the rest of the viewers.

Most people won't know better, check on the results, etc.  They will take what NBC tells them as truth.  What's better to say?  "They did a marathon" OR, "they attempted a marathon, got driven 3 out of the 26.2 miles" finish times were embelished,  etc....  I'm sure NBC can handel a few negative emails from runners or BTers!

But I still don't like it...