I thought we could use a thread for backstory on the more salacious parts of TBL history. A repository for topics like:

-- Can someone give this new viewer backstory on the Marty/Amy infidelity? I read a bit on the Kai thread, but I'm interested in what one could get from the show itself. Were they ever shown acting romantically? etc.

-- Is "waterloading" common?

-- Did Caroline leave by choice or force?

AFAIK, there was nothing in the show that let on anything about Marty and Amy being involved with one another. One of the early rewards was a visit from loved ones, and for Marty, the visitor was his wife. When Marty was eliminated (much later), the video sequence at the end of the episode featured Marty's students and did not mention his wife at all.

Water loading is common in the US version when the person or persons know they have immunity. The Aussie version has eliminated the problem with water loading by stripping the immunity from anyone who gains weight at the weigh in.

Excellent idea. Let's hope it catches on here as well.

Genuine question, not trying to be snarky: How can anyone in the US version know that they have immunity prior to the weigh in? I am new to the show this year, so if this is something that happens later in the game or something, please let me know.

If the challenge reward is immunity, then you can water load quickly. Look at Matt from season 2, he had immunity one week and gained 12 pounds.

Thank you. Now I get it...so sometimes they tell them at the challenge in advance, unlike the shady way they did it last week for the Red Team.

Yeah, then water loading sucks and they should punish it.

Someone GAINED 12 pounds in water weight? God, I would think that could kill you, like that poor woman in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest. Of course, these people have a lot more body weight to dilute, but still....12 pounds of water? Crap.

Jillian told him how to gain alot of weight quickly. She told him to ingest alot of salt and that would help him retain a good bit of H20.
The next week when he didn't have immunity he lost 25 pounds which was more than enough to beat out everyone else.

I missed that episode back then -- did it actually show Jillian advising him on waterloading? Doesn't seem like her, somehow. She wouldn't have had to, either -- Matt was a wrestler and knew all the tricks of gaining and losing massive amounts of water weight at the drop of a hat.



I imagine that's WHY they didn't tell them ahead of time about the immunity this time. Although part of me wonders if Kim didn't find out somehow ahead of time and refrain from pushing them at the Last Chance Workout -- those were some pitifully small numbers they put up that day, at a VERY fortuitous time.

Edited because sometimes I hit the "submit post" button too quickly.

As I recall, Jillian was never shown advising Matt about waterloading or salt retention--nor any on-camera reference to her having done so. There was some footage of Matt having a late-night binge on (IIRC) sausages.

No, you didn't see any episodes with Jillian advising them how to water load. This came up during interviews with past contestants.


If Matt knew all the tricks why was he a fat pig when he started the show and is currently on his way to being one again?

During his wrestling days, he would have had the structure of team workouts imposed on him, plus learning from other wrestlers all the crazy techniques for making weight just before a match.

On his own, he fell into a bad pattern of drinking alcohol to excess and overeating. Perhaps a certain amount of compulsiveness allowed him to succeed in wrestling and, minus the structure, it could be that the same compulsiveness led him to the condition he was in when his season of BL began.

He does appear to have regained quite a bit of weight, which is a shame. Has anyone heard whether he has been able to maintain his sobriety?

Also, you develop certain eating habits when you're heavily involved with a sport, which are okay at the time because they're burning a lot of calories but destructive once they stop with the sport. For example, I'm not an althete but my friend was, and year-round she was either doing swimming, track, or field hockey. When she stopped playing sports she gained about twenty-five pounds over the course of a year and a half because she was used to being able to eat big quantities of food because she would burn them off. Matt was probably used to being able to eat one way, and then when he stopped wrestling, he continued to eat that way, as well as drink excessively.

How do we know that Matt is gaining weight again?

I hadn't heard anything about the drinking (didn't watch his season). Did he discuss that a lot on the show?

One note on the Marty/Amy thing...Kai wrote in her blog that Amy actually moved into Marty's room during taping -- and that the "surprise" of his wife onboard made for a "very uncomfortable day" for everyone there. Kai had to edit/remove much of her blog posting due to the evil empire of NBC threatening her but luckily I read it early & have an awesome memory :)

I've only seen the first season of the Aussie version, but they were very public about the fact that everyone was waterloading, and showed both Bob and Jillian advising their teams and individual team members to do it.

How does Kai fit into this whole Marty/Amy thing?

I didn't watch that season at all. Just the first two and now this one.

Other than being in the same house, probably not at all. Kai just seems like the kind of person to shit on other people.

polkadots: Are you confusing Kai (contestant from Marty/Amy season) with Kae (contestant on current season)?

caroline2, Matt did discuss his drinking on the show and in follow-up segments. I think he mentioned his sobriety chips from AA and how they were at least as important as his losing weight.

When Matt and Suzy visited the show this past season, Matt was visibly heavier and he mentioned "I've gone up" when he and Suzy were discussing the fact that keeping the weight off is an ongoing process. At the beginning of this season, on the "Did they keep the weight off special," Matt and Suzy were featured in a segment focusing on their new baby, and Matt looked plump. Not back up to where he was at the start of his season, but definitely plump.

Here's the video from the "Where are they now" show of Matt and Suzy.

Two words: Water. Loading.

Ah heck. Let's try two more: Vote. Manipulation. (which technically was not cheating, but it was the scummiest thing ever on this show)

Erin11, no, I'm not confusing the two. I did write Kai, not Kae, and I was responding to the quote in my post about Kai writing blogs about Marty and Amy which I've also read about from skimming Kai's thread.

As for the scandal du jour, water loading seriously needs to be made illegal in this competition. If piece of shit Neil's 17 lb weight gain doesn't prompt a rule change (if not next week, then at least next season), I don't know what will. Oh wait, maybe if someone fucking drops dead from water loading, then maybe, just maybe the dipshit producers will consider banning water loading.

I thought I heard somewhere that Ryan, the Season 1 winner, gained back all his weight. Does anyone know if that's true? That to me would be a bigger scandal than the waterloading thing.

In the media thread, I think, there was a link to an article that quoted Ryan as saying that he had regained all but 30 pounds of his weight loss.

I really do believe it is impossible for the participants of this show not to gain some of the weight if not all the weight. They lose so much so fast that as soon as they get back to "normal life", the body will keep anything in. I wish they would keep the weight off but I am never surprised to hear that they gained it back. I feel sorry for Ryan... Ryan seemed like a nice guy. As for Matt, I don't care much and I am just in total shock to see that Suzy had a baby with him. I know it is not new "news" but I just saw the video and I am in shock. I was sure it wouldn't last.

Edited because Marty and Amy are not the same as Matt and Suzy LOL Sorry Jacob's Hair Dye for the confusion.

What? Where did you find that little gem of information? I havent' heard anything about them having kids.