‘The Biggest Loser’: Jillian Michaels cites editing as major reason for leaving

Over the past several months, us conspiracy junkies have all tried to formulate a variety of theories as to why Jillian Michaels may have left “The Biggest Loser.” One easy theory has been that she was maybe unhappy about the twist that Ruben Studdard benefited from heavily this past season, or that she was disturbed by Rachel Frederickson’s win given the amount of weight that she ended up losing by the end of the season.

However, if you listen to Michaels’ comments to People Magazine, it appears that the biggest thing that she wanted to get away from was the perception of her as an angry trailer who was not sympathetic to the people she tried to help:

“In the beginning of the show it was tough love. You saw the tough, and you saw the love … [This time around] you saw none of the relationships, none of the bonds that I build with my clients.”

She also said that this was starting to impact her family, and the last thing that she wants is for her child to grow up and have a definitively negative opinion of her based on what they heard about from friends who may have seen her on TV.

Michaels did also site the result of this past season as something that at least troubled her:

“I had to take a hard look at my work … I came to the conclusion that moving forward, I need to be able to have an impact on the outcome of what I do.” 

While trainers try to work hard to help the contestants on the show, Michaels seems to be alluding somewhat towards the fact that Frederickson was not trained by her, yet the show received a ton of criticism. Also, we see it as a reference to the fact that contestants all go home after the show, and while they may try to keep up with a plan set up by the trainers, it’s not like they are seeing each other all the time.