{"id":57472,"date":"2011-10-14T21:22:49","date_gmt":"2011-10-15T02:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=57472"},"modified":"2011-10-14T22:25:32","modified_gmt":"2011-10-15T03:25:32","slug":"james-garrison-blows-whistle-on-extreme-makeover-weight-loss-treatment-of-contestants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/10\/james-garrison-blows-whistle-on-extreme-makeover-weight-loss-treatment-of-contestants\/","title":{"rendered":"James Garrison &#8220;Blows Whistle&#8221; on Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Treatment of Contestants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"274\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VX3ZLvLV960\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Anyone who watches reality television knows that it isn&#8217;t all real, after all, whether it&#8217;s Loser, Housewives, or Hills, they still have a story to tell and a show to produce. But it&#8217;s one of those things that no one talks about.&nbsp; Until now.<strong> <a title=\"james garrison extreme makeover\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/06\/james-garrison-learns-to-live-more-on-extreme-makeover-weight-loss-edition\/\">James Garrison<\/a><\/strong><a title=\"james garrison extreme makeover\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/06\/james-garrison-learns-to-live-more-on-extreme-makeover-weight-loss-edition\/\"><\/a>, a participant in <strong><a title=\"extreme makeover weight loss\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/04\/extreme-makeover-weight-loss-edition-newest-non-competition-weight-loss-reality-show\/\">Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s first season earlier this year, is calling himself a whistle blower and exposing what he describes as mistreatment of the shows participants.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;You read it here first\u2026 The Biggest Extreme Makeover Loser WhistleBlower,&#8221;<\/em> said Garrison at the end of a nearly 2000-word diatribe against Extreme Makeover&#8217;s producers and cast, calling out by name JD Roth (the man also behind Biggest Loser) and the show&#8217;s trainer <strong><a title=\"chris powell diet\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diets\/reshape-the-nation\/\">Chris Powell<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In <strong><a title=\"james garrison extreme makeover\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/06\/james-garrison-learns-to-live-more-on-extreme-makeover-weight-loss-edition\/\">our interview with James<\/a><\/strong> after his episode aired he described health problems he was having as, he says, a result of his rapid weight loss, which meant losing 313 pounds in 365 days. This month he had another rush to the hospital which resulted in the removal of his gall bladder. It got him thinking.<a title=\"james garrison extreme makeover\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/10\/james-garrison-blows-whistle-on-extreme-makeover-weight-loss-treatment-of-contestants\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-57479\" title=\"james garrison extreme makeover\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/james-garrison-extreme-makeover.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"212\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Well it took another near death stay in the hospital, my second in a  year, to realize exactly what I was promoting. Yes, I lost 313lbs in one  year on ABC\u2019s Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition, but should you? The  answer is no. No one should lose that much weight that fast and if  anything I am proof positive as to why its not a good idea. Those are  unrealistic expectations that in reality are more harmful than good,&#8221;<\/em> is the statement Garrison wrote in the <strong><a title=\"truth in change\" href=\"http:\/\/truthinchange.com\/2011\/10\/extreme-no-more\/\" target=\"_blank\">blog post that started it all<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>He says that post was also followed up by personal emails to Roth and Powell, explaining his health problems, the $50,000 in hospital bills from the past year, and asking for help with it all, which he says were ignored.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I guess what is hard to understand is, after emailing JD. Roth and Chris  Powell asking for assistance with my medical and over $50,000 in  hospital bills I was ignored.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The only response he got was a cease and desist from show attorneys, which he <strong><a title=\"truth in change\" href=\"http:\/\/truthinchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/ceasewhat.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">posts a copy of on his blog<\/a><\/strong>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I write a blog about my health and why I don\u2019t think its a good idea to  lose 313lbs in one year on a Saturday night because to be honest it was  weighing on my conscious that America believes that this is okay and by  Sunday morning I have a cease and desist letter and phone calls from  show producers and attorneys. They were all threatening calls, and none  of which was about helping me. The attorney asked me to take the blog  down out of good faith and to see if we can get this resolved but Its  been 10 days and still no word back from him other than he is looking  into it?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>All of this comes from <strong><a title=\"truth in change\" href=\"http:\/\/truthinchange.com\/2011\/10\/real-reality-the-scary-truth-and-scandal\/\" target=\"_blank\">a blog post Garrison published<\/a><\/strong> on October 12, 2026, where he&#8217;s also posted images of emails between him and show producers. One such <strong><a title=\"truth in change\" href=\"http:\/\/truthinchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/emailproof2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">email is from Chris Powell<\/a><\/strong> to the show&#8217;s participants encouraging them and outlining for them how to do a flush to help them lose up to an extra 30 pounds of water weight before their weigh ins.<a title=\"james garrison extreme makeover\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/10\/james-garrison-blows-whistle-on-extreme-makeover-weight-loss-treatment-of-contestants\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-51040\" title=\"james garrison before\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/james-garrison-before.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Garrison says that the flushes Powell encouraged them to do goes against everything that Powell has taught in his fitness career. He also calls out that they never followed the diet described on the show.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;None of us were on that 2,000 calorie <strong><a title=\"paulette lambert CHLI diet\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/videos\/paulette-lambert-discusses-extreme-makeover--weight-loss-edition\/\">diet that CHLI designed<\/a><\/strong> [the <strong><a title=\"extreme makeover diet\" href=\"    https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/05\/the-extreme-makeover-weight-loss-edition-diet\/\">Extreme Makeover Diet<\/a><\/strong>].  We pretty much were told to eat less and less in email and later just  verbally as in their words \u201cyour body is fighting back, we need these  numbers\u201d. Or what was better \u201cthere going to cancel the show, we&nbsp;wont be  able to inspire anyone\u201d. We even went without carbs 2-3 days a week,&nbsp;  at their suggestion to get better numbers and better results.&#8221;<a title=\"james garrison extreme makeover\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/10\/james-garrison-blows-whistle-on-extreme-makeover-weight-loss-treatment-of-contestants\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-51041\" title=\"james garrison after\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/james-garrison-after.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"176\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Other things about the show that Garrison &#8220;outs&#8221; in his blog post include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;We were made to take diet pills 2-3 times per day for an entire year.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Chris Powell did not live with us for three months each. The fact is I maybe saw him 5 days last year&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;We were made to dehydrate ourselves every single week beginning on Thursday and ending on Saturday morning.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Garrison is certainly not the first weight loss reality star to reveal his experience. Kai Hibbard, a member of <strong><a title=\"biggest loser\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/biggest-loser\">Biggest Loser<\/a> <\/strong>season 3, famously <strong><a title=\"thats fit\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thatsfit.com\/2010\/06\/23\/biggest-loser-controversy-kai-hibbard-speaks-out\/\" target=\"_blank\">spoke out against that show<\/a><\/strong> citing similar <strong><a title=\"kai hibbard biggest loser\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/11\/biggest-loser-controversial-diet-tactics\/\">unhealthy weight loss tactics<\/a><\/strong> to help the contestants lose weight.<\/p>\n<p>We have reached out to ABC publicity and James Garrison for comment and will update as those are available.<\/p>\n<p><strong>UPDATED 10\/14\/11 at 10:20pm: <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We spoke with James by phone and he told his actions are an attempt to right a wrong. &#8220;By participating in that show I was wrong.&#8221; He also responded to critics saying &#8220;If I was out for fortune I wouldn&#8217;t be hanging myself right now.&#8221; He says some of his fellow castmates have &#8220;turned their backs on me&#8221; but others have voiced support. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anyone who watches reality television knows that it isn&#8217;t all real, after all, whether it&#8217;s Loser, Housewives, or Hills, they still have a story to tell and a show to produce. But it&#8217;s one of those things that no one &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/10\/james-garrison-blows-whistle-on-extreme-makeover-weight-loss-treatment-of-contestants\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3695],"tags":[3664,8127,8542,2698,3746],"class_list":["post-57472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-and-nutrition","tag-chris-powell","tag-extreme-makeover-weight-loss-edition","tag-james-garrison","tag-kai-hibbard","tag-reality-tv"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57472"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57474,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57472\/revisions\/57474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}