So episode one was today. Shaq goes and visits all the kids to get to know them and introduce them to the viewers. He also introduces Carlon "Doc" Coker, a physical expert, who will be guiding the kids through all their exercises.
James, Age 11 182lbs. This boy's mother is totally at fault. She buys them donuts, pizza, lets the kids eat "fry burgers," (burgers with fries stacked in between), and the worst was the mom puts TWO WHOLE STICKS OF BUTTER IN EACH BAG OF POPCORN SHE MAKES FOR THE KIDS!!!!! She blames the fact that she's a working single mother for not being able to feed the kids healthy food. What a copout. If it meant enough to her, she'd find a way. James gets picked on by older kids because he's fat, but it's not a big deal to him. He said he doesn't think he's fat, which is shocking to me, considering kids call him fat, and I'm sure he has a mirror.
Chris, age 11, 206lbs. slowest kid on his baseball team which seems to be his biggest concern. His role model, is surprisingly, one of the heaviest baseball players in Major League Baseball, David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox. This family's tradition is noodles and sausage loaded with sauce and salt. Chris also loves Baloney and Hot Dogs, and claims his biggest problem is portion control. His dad claims that their Spanish culture, it's not good to look thin, because it's not a sign of health.
Everyone in this family is obese, parents and kids. Chris is very sensitive, and can't ignore the name calling that goes on.
Ariel is 14, 211lbs, and is an emotional eater. This is blamed on a traumatic event that happened a while ago.
Kit is 14, 263lbs, a big outsider who never exercises. Has a tough time fighting the urge to eat with all the food signs everywhere.
Kevin is 13, 260lbs, but seems to be in good spirits, and has a very supportive father, which is very important.
Walter Hollinger age 14, 285lbs, plays 5hrs of video games a day, and owns multiple video game systems! Shaq thinks this guy is going to be the biggest challenge. There's pizza and pizza burrito boxes all throughout the kitchen. He gets called Pizza Face for his acne and chubby by a few students. Two guys at his school are betting when Walter is going to quit Shaq's Big Challenge. Even though he's in the worst shape of the group, amazingly his dad and mom are not really overweight, but it seems they have no control over their son. Walter is in denial that he overeats.
Next came the presidential physical fitness test. I remember doing this as a kid. 3 kids couldn't do situps, 4 kids couldn't do pushups (Kit, Walter, Chris and Ariel). Kevin is the best athlete by far; Kevin did 6 pushups, and ran the fastest lap around the track. He blows the doors off of everyone else. Walter couldn't jog 1/8 mile before having to walk, and had to walk most of the way. Shaq is doing a great job keeping the kids motivated and encouraging them to push each other. They seemed very down at first, but Shaq has their attitudes up as the show went on.
Shaq consults Dr. William Munios, a childhood obesity specialist at Miami's Children's Hospital, who has been treating childhood obesity for 18 years. This doctor is worried about Walter's infantile mindset towards his bodyweight. He's not taking things seriously. The doctor is now testing BMI, and all the kids are off the charts. Walter is already asking about getting surgery to lose the weight. The kids hit the treadmill for a stress test, and Ariel failed the treadmill stress test within 5 minutes....she collapsed. An average kid can do 20-30 minutes. With the use of an MRI, the doctor can tell that the average kid has a 4.4mm layer of fat around them, and all the kids have maxed out the MRI's fat layer reading of 20mm. Walter's fat layer was too high and the machine couldn't even read it. Kit's bodyfat percentage was 50%; she's 150lbs overweight.
What I like is that Shaq and the doctor don't beat around the bush with the parents and kids. They explain the symptoms, including death. A lot of these parents and kids act so shocked when they see these results on paper, it's as if they didn't realize there was a big problem! I like that the doctor insists that diet and training is the only safe way to do this. No diet pills, no liposuction, no obesity surgery.
Next part of the show brings in Joy Bauer of Joy Bauer Nutrition. Joy comes by to each of the kids' houses with a bunch of fast food and junk food as an example to show the kids what they're really eating on a daily basis. Showing them what 5lbs of fat looks like, how much sugar is in the soda they drink each week, etc. She's also counciling the parents to do their job and keep an eye on the kids and only allow them fast food once a week. I say good luck, and blame the parents more than the kids for why the kids are in this bad of shape to begin with. I wish they spent more time schooling the parents on childhood obesity.
Next, all the kids are given exercises to do in a gymnasium setup. They're supposed to train each day during the week, and on the second day, 3 of the kids didn't even show for their workouts! Walter has been there every day so far, which is good because he's needed the most help. Chris tells Shaq he's doing all the things on his workout checklist, but he's lying; he's cheating. In fact, they have video of all the kids doing their workouts and ALL of them are cheating. Chris is doing his treadmill workouts at a measily 1/2 mph, not even doing a full crunch. Chris checks off stuff he's done when he hasn't done it. James does his treadmill at like 1/10 mph.
Now Shaq after seeing how pathetic they were exercising from the hidden camera, things are going to turn into a boot camp. I'm amazed that Shaq wasn't smart enough to keep the kids under supervision. He actually trusted a bunch of 11-14 year olds who never took their obesity seriously, to take these tough exercise routines seriously in a mature fashion. Boy was he wrong. I'm looking forward to the next show where he puts em through the ringer.
