--- title: Biggest Loser Winner Rachel Frederickson Looks Too Thin, Twitter Reacts description: Fans took to social media last night to air their concern about this season's winner, who looks unhealthily thin canonical: https://time.com/6727/the-biggest-loser-goes-too-far-2/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-05T18:23:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:37.705Z article:section: Health og:title: Biggest Loser Winner Rachel Frederickson Looks Too Thin, Twitter Reacts og:description: Fans took to social media last night to air their concern about this season's winner, who looks unhealthily thin og:url: https://time.com/6727/the-biggest-loser-goes-too-far-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba906e49dcda4b2d/6986823835ba6f85d8c0096e/4668792771.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: The Biggest Loser - Season 15 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Biggest Loser Winner Rachel Frederickson Looks Too Thin, Twitter Reacts twitter:description: Fans took to social media last night to air their concern about this season's winner, who looks unhealthily thin twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba906e49dcda4b2d/6986823835ba6f85d8c0096e/4668792771.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _The Biggest Loser_ Goes Too Far > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: 'Biggest Loser' Winner's Controversial Weight Loss [Watch (HLS stream): 'Biggest Loser' Winner's Controversial Weight Loss](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Vw8sIAF7.m3u8) (2:01)  _Published 2014-02-06. Tuesday night, the NBC reality series crowned 24-year-old Rachel Frederickson its season 15 champion, but Rachel’s dramatic weight loss has some people worried, including the show’s trainers._  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Feb 5, 2014 6:23 PM UTC  (l-r) Alison Sweeney and Rachel Frederickson in the season 15 finale of The Biggest Loser (l-r) Alison Sweeney and Rachel Frederickson in the season 15 finale of The Biggest Loser Trae Patton / NBC / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Feb 5, 2014 6:23 PM UTC Twitter exploded after the finale of _The Biggest Loser_ last night when the winner of the show revealed what many consider to be a t00-thin frame. Rachel Frederickson, 24, began the show at 260 pounds. Last night she weighed in at 105 pounds, setting a show record by losing 60 percent of her body weight. Frederickson is 5’4″, which means her height-weight ratio puts her slightly below the threshold doctors would consider “healthy” according to the BMI scale. The World Health Organization [dictates](http://apps.who.int/bmi/index.jsp?introPage=intro%5F3.html) that anyone under an 18.5 BMI is considered underweight, and the fashion industries in [Israel](http://abcnews.go.com/International/israeli-law-bans-skinny-bmi-challenged-models/story?id=18116291), [Madrid](http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/13/spain.models/) and [Milan](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/business/06thin.html?ex=1178164800&en=1f4d463f13547494&ei=5070&%5Fr=0) have banned models under an 18.5 BMI from walking the runway. Frederickson’s BMI is 18.0. But even without that information, it’s easy to see that Frederickson looks unhealthy. The show’s trainers, Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels didn’t hide their shock well last night when Frederickson took the stage. If you watch the video (below) or look at the screenshots captured by Twitter users, you can see Harper wincing and Michaels mouthing “Oh my God.” And not in a good way. The Internet did not receive Frederickson’s transformation well either. Even as Frederickson looked at the hologram of her formerly-overweight self and said, “you are so gross,” people at home were wriggling in their seats at the sight of her now-emaciated body as much as the image of her larger self. Brandi Koskie, a dieting blogger, [wrote](http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet%5Fcolumn/02/rachels-60-percent-weight-loss-is-nothing-to-celebrate-biggest-loser-should-be-ashamed/#lmicAskuXqsklyYi.99), “\[A\]we turned to shock when millions if viewers at home noticed her frail, skeletal frame…no one has ever looked as frighteningly emaciated as Rachel did tonight.” Others agreed that NBC should be ashamed they pushed a contestant to lose so much weight (and win $250,000) that she no longer looked athletic and healthy but waif-thin. > [](https://twitter.com/maxwelltielman/status/430938274702438400) > [](https://twitter.com/linattz/status/430913913522122752) > [](https://twitter.com/jailynstone/status/430912700294901760) > [](https://twitter.com/jaffejuice/status/430920691236749312) > [](https://twitter.com/PhilCook111/status/430913734714720256) > [](https://twitter.com/1celestelopez/status/430974956860481536) > [](https://twitter.com/carijeanne/status/430911452140957696) > [](https://twitter.com/Bettykiss/status/430905972924497920) Even former contestant Kim Nielsen weighed in: > [](https://twitter.com/KimBL13/status/430923521410494464) > [](https://twitter.com/KimBL13/status/431098219863752704) This isn’t the first time the show has come under fire for pushing people to lose weight by whatever means necessary. Season 3 _Biggest Loser_ finalist, Kai Hibbard, [told Jezebel](http://jezebel.com/5564997/bigger-loser-finalist-says-show-gave-her-an-eating-disorder) that the show gave her an eating disorder. Neither NBC nor Frederickson have yet responded to criticism, but after this reception it looks like the show will have to be restructured in some way. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6727/the-biggest-loser-goes-too-far-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6727/the-biggest-loser-goes-too-far-2/"},"headline":"The Biggest Loser Goes Too Far","datePublished":"2014-02-05T18:23:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:01:37.705Z","description":"Fans took to social media last night to air their concern about this season's winner, who looks unhealthily thin","url":"https://time.com/6727/the-biggest-loser-goes-too-far-2/","keywords":["Diet & Fitness","Weight loss","BMI","Eating Disorder"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba906e49dcda4b2d/6986823835ba6f85d8c0096e/4668792771.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba906e49dcda4b2d/6986823835ba6f85d8c0096e/4668792771.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Biggest Loser - Season 15","caption":"The Biggest Loser - Season 15","creditText":"Trae Patton / NBC / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/diet-fitness/","name":"Diet & Fitness"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6727/the-biggest-loser-goes-too-far-2/","name":"The Biggest Loser Goes Too Far"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"'Biggest Loser' Winner's Controversial Weight Loss","description":"Tuesday night, the NBC reality series crowned 24-year-old Rachel Frederickson its season 15 champion, but Rachel’s dramatic weight loss has some people worried, including the show’s trainers.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Vw8sIAF7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-02-06T12:40:01.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Vw8sIAF7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6727/the-biggest-loser-goes-too-far-2/","duration":"PT2M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6727/the-biggest-loser-goes-too-far-2/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```