Id like to congratulate for. THE FITNESS GURU WAS UNCONSCIOUS FOR TWO DAYS The Biggest Losers Bob Harper Was Hospitalized After a Heart Attack. Bob Harper, The Biggest Loser Host, Suffers Heart. View photos from The Biggest Loser Before and After The Season 15 Contestants on NBC. TULDf4htgs.jpg' alt='Biggest Loser Contestants Season 4' title='Biggest Loser Contestants Season 4' />Meet the Season 17 contestants on Biggest Loser. Pictured left to right Lauren Clark, Vicki Clark, Hope Williamson, Colby Wright, Luis Hernandez, Roberto. Lezlye Donahue survived Hurricane Katrina. Going on The Biggest Loser, she says, was worse than that. Its my biggest nightmare, she says, and its with me to this day. Lezlye Donahue in 2. Getty Images. Following a controversial study that claims to explain why almost all Biggest Loser contestants regain massive amounts of weight, numerous ex Losers reached out to The Post to dispute its findings exclusively revealing that the show encouraged contestants to take street drugs while starving themselves and to lie about how much weight they were losing. The federally funded study, conducted by Dr. Kevin Hall at the National Institutes of Health and published two weeks ago, says changing metabolic rates, hormone levels, and genetic predispositions explain post show weight gain. Whats missing, former Losers tell The Post, is any examination of the shows secret and brutal tactics, which include providing illicit drugs to contestants and submitting them to questionable medical exams by the shows resident doctor, Rob Huizenga, known as Dr. H. Huizenga collaborated with Hall on the NIHs study. People were passing out in Dr. Hs office at the finale weigh in, says Season 2s Suzanne Mendonca. He knew exactly what we were doing and never tried to stop it. Many contestants return with grave medical issues they had never suffered before. That show is so corrupt, a source close to production says. This source confirms that show trainer Bob Harper and one of his assistants have supplied contestants with Adderall and yellow jackets pills that contain ephedra extract. Ephedra is used to promote weight loss and boost energy, and was banned by the FDA in 2. Bob Harper was my trainer, says Joelle Gwynn, of 2. Couples season. Hes got this brown paper bag thats bundled up. I was like,. The next day, Dr. H gave us some lame explanation of why they got added to our regimen and that it was up to us to take them. People chastise Bill Cosby for allegedly offering meds to women, but its acceptable to do to fat people to make them lose weight. I feel like we got raped, too. Dr. Rob Huizenga left and trainer Bob Harper allegedly urged contestants to take meds and go hungry. Wire. Image Getty Images. Huizenga denied the claim in an email to The Post. Nothing could be further from the truth, it read. Urine drug screens and the evaluation of serial weights are repeatedly used to flush out possible illicit use. Harper, Gwynn says, told her off camera to lie about how much she was eating and losing. In keeping her daily log, Gwynn says Harper told her, Lie and say you were following the directive of intaking 1,5. I want you to do 8. People would take amphetamines, water pills, diuretics, and throw up in the bathroom, Season 2s Mendonca says. I vomited every single day. Bob Harper tells people to throw up. NBC also declined to comment, but the shows producers issued a statement to The Post. I feel like we got raped, too. Joelle Gwynn, a 2. The safety and well being of our contestants is, and always has been, paramount, it reads. Yoni Freedhoff at the University of Ottowa, who specializes in obesity. He says the studys findings arent conclusive. This show permanently damages peoples metabolic rates, Freedhoff says, but its impossible to say why this has happened. Watch City Under Siege Download'>Watch City Under Siege Download. Freedhoff says its extremely rare for an obese person to permanently lose half their body weight through diet and exercise Surgery is the only way, so there will never be a control group to prove the studys thesis. One of the reasons this adaptation seems to be so severe and irreversible, he says, could be due to psychological stress. Every contestant who spoke to The Post cites this very factor in their post show weight gain. Mentally, emotionally, financially you come back a different person. Half the people from my season have gotten divorced. The ripple effect isnt just weeks or months. Its years. For some contestants, the torture begins well before filming. When I was going through the applicant process, they told me,. She was 5 foot 6 and says she weighed 2. NIH standards. They said,. Keep eating.   Mendonca entered the show at 2. They manipulate you, says Lezlye Donahue. A single mom to one young son, Donahue was depressed, in debt and vulnerable when casting directors spotted her. She was given a free consult with Huizenga. He says to me,. It wont open all the way, and the reason is Youre fat. Like all participants, Donahue was separated from family and friends, contact completely cut off. For her season, producers installed contestants in a former psychiatric hospital and put 1. LA heat, with no air conditioning. It was hot as hell, and the smell was horrible, Donahue says. The contestants were forced to shower together with no curtains or barriers of any kind. There were also no working toilets during Donahues season, so producers made these severely overweight contestants squeeze into Port a Potties a challenge even for thin people, and yet another humiliation. Donahues daily food intake consisted of seven asparagus sticks and 3 ounces of turkey. Once eliminated, all contestants go home and are expected to keep losing weight, with no support from the show. Theyre contractually obligated to weigh in on the shows finale. I wasnt going to go, but they threaten to sue you, Donahue says. Suzanne Mendonca regained her weight and no longer has her job as a cop. Getty Images Helayne Seidman. Since the show, shes gained all the weight back. She says she lost her job, suffers from depression, and has thousands of dollars in medical bills as a result of the trauma her body went through. I read that. I took away an eating disorder. I have nightmares about it. Numerous contestants told The Post that they were contacted throughout the years by Huizenga, who said he was working on a study and asked them to fly to LA so he could evaluate them. This is without a doubt the most important research project I have ever been involved in, Huizenga wrote to Mendonca, who shared an email dated Dec. The Post. He goes on to promise a wild Hollywood party to follow. After the show, I was so physically ill that it took a while to address the psychological ramifications, says Kai Hibbard Season 3. She never saw drugs on set Not my season, she says. But thats how brainwashed I was. Yesitis has suffered from depression. Your metabolism is all screwed up, but you think its you. You dont know how messed up you are until it becomes incredibly obvious, says Jen Watts Season 2. When she got off the show, I thought,. My marriage that only took a couple of years to disintegrate. Watts blames her months long sequestration and her obsession with food and exercise for her familys struggles. Watch Ikigami Online Mic here. Last season, which aired from Jan. On May 1. 3, Bob Harper, the trainer, went on the Today show to discuss the NIH study. He called it super interesting. Black Mirror Season 3 Episode 3 Discussion on this page. As for Huizengas participation in the NIH study, Dr. Freedhoff is flummoxed. Dr. Huizenga has said things that challenge my understanding of obesity in general, he says.