Yahoo! Answers Blog Malaysia

Malaysia-based New Zealand fitness trainer Dave Nuku and his Australian-Chinese counterpart Kristy Curtis will lead the Blue and Red teams respectively.

By Jeffrey Oon
Yahoo! South-East Asia

Life’s guilty pleasures are about to end.

Munching those crisps in between meals? Check.
Skipping exercise by lazing around the house? Check.
Staying up past bedtime to catch your favourite TV series? Check.

Yup, be prepared to kiss those artery-clogging days goodbye.

That’s because Hallmark Channel’s Asian spin-off of the popular weight-loss reality TV competition, The Biggest Loser, is about to hit your TV screens in a big way.

The show, in which 30 Asian contestants battle it out to see who can lose the most weight to land the top prize of US$100,000, promotes not just sweat and exercise, but also the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Yes, that means you out there too.

Watching the show might help you kick those nasty habits above and the bonus is, if the Asian spin-off is anything like its US version, get set for plenty of tears, drama, heart-break and betrayal.

Tasked with the mighty job of whipping the weighty contestants into shape are Malaysia-based Kiwi personal trainer, Dave Nuku, and his Australian counterpart, Kristy Curtis, who themselves were hand-picked for the show.

Don’t be fooled by their sunny, smiling disposition.

When they get down to business, the duo will push aching sinews and tired muscles to breaking point and test the limits of physical and emotional endurance from each of their plus-sized team members.

As “Blue Team” leader, Dave, 30, says, “I’m going to ask that they train hard and never leave anything behind in the gym. That means always aiming for one more rep or set or metre than the day before.”

Dave, who counts having trained the Lord of the Rings movie crew among his career highlights (“Liv Tyler is even more beautiful in person, Orlando Bloom is the coolest laid-back kind of guy and Viggo [Mortensen] is a real down-to-earth, gentleman”), will also engage his team to adopt his philosophy of living right.

“Energy is everything and everything is energy. It’s not just about being fit and strong-looking. You need to transform your life physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually to reach your full potential,” he says.

“Red Team” leader, Kristy, plans to use a different tack.

The 31-year-old Australian-Chinese, who herself battled an eating disorder when she was young, will use her personal experience to connect with her super-sized team.

“You need to find out what motivates them and the emotional issues they may have. I understand what it feels like to have a poor body image and poor self-esteem, and overall, a poor relationship with yourself,” she says.

“These contestants all have struggles and stories to tell and their bodies are testaments to the struggles that they have in their life. I think people will really relate to the stories they tell,” she adds.

Sounds like TV reality heaven to me.

Let the battle begin.

The Biggest Loser Asia premieres on 24 November on Hallmark Channel.
Catch one-hour weekly episodes on Tuesday at 9pm (SG, MY, PH, HK), 8pm (TH, WIB)

*Start sharing your views on the show and health, exercise and living right in the Answers categories of Health, Reality Television today.