Friday, January 4, 2013

Ruby Today

20/20 will have a segment following up on Ruby. If you recall she had a reality show where she attempted to go from 700 pounds to 250.
Ruby was a good show, but it is understandable why the producers canceled the show when they felt like she wasn’t moving towards weight loss anymore. The only thing that bothers me about this particular article is the words “desperate and with no money,” which leads the cynical side of me to believe she is only attempting to lose the weight now because of being broke.
Honestly, anyone that has been dieting for as long as she has – just like I have – know that there is no secret to weight loss. Less in, more out.  So why does she have to contact her old trainers and broadcast this attempt on the Internet? It's probably just the cynic in me, but it gets me thinking.

8 comments:

  1. Always listen to your inner cynic, RRJ. I saw the show a handful of times, and Ruby was like the bastard child of all the blogger trainwrecks.

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  2. I clicked on her Challenge on FB, I think she's getting paid to talk about the diet plan she's on now. I watched her show for a long time, but it wasn't the lack of weight loss that made me quit watching. It was the whole several season build up to the alleged child abuse issue. She had that "preacher" on, broke down, and then said something like I never implied I was abused. I remember a whole community chat group on that channel felt the same, we were duped. The last season of the show was just her travelling around, taking nothing seriously, not diet or exercise and she got rather nasty with the trainers I thought.

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  3. I have never seen the show or heard of it but anyone who weighs 700 pounds probably is desperate. I can't imagine the pressure of being the subject of a TV show and have such expectations from a large audience. Obese people often don't want to be the center of attention because they don't know how to handle it. The obese are discriminated against and perhaps with good reason but I know I was treated like I didn't have any feelings when I was obese. We don't give them the benefit of the doubt or allow them to be human. If she was manipulating others and was unable to handle the situation the whole thing should just be dropped. Maybe she is the one being used? I know, I am an old softie.

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    1. I am ashamed to admit that I have been caught up in the spiral of watching "reality" trash TV more than I should, and I always feel it's a willing self-exploitation by the subjects at the hands of some very low-life producers. Obviously, the shows -- all of them -- have their staged/re-created/edited-for-maximum-drama moments -- whether it's "Hoarders," "Honey Boo Boo," "Say Yes to the Dress," or the myriad fatsploitation shows like "Biggest Loser" and "My 600 Pound Life" have no shortage of participants who are willing to make asses of themselves on TV for compensation, and people (like me) are drawn to these trainwrecks (LOL) because watching others' extreme problems/habits/physical or emotional difficulties is FASCINATING -- and lets us reassure ourselves that we are NOT THAT BAD. ;) I mean, our current America's Sweetheart is an obese six year old "beauty pageant" runner-up who lives in a run-down shack with her obese family, including her knocked-up 17 year old sister and a bunch of random semi-domestic animals (as I understand it from reading about it; I have never watched "Honey Boo Boo"). And I am sure the family plays up the "hillbilly" and "redneck" aspects of their lives for comic/trainwreck appeal, and happily so, as they laugh all the way to Denny's for another Grand Slam breakfast....ah, there's MY inner cynic! ;)

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    2. Remember the Jerry Springer show? It may still be on; I don't know. I always thought he was such a worm for putting those people on stage so that the audience could watch them crash and burn. He found low-life types whose lives were already a train wreck and paid them to make fools of themselves on national TV. He exploited people who were already floundering and made their lives worse. He used them for his own benefit. I am always angered when the strong take advantage of and use the weaker among us for personal gain or just because they can.

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    3. He was/is a worm, as is anyone producing "entertainment" of that ilk...but the participants are willing and compensated, so my pity is limited. I haven't sunk to the depths of watching stuff like Springer, Povich, et al, but I will admit to having caught more than a few episodes of "Judge Judy" or other court shows where we have Baby Mama suing Baby Daddy for DUI and crashing her uninsured car while he was out with his new hoochie, and Baby Daddy counter-suing for the return of the stolen laptop he gave Baby Mama, and feeling that the apocalypse may very well be upon us!

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  4. I was just thinking yesterday : where is Ruby ? what's going on with her ? And then I change the channel on to 20/20 right as the segment starts-- there she is.

    I think Ruby's story is relevant right now, and the Ruby that was gaining weight and trying to cover it up to the show was relevant but the people in her life were not being honest with her. Or maybe they were and she wasn't listening but covering up 'so the show must go on". I credit the show runners with some of that failure.

    Her failure and the resistance to really change is the REAL story of many , many people working through obesity and weight loss efforts. Now, more than ever a show with Ruby might be relevant. She needs more people not letting her bullsh** her way through it.

    Hey Oprah, Put Ruby at Shades of Hope with Tenny Mccarty without her dog and her pals and let her go through food addiction recovery ..for real.

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