'Biggest Loser' contestant breaks ankle during grueling challenge; prompts safety concerns
"The Biggest Loser" revival is once again raising concerns over the safety of its contestants after one participant suffered a serious injury during a grueling exercise challenge.
On Tuesday's episode of "Biggest Loser," which now airs on USA Network, Teri Aguiar broke her ankle during an obstacle course challenge. The military-style course included runs through a 90-foot mud pit and army crawls under a 32-foot cargo net, among other strenuous challenges.
"It’s snapped!" yelled Aguiar, a former Miss Missouri beauty queen who now works as a flight nurse, after jumping into the mud pit.
Aguiar, 47, was quickly pulled out of the mud by the show's medical team and taken to urgent care. It was later determined that she suffered a broken ankle.
'The Biggest Loser' is back, and we have only one question: Why?
Aguiar admitted felling "frustrated" by the injury, but told trainer Erica Lugo that she "just wants to keep moving forward."
"I got to make sure you're in it to win it. We aren’t going to let this stop us," Lugo responded. "Everyone loves a good comeback story."
Despite wearing a boot on her right ankle, Aguiar continued to exercise through the pain and ended up losing six pounds at her next weigh-in at the end of the week. She has lost a total of 38 pounds throughout six weeks of competition.
It's not clear if Aguiar will remain on "The Biggest Loser." Paste BN reached out to the USA Network for comment.
Related: Jillian Michaels doubles down on weight criticism, but regrets dragging Lizzo into it
The incident renewed criticism of the weight-loss competition's questionably dangerous conditions for contestants, who are encouraged to lose weight by any means necessary.
Backlash from past contestants and health experts led to the end of the first iteration of "The Biggest Loser," which originally aired on NBC for 17 seasons from 2004 to 2016.
But the show returned to USA Network on Jan. 28 with two new trainers, host Bob Harper and a new mission to make a "bigger connection between weight loss and health," according to USA Network executive Heather Olander.
"(Contestants) primarily came to the show because they wanted to live a longer life," Olander said at the Television Critics Association in January. "The message in the show is, yes, being thin and fitting into skinny jeans; if that’s what you want, fabulous. But that’s not the end all, be all. It’s not about getting thin at all costs. It’s about getting healthy and setting these contestants on a healthy lifestyle path."
'The Biggest Loser': Host Bob Harper says 2020 reboot will be 'bigger and better'