The Biggest Loser trainer Dolvett Quince is ready to share his honest experience working on the controversial reality show.
After Netflix premiered Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser earlier this month, fans were reminded of Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper’s tough love and even tougher challenges to help their contestants lose weight and get healthy.
For Dolvett — who worked alongside both trainers for two seasons — he’ll always remember their hopes of winning.
“I think when cameras were rolling, those two sort of stayed in their neutral corners, as boxers tend to do,” Dolvett, 52, exclusively shared with Us Weekly on Thursday, August 21. “I think the competitive nature of the show wasn’t just left on the contestants. There’s a competitive nature amongst the trainers.”
Dolvett — who worked on the show from 2011 to 2016 — said that the competition could be felt “inside the gym in front of everyone, including myself.”
Bob Harper, Jillian Michaels, Dolvett Quince, Alison Sweeney Paul Drinkwater / NBC / courtesy Everett Collection
“That competition really stems from — in my mind — I’m going to show I can do a better job than she’s going to show or he’s going to show,” he added. “And I felt you could definitely see that tension come and go between those two.”
When asked whether he respected how Bob, 60, and Jillian, 51, interacted with their contestants, Dolvett replied, “No, not all the time. I would have done things differently.”
According to Dolvett, he followed a certain style of how he interacted with his contestants.
“One of my God-given talents is to be able to assess personalities very quickly. I don’t approach my work with, ‘Alright, this person is this size. I’m going to treat them this way,’” he explained. “Oftentimes, some professionals and trainers will train the people that they’re helping the same way they train themselves. But in order to connect on the level that we deal in the show with individuals who suffer with their obesity — there’s more weight on the mind than there is in the body — I try to quickly assess what personality responds to what I start at the beginning a certain way.”
Francelina Morillo, Joe Ostaszewski, Lisa Rambo, Dolvett Quince Trae Patton/NBC/courtesy Everett Collection
The trainer said he proceeds to pay attention to eyes, heads dropping, shoulders going down or other nuances to see how individuals respond to his style.
“Personally, what I did was try to pay attention to details,” he shared. “‘Oh, she responds very well to my voice. I need to be a little softer with this one and find moments quietly to push them.’ … My style was a little bit more refined in terms of how I helped the contestants.”
Harper agreed to participate in Fit for TV, while Netflix said Jillian “declined to participate.”
Dolvett claimed to Us that he found out about the docuseries through other contestants and wasn’t approached by producers or the creators.
Dolvett Quice Courtesy of Dolvett Quice / Instagram
When he finally spoke to a producer, Dolvett alleged he was told, “You weren’t an antagonist. You weren’t someone who they felt did anything to hurt the brand or hurt the people involved. You actually were a proper partner.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Netflix for comment.
Dolvett encourages fans of The Biggest Loser to watch Fit for TV and make their own conclusions about the weight-loss show.
To this day, the self-development coach, author and entrepreneur continues to celebrate success stories from the franchise like that of former contestant Lisa Rambo, who inspired her entire community to get healthy and lose weight.
When asked to share how he hopes people remember The Biggest Loser, Dolvett — who is currently working on a new app called OCA, which stands for men and women Of a Certain Age — said he is focused on the positive.
“For the first time on television, a television show decided to help a category of people that were overlooked and mostly ridiculed,” he shared with Us. “To that point, a show was created to give hope to individuals who were suffering internally and showing it externally. … The Biggest Loser showed people just because you’re overweight doesn’t mean that you can’t get better.”
Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser is streaming now on Netflix.
