Vite al Limite is a program much loved by the public but which, apparently, has created very serious problems for its protagonists.
For the few who don’t know the program, the show, produced for almost a decade in the States, is based on story of enormously overweight people trying to lose weight. To guide them in their slimming journey is Doctor Nowazaradan, a dietician and nutritionist known and highly appreciated for his severity.
At least in theory the purpose of the program would be tell stories of success and liberation, following closely the efforts of overweight people to free themselves from a body that keeps them captive in an often difficult and humiliating life. The problem is that over time many protagonists of the program have sued to the show’s production house, proving that there was absolutely nothing healthy about the way patients were handled.
Psychological abuse and lack of health care
The most serious episode is the one linked to the story of James Bonner, known by the nickname of JB, who had splendidly followed the slimming path offered by the program and had overcome many difficulties, coming out apparently triumphant from Vite al Limite. Even after the show ended, she continued to lose weight and, apparently, everything was fine.
Suddenly, however, the young man, about 30 years old, he took his own life. The Bonner family has decided to sue the production company Megalomedia for contributing to cause JB’s psychological condition to worsen until it led to his death.
Specifically Megalomedia would have put psychological pressure on JB to continue filming even when he was not ready to support it and would speak to the producers indicating that he was “in a very dark place” and needed time and support to recover mentally. JB’s alarm would go unheeded and the show’s production advised him to “pretend you’re fine until you make it”. JB would follow the advice, but with a tragic outcome.
In addition to this, Megalomedia would have promised to bear the cost for the patient’s surgical operations but would never have paid a penny. It also looks like this situation recurred practically identical also with other patients who then decided to sue the production.
Maya Radanovic she stated that she was pushed by the production of the program to the brink of depression and never received adequate counseling. Gina Krasley joined the lawsuit making similar allegations: Megalomedia would intentionally caused psychological distress to make the shooting more interesting, he would not have made available to patients personnel with adequate training to intervene on psychological problems. Plus Gina would be forced to eat extra food in front of cameras to justify with viewers the fact that his weight loss was really very low.