There are some large claims being made proper now about The Greatest Loser — the hit weight reduction present that aired on NBC from 2004 to 2016 — because of a brand new Netflix collection. The three-part documentary Match for TV: The Actuality of the Greatest Loser talks to former contestants, coach Bob Harper and extra about what went on behind the scenes, together with one of many scariest incidents the present ever noticed. Tracey Yukich mentioned she really died throughout a health problem, and for my part, that wasn’t even the wildest half.
The brand new docuseries hit the 2025 TV schedule on Friday, and one of many greatest bombshells got here from Season 8 contestant Tracey Yukich. The then-37-year-old collapsed throughout a mile run on the seashore throughout their first day on the present and needed to be airlifted to the hospital. Yukich described what she skilled, saying:
I don’t bear in mind rather a lot. I bear in mind listening to the helicopter. I simply felt like I used to be floating. After which my grandpa was there after which I noticed darkness however then I noticed gentle, so I knew. I knew I died that day.
The Greatest Loser featured loads of emotional moments, however I bear in mind watching this play out in 2009, and it was tremendous scary, as a result of it was apparent that one thing was actually fallacious. When Tracey Yukich fell 100 yards from the end line and was unable to face, the opposite contestants picked her up and helped her full her mile to earn a spot on the present. Then she grew to become unresponsive.
Tracey mentioned on the documentary that when she reached the hospital, she was informed she had rhabdomyolysis, and if her legs didn’t drain, they’d need to be minimize open. She continued:
Rhabdomyolysis is your physique’s manner of claiming, ‘I’m going to close down on you.’ It began with my liver, then it went to my kidneys after which it goes to your coronary heart. And that’s the place I virtually died.
That’s ridiculously scary that she would go on a present to get more healthy and find yourself almost dying on the primary day. Nevertheless, I believe what occurred subsequent was even wilder — Tracey Yukich went on to compete on the present!
The Greatest Loser contestants had been recognized to endure some borderline insane therapy, and given the medical emergency Tracey had simply endured, I am unable to imagine she nonetheless wished to be part of all that. Nevertheless, it seems — as she mentioned on the doc — that she had larger causes for not eager to go residence. The contestant revealed there have been issues in her marriage, and infidelity was “only a snippet.” She mentioned:
I assumed it was my fault as a result of I used to be fats. I don’t wish to be disrespected, I don’t wish to be yelled at, I don’t wish to be harmed, I don’t need you to inform me what I can do and might’t do.
She mentioned she felt like The Greatest Loser was her solely hope, which is heartbreaking. Tracey Yukich did go on to compete on the present, the place she misplaced 56 kilos earlier than being eradicated in Week 8. By the finale, she’d misplaced a complete of 118 kilos.
All three episodes of Match for TV: The Actuality of the Greatest Loser can be found to stream now with a Netflix subscription.