Does it matter to you what the sexual preferences of "The Biggest Loser" trainers are? It may and it definitely does when it comes to a few gay news websites.
To be specific, it's not the trainers' sexuality that's angering the sites, and to be even more specific, the site that first raised the question, "Is 'The Biggest Loser' trying to keep their trainers in the closet?," is lesbian pop culture news site, AfterEllen.com, though a few other gay news sites have jumped onboard.
AfterEllen.com raised the question after several requests to interview Jillian Michaels were denied and now they've been denied an interview with new Unknowns trainer Cara Castronuova.
Apparently while Jillian (who is in her last season with the show) has confessed to being bisexual, Cara has spoken openly about being partnered to lesbian hip-hop and soul singer, God-Des of the group God-des and She. Bob Harper doesn't speak openly about his sexuality, though former contestants have inferred that he's gay.
In a statement to Zap2it, NBC doesn't specifically address the controversy, but gives an explanation of how interview requests are handled.
"What interviews the trainers do is up to the discretion of the trainers and their personal publicists," an NBC rep tells us. "[Approval is] based on several factors, including timing and availability."
In its article, AfterEllen.com's writer makes a very good argument for why the trainers should do press aimed at lesbian viewers.
"The unfortunate part is that we need to be watching," the writer says. "A 2008 study found that lesbians are three times as likely to be overweight and are twice as likely to be obese as straight women. We also tend to have higher BMIs (Body Mass Indexes). It would appear that health should be a priority for the lesbian community just as much, if not more, than for any other subset of people."
