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David Broome, producer of The Biggest Loser, in which NBC dangles a quarter of a million bucks in front of overweight contestants like a Twinkie on a stick to induce them to lose more weight than their competitors, bristles at a Tufts University TV columnist's comparison of the show to Fox's recent The Littlest Groom. He defends his show against charges of exploitation on the Tufts Daily website:

[C]omparing "The Biggest Loser" to "The Littlest Groom" is beyond insulting, especially because you haven't even seen our first episode yet. "The Biggest Loser" is an uplifting and motivating show. No One and I stress NO ONE is being made fun of on this program. This show is about CHANGING PEOPLE's LIVES- the right way- through proper diet and excercise- not like the surgery shows that we see all over the place, where people are transformed through sucking, cutting or stapling.

To recap: Pitting fat people against each other in a nationally televised weight-loss competition: uplifting and motivating. Marrying midgets or cosmetic surgery shows: exploitation. It really does take a reality television professional to draw these fine distinctions for lay people, because The Biggest Loser still sounds pretty hilarious. You know, in an inspirational kind of way.