Talking BL Finale & Rachel

I want to validate everything you are saying in this video but I do want to say one thing about the situation. Well, 2 actually. 1. I am currently in treatment for an eating disorder, have been for about 2 months.. Bulimia and anorexia, heck, and over eating (& yes, you can have all 3). The one thing that I disagree with is the amount of time it takes to become “anorexic”. I’m 5’7″, 170 pounds, and have an eating disorder. It’s a chronic, mental illness, it has no relevance on outside appearance. Therefore, the 12 weeks she spent at home, there was a very high possibility she could of developed a distorted way of eating, perhaps taking the healthy tools and taking them to restrictive terms in order to lose weight to win. Which in turn, could and can easily turn into a full blow eating disorder. Especially, already having a food addiction; we commonly all have addictive personality traits, which makes her risk even higher. No hate to either of you two, because I LOVE y’all and I admire and look up to you both on how you’ve maintained and lived a healthy normal life.

Thank you so much for your post though! I deff. agree on just about everything! A lot of controversy, and it’s very sad to be honest. However, I struggle understanding how NBC still let her take the stage at that weight while she was struggling to even stand.

Just my input! Again, nothing agains you two, love you both!!!

xoxo Leah Wagner

Thanks so much, Olivia and Hannah, for your honest, balanced opinions about Rachel’s weight loss and the season 15 finale. I’ll try not to write a novel, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the show over the past week or so since the finale. (Especially as someone who used to engage in restrictive eating, and as the mom of a daughter – although my daughter wasn’t watching the show since she’s only 17 months old, I definitely think about the kind of messages that are out there in the world she’ll inherit.) You two were my favorite contestants in your season (seriously, I was 1,000% purple from day one!) and Rachel was my favorite this season. So I really, REALLY want to be nothing but thrilled about her win, because I was cheering for her all season long. But I was definitely concerned about a couple of aspects of the finale.

-Not a doctor (non-practicing [SAHM] lawyer here, please don’t throw rocks), and not planning to weigh in on whether 105 pounds is subjectively healthy or unhealthy for Rachel or anyone else. But if you just go based on BMI, 105 pounds at 5’5″ (which is what Rachel herself stated that she is on Twitter) is a BMI of 17.5, which is well in the underweight range. BMI is definitely a flawed measurement – it doesn’t account for things like muscle – and I’m sure you two know that, since I know they do give you a LOT of education about that stuff on the ranch. You probably know a lot more than me! But I calculate my BMI every week when I weigh myself, since even though it’s a flawed measurement it’s still common and used by a lot of health professionals. (105 pounds would be a GREAT weight for me, but I’m just under 5’0″ – Rachel has a good 5″ on me.) Now, Rachel has said in interviews that she feels fantastic, and I hope that’s true, because she seems like a lovely person and I really did want her to win. (Girl power!) But BMI calculation is straight math, and it is what it is. Flawed or not, it’s at least objective.

-I know a lot of people were concerned not just with Rachel’s appearance (and I thought she looked fab in the dress, it was only when I saw her in her weigh-in clothes that I got scared) but also with how disoriented she seemed on stage. I’m sure it’s crazy with all the lights (hello, stage fright, being onstage at the BL finale would be my personal nightmare) but she seemed very different from the go-getter Rachel we’d seen all season, and I believe that is at the root of a lot of people’s concern.

-As a Rachel fan, I really mean this: I hope, hope, hope that she lost this amount of weight purely for the money and that she does plan to seek balance and get up to a “normal” weight for her height. (Again, I’m thinking of BMI, just because it’s math and it’s objective and measurable.) I hope it’s just that Rachel is a competitor – clearly, she’s a FIERCE woman – and she did what she did to win and that’s it, and she didn’t get carried away or fall into unhealthy behaviors. (You’re so right that we can’t possibly know what went on when she was at home, alone.) If she just wanted to win and wanted the money (and that’s a big chunk of money to leave on the table) I think it’s a VERY different ball of wax, and a lot less worrisome than the alternative.

-I don’t think BL is “disgusting” because of this (what a mean thing to say!) but I do think that the structure of the show, which rewards just % of weight loss and doesn’t have any protections built in to prevent contestants from going too far (that I know of – I don’t see your contracts, so I could be totally off base here and if I am, please accept my sincere apologies) is such that this sort of controversy was foreseeable and was very likely to happen eventually. I think I read a show insider (maybe a past contestant?) saying they were surprised it hadn’t occurred before now. Personally, I’d be much more comfortable if the show came out and made a statement one way or the other, about whether there are any plans to reconsider the structure of the show and how to win. (Body composition measurements using a BodPod? DQing someone who goes below a “normal” BMI for their height? I don’t know the answer, but I hope someone is thinking about potential safeguards for the future. Even if Rachel doesn’t have an ED – and I sincerely hope she doesn’t; having restricted myself I don’t wish it on anyone – someone else might in a future season.)

Anyway. I said I wasn’t going to write a novel, but I’ve always been wordy. Sigh. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, thanks for opening up to others’ thoughts, and go PURPLE team! (And go Rachel! I wish her all the best and I hope we see her on a future “Where are they now?” special looking healthy and strong and maybe even IRON, a la Tara.)

Hi Hannah and Olivia. I wanted to day first I am a huge fan of you two – I just love your spirit and humor and honesty. I’m serious when I say your videos just lift my mood instantly! 🙂

This response to Rachel’s situation was definitely more balanced, and I think understanding, than many others I’ve seen. Unkindness and insensitivity toward a woman who may or may not have an ED is in no way ok. But, either is ignoring the impact, like Hannah says, on the millions of girls and women on which Rachel’s weight will induce sadness, anxiety, and fear about their own weights. As a survivor of a terrible ED, there is no doubt in my mind that the finale triggered new EDs and made existing EDs worse. The fact that Rachel is on a national TV show makes what would be a concerning situation anyway have widespread consequences that need to be acknowledged. NEDA has a really great statement on their website about how a situation like this effects ED behavior.

I’ll be rooting for Rachel, and as always rooting for you two as well. You guys really have a platform for positively influencing peoples lives – I’m so happy you put so much effort, kindness, and energy into this role.

ALL the best xoxox
Lily

I love how considerate your response is. It is so fascinating to me how we see someone on a screen ad start to think their business is now ours. I realize you make a choice to give up some of that privacy when you go on a tv show, but I guess I am kind of in the camp of “what Rachel did and does is her own business, and what she weighs and will weigh is her own business.” I think there is certainly a place for her loved ones and those who know her best to share their concerns with her if they have any, but that is not me. My gut reaction when I saw her climb on the scale-and this is purely just that, a reaction (that was quickly replaced by the above thoughts)-was a bit if sadness because I had so admired the physical strength and muscular/athletic build that was blossoming the last several weeks on the show and I feel like a different image came across at the finale. But like I said…I quickly recognized that her business is not my business and what IS my business and within my power to change is ME and the image I convey. So I am going to do my best to focus on that, not on criticizing and critiquing someone else’s image.