Jillian Michaels May Exit The Biggest Loser After Weight-Loss Controversy

Trainer was "not happy" with how the NBC reality hit handled Rachel Frederickson's shocking weight loss and the caffeine pill controversy earlier in Season 15, our source says

By Kristin Dos Santos, Tierney Bricker Apr 08, 2014 3:50 PMTags
Jillian MichaelsCourtesy of Don Flood

Jillian Michaels is ready to shed The Biggest Loser.

The fan-favorite trainer is looking to leave the NBC reality hit following Season 15 winner Rachel Frederickson's controversial 155-pound weight loss, a source confirms to E! News. This wouldn't be Michaels' first exit from the series as she returned for Season 14 after leaving two seasons earlier.

"Nothing is official yet, but Jillian has said she wants off TBL," our source explains. "She wasn't happy with how last season went. The shocking weight loss of Rachel [Frederickson] doesn't do the brand any favors and she wants to distance her name from it."

Adding fuel to Michaels' desire to leave The Biggest Loser? The way the show handled the controversy surrounding her decision to give her contestants caffeine supplements without doctor's permission, which was technically breaking the rules.

Michaels, 40, however, stood by her decision, and hinted that the fallout (her team received a four-point disadvantage and Ruben Studdard was allowed back into the competition) was a ratings ploy.

Our source says Michaels "did not appreciate how the caffeine pill controversy went down. She felt like they threw her under the bus."

NBC

Though she remained silent on the topic of Frederickson's shocking transformation immediately after the finale, Michaels finally broke her silence in February. Admitting she "was stunned," Michaels called into question the show's "checks and balances."

"We are allowed to speak with our contestants after they go home...but no one had told me, 'Hey, Rachel is very, very thin.' Bob [Harper] and I had no idea. Nobody had told us, nobody had said anything to us, so yes, I was stunned," Michaels, who was not Frederickson's trainer, said in an interview with HuffPost Live. "Obviously, I thought she had lost too much weight and I was immediately concerned and wondering how this happened, how no one had said something to me and how the checks and balances that have been put into place, in my opinion, this had fallen through those checks and balances."

After Frederickson's alarming weight loss made headlines, a source told E! News that the show was considering "small but significant tweaks" for the new season. "There might be more focus on what happens to the winner after they are supposedly done with the show," the insider spilled.

NBC had no comment on Michaels' potential exit from the series.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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