Coming out on "The Biggest Loser"

[Foxaèr]

Bob Harper had his own revelatory moment on Tuesday's The Biggest Loser. On the Nov. 26 episode of the NBC reality weight loss competition show, the 48-year-old personal trainer came out as gay in order to encourage contestant Bobby Saleem.

Saleem came out as gay on the show, but struggled to break the news of his sexuality to his father. To help encourage Saleem to come out to his dad, Harper decided to share his own story.

"I haven't talked about my sexuality on this show ever," Harper explained in a confessional. "And now, meeting Bobby, I really do believe this is the right time. I want to show Bobby that he doesn't have to live in shame."

So, Harper sat down with Saleem on camera and publicly came out for the first time. "I'm gay. I knew I very long time ago that I was gay," the Tennessee native said. "When I came out -- when I was 17 years old -- it was one of those things where I realized that there was going to be so many obstacles, but being gay doesn't mean being weak. And being gay doesn't mean that you are less than anybody else. It's just who you are."

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news...r-20132711

My gaydar informed me Harper was gay the first time I saw him on the show.

[rexbeccarox]

I can't wait for the day "coming out" is no longer necessary.

[downbeatplumb]

My gaydar informed me Harper was gay the first time I saw him on the show.

I just looked him up on you tube and can see what you mean.
Only people who have never seen him would think he was straight.

[Clueless Morgan]

I'm torn about this.

On the one hand I'm of the opinion of "who cares if Bob Harper is gay? Who cares is anyone is gay?" but obviously there are people who do care about this kind of thing and I understand that a lot of people might see this as a kind of revelation or a huge shock.

On the other hand, I was kind of upset that he would encourage Bobby (his contestant) to come out to his dad after Bobby had explained his concerns about his family being really religious and not knowing how his dad would react... I thought that Bobby had a valid concern that Bob and the show were downplaying in order to get a coming out story. For that reason I felt like Bob's coming out was manipulative, both of Bobby and of the audience. It also brings up the issue of whether the show is about the contestants or the trainers and other irritations I have with that show...

I was happy that Bobby didn't have the sit down talk with his dad on the show. I don't think that his dad would have had a major meltdown and disown him on national TV or anything like that, but I am very much against reality TV shows that orchestrate big emotional moments and this, to me, would have been one of those moments where I would have felt manipulated as a viewer, and would have felt that Bobby was being manipulated by the producers of the Biggest Loser simply to get an emotional moment and a ratings bump.

Oh the trappings and pitfalls of reality TV.