UPDATED: 'Biggest Loser' issues a marathon apology for misleading viewers

It was an inspiring finish to this week's two-part episode of NBC's "The Biggest Loser": Dane, who lost 100 pounds in just eight weeks before being eliminated from the weight-loss competition, is seen running a marathon alongside his fit-and-trim wife and crossing the finish line in what appears to be an eye-popping time of three hours and 53 minutes.

Only it didn't happen. Dane got himself an assist to the finish line courtesy of a field producer. UPDATED: Here's the statement Dane released late Friday:

"I always intended to run the full marathon. At the 17th mile, I knew I would not make it in time to cross the finish line before it closed at 6 hours, so I then received a ride from the field producer, who wanted to show me crossing the finish line. He drove me for three miles, and then I ran the rest of the way. After all the filming was done I went back and finished the last 3 miles later that day with my wife and cousin Blaine. I apologize for stating that I ran the entire marathon before I actually ran the whole 26 miles. I am proud of the feat of just running 26 miles in one day."

Here's the statement issued earlier in the day by Reveille, one of the show's producers:

As the Executive Producers of The Biggest Loser we would like to make an official apology and set the record straight with regards to the claim in last nights episode that Dane completed a marathon in Arizona.

After seeing on various online blogs that this information may be inaccurate we investigated the claim and found that Dane had not indeed completed the marathon unaided. From our internal investigation we learned that Dane ran the first 17 miles before receiving a ride from the field producer for 3 miles before rejoining the race at the 20 mile mark whereupon he completed the race.

We are incredibly proud of Dane for running 23 miles and losing over 130 lbs on his weight loss journey so far and wish him luck as he continues his new healthy lifestyle. We have also taken the necessary action to ensure that there is no future misrepresentations and sincerely apologize for misleading our loyal viewers and it was certainly not our intent but an unwitting mistake.

We hope they will continue to be inspired and motivated by all of our contestants and follow them as they continue to change their lives.

Here's NBC's statement:

In the final segment of last night's episode of “The Biggest Loser,” which updated viewers on the status of an eliminated contestant, the former contestant was shown running a marathon in his home state of Arizona. NBC today learned that the contestant did not, in fact, run the entire marathon as depicted in the segment. Because the segment as aired was contrary to NBC policy, we are working with the program producers to determine how this occurred, and to ensure that corrective action is taken.

Sources close to the production said this is what happened:

Dane was eliminated on Thursday night’s show, kicked off by fellow contestants who believed –— rightly — that he was one of the front-runners to win the $250,000 prize that will be handed out to the person who loses the largest percentage of his or her body weight. As is customary, the epilogue to the elimination is a segment in which the cameras catch up with the contestant today, to see whether the weight loss is continuing at home.

Dane’s epilogue was, seemingly, one of the most inspirational in recent memory when it was announced that he’d been training for and had completed a marathon.

But it turns out that an overeager field producer who was following Dane on race day realized that "The Biggest Loser" contestant would not finish the marathon by the six-hour cutoff time, which in turn meant that the producer would not get the footage of Dane crossing the finish line in personal victory. So the field producer picked Dane up in a vehicle and then dropped him a few miles closer to the finish. While the finish time in the background appeared to be 3:53, it was actually 5:53 — the descrepancy being caused by some bum lightbulbs on the time clock that made the 5 appear to be a 3, the source said.

The source also said Dane was so upset that he accepted the ride and didn't run the full distance that he went back later in the day — with his cousin Blaine, who was also with him on the show — and ran the missing miles so that he could say he did indeed run 26.2 miles.

The source said the fabrication came to NBC's attention after that apparent sub-four-hour finish time — an enviable pace for even an experienced runner — set off alarm bells in many corners, including among other runners in the marathon, and the blogosphere began buzzing about whether such a pace was possible for a big guy like Dane. (Kudos to TVBarn.com, which did a great job of covering the unfolding story with the tart headline, "The Biggest Loser" — or is that "Biggest Liar"? — fabricates account of contestant finishing marathon).

The traditional morning-after conference call with the week's eliminated contestant — in this case, Dane — was abruptly canceled.

NBC has rescheduled the conference call for Monday.

Another source close to "The Biggest Loser" said there was a feeling of sadness because the show "relies on its integrity" in a world where reality programming is often suspect, and this person hoped this didn't overshadow Dane's accomplishments. "Dane is such a nice guy," the source said.

It was unclear what, if anything, will happen to the field producer.

In the meantime, what do you think about this development? Does this hurt the show's credibility?

— Rene Lynch

Photo credit: NBC Universal

Comments

[dorenek]

what drama! dane is an average person who made a mistake. i can't believe that it affects so many people so "deeply". how ridiculous. if you're offended then you are looking for a reason to be offended by someone. put away your self-righteous anger and stop being so jaded. it's utter silly-ness.

[Brian]

Of course this hurts the show. They would have been better off showing Dane not finishing the marathon but giving all he had. That would have been a better ending then you could imagine. Now, any footage from the Biggest Loser will always be suspect. Did this happen or didn't it ? Now the show is the Biggest Loser......Dishonesty and lack of ethics, gotta shake your head at the stupidity.

[Dee]

regardless if there is a time limit of 6 hours....still DON'T cheat. Goodness! I'll be partiicpating in my first marathon in a few months and I know that it will take me about 9-10 hours (because of my weight and how fast I run) to complete it. If I finish before this time, I'll be happy, but to NOT have completed and to LIE about it is just unreal! I would have completed it regardless if I went over the 6 hour allotment just to say that I completed the marathon, but that's just me.

[Mary]

Come on people... give this guy a break. He did run ALOT of miles on his own. The effort is there. If anything, the producer should be blamed for wanting to catch him crossing the finish line, but oh well... thats just TV and not only on reality shows do they do such things. So Cheers go out to Dane for losing all that wgt is such a sm amount of time. Hope he is not discouraged by this non-sense scandal... just keep going forward and dont listen to all these selfish people!! 17 miles you ran on your own is more than enough to prove it!!!!

[Shannon]

I still think its an inspirational story. I know that EVERYONE should have handled it differently (I like the idea of him running in after the race ended to prove he did it). That being said, it doesn't change my perception of the show. You have a show that actually shows people doing something positive for themselves and families, becoming role models for the overweight and inspiring people to get off the couch. I think the show does a good job of explaining that 100 pounds in 8 weeks is not realistic for people not working with personal trainers, dieticians and living in the Biggest Loser house. Their weight loss is being monitored by doctors. I think the show teaches you that anyone can get healthier if they want to. I love the show and think its a refreshing "reality" show in the sea of crap currently on the air.

[ian]

I finished my first marathon on March 5th 2000. I was never as heavy as Dane. I trained hard and I lost about 40 pounds. I legitimately finished in 5:51. I ran/jogged most of it (about 20 miles) and walked the last six miles. It poured rain most of the race. It was and still is my greatest physical accomplishment.

What Dane and NBC did was cheapen my accomplishment. Dane should have kept jogging, walking or crawling. I can think of nothing more inspirational than a man of Dane's size walking the last mile to finish in seven hours. The finish line and spectators would be long gone - but finishing a marathon isn't about what other people think. Its about what the finisher thinks.

The only way for Dane to make this up (unfortunately) is to run another marathon - but this time legitimately finish (and no, going back to run the missing miles doesn't count).

[Jim]

Still, no way. If he didn't think he would finish in the 6 hour limit, that means he was running SLOWER than 13:44/mile (6 hour marathon = 360 minutes, 260/26.2 - 13min 44sec). Even at 13:44/mile, if he only skipped THREE miles, 23.2 miles at 13:44 (which we have established he was running SLOWER than) would give him a 5;18 finishing time, not 3:53. Running at 13:44, he could have only completed a TOTAL of 17.2 miles in 3hrs 53min. There's no way he got dropped off at the 20 mile mark. Another lie.

[JR]

You all seem to be shocked by the possibility of television networks lying,cheating and not being totally up front. That's how we got so much "change" in Washington! YIKES people! How old are you all? 12?

[Elizabeth]

I am sorry that he did not finish but i do not think that this will hurt the show. At least he was honest and said hey look i did not run the full marathon and im sorry that i lied. Some people dont even do that.

[Jared]

So they lied about the time and how much he ran? I guess that really does stink. I'm really disappointed about that. They take such an inspiring show and then it makes you wonder how much other stuff has been 100% truth.

[Jaime]

I don't think it hurts the credibility of the show - bottom line is that he lost weight and kept it off because of the tools he learned on the show. But big flashing lights should have gone off for someone when he told them that finishing time. It was obvious to any runner that it was exaggerated...and I'm sorry - the below statement doesn't even almost make sense.

"While the finish time in the background appeared to be 3:53, it was actually 5:53 — the descrepancy being caused by some bum lightbulbs on the time clock that made the 5 appear to be a 3, the source said."

[Jennidog]

To BigD's comment -This still doesn't make sense. Even if Dane was driven for three miles, it would still have him running 23 miles in 3:53.....me says no way. If that was the case, he could have EASILY walked the remaining 3 miles in time for the 6 hour cutoff.

You might want to do the math correctly before posting. His mile time would be 15.34.

Now yes what he did was wrong, and so was what the field producer did. He should have just finished past the 6 hr mark. However, as other's have said, the fact that he ran 17 miles without any assistance before the help and then ran the last 6 is an accomplishment in itself. It was extremely poor judegment on Dane's part to inaccurately portray himself completing the marathon. It was a mistake, I can guarantee everyone who has posted has made a mistake before, as well as at least one poor decision in their life. I can also guarantee about 90% of the people posting have lied about something they say they accomplished but didn't.

Everyone needs to get over it and realize the man is human not much different then anyone of us.

[Elaine]

I don't think this hurts the show. I love the show I like seeing peoples change. It is great that he tryed. 8 weeks ago he could not have run 1mile it is great that he can run any now. He should not be looked down on or the show it is helping people change their lives.

[L.]

Hate to say it but this isn't the first time they've misinformed people! On the season opener, they stated that two single people met, fell in love, and got engaged on a previous season. But what they didn't mention was that one of them was married during the show (to someone not on it!).

[Josh]

Im a former highschool cross country and track runner, and 17 miles is still 17 miles. Give the man the props for doing something that i doubt 1 percent of America can even do. And the field producer shouldnt get fired either.. if he didnt get that shot hed b just as screwed as he is now.

[So Sad]

It's unfortunate that the producer didn't have enough brains to just show Dane trying to complete the marathon and coming up short. That would have been great video, honest video and we would have all understood and supported Dane's effort.

That would have been the really impressive part. He had just lost 100 pounds in 8 weeks so prior to that, he wasn't anywhere close to racing shape and the average person knows that. Too bad the producer is obviously clueless when it comes to fitness.

I hate to say fire the producer but that producer doesn't deserve to be working at this level, or at any level since he or she obviously lacks integrity. Maybe demote him or her to a position where they are not in charge of making decisions only following instructions.

[runnergirl]

Having run several marathons and trained with men and women who would like to add a marathon to their personal accomplishments, this man should be ashamed of himself.
It doesn't matter that he went back and ran those last 3 miles later in the day- he was dishonest.
All for a lousy TV show.
He is no inspiration.

[Chels]

It sucks that for the sake of "good television" they had to make a man who is trying to change his life the one to point the finger at. He has accomplished so much and to just attempt the marathon is a feat. I think all the viewers,including me, would have still liked the show if the truth was told. Stupid producer, I hope he looses his job.

[Tim Rosemeyer]

I am so glad you clarified this. I was quite concerned with the time of 3:53. Even on my best days, I could not finish in that time. Thanks for coming clean.

[steve]

I was one of the people who watched last weeks show. As soon as he crossed the finish line I knew that with the time being shown that there was not a chance that he had done it in that time. It basically worked out to be 9 minute miles. World class runners average around 5-6 minute miles.

The average times for very fit runners are 3-4.5 hours. Although he had lost a ton of weight, he was still probably 280 or so at this time.

I feel sorry for him because he worked his ass off and made a very poor judgment call. In NBC's eagerness to provide a feel good story and ratings they rigged the story.

Now when watching the show all the feats or challenges have to be taken with a grain of salt. It is a shame that once again, people who have no clue why we are watching a show goes and screws it all up to try and earn a buck.