The Biggest Scandals Of 'The Biggest Loser!' 25 Of The Show's Most Humongous On-Screen Fake-Outs, Dirty Tricks & Secrets Revealed: Sex, Drugs & More!

Earlier this month, former Biggest Loser contestant Kai Hibbard spoke out to The New York Post about the show with claims she was seriously ill at the triumphant finale. She previously wrote in a scathing Facebook post, "They would not give a f**k if I lost the weight doing cocaine as long as I came back to the finale thinner."

Indeed, in 2010, Hibbard told Star magazine how she gained 31 pounds in the three weeks following the finale simply by reintroducing water to her diet.

"They want the dramatic results. They want America to be amazed," Hibbard told the mag. "We are all looking for that help, that magic, and The Biggest Loser looks like magic when people are losing 20 lbs. in a week. Why would they change that? They won't until someone gets really sick. Our lives are at risk."

"One or two days before the weigh-in, we would cut liquid consumption and we wouldn't eat," one former contestant told Star. "The morning up the weigh-in, we'd get up in the 113 degree heat and put on several layers of clothing under a zipped-up sweatsuit. We'd shut the windows of the gym … and we'd work out for two to three hours, not drinking water."

In the countdown to the finale, Season One winner Ryan Benson has said, "I wore a rubber suit while jogging on the treadmill and then spent a lot of time in the steam room. In the final 24 hours, I probably dropped 10 to 13 pounds in just pure water weight. By the time of the final weigh-in, I was peeing blood."

Although such tactics could harm contestants' kidneys and much more, trainer Michaels has said she turns a blind eye to such behavior, "The Biggest Loser is a game show," she previously said. "If they can manipulate weigh-ins, I can't hold it against them. It is what it is."

Another alleged reality TV trick behind the shocking weight loss on the show happens in the editing room, not the gym: One "week" on the show is sometimes much longer in real time, according to former contestants and Michaels herself. "Americans need to realize that the one-week weight-loss totals aren't totally real," she's said.

On Season Three, for example, eight months of weight loss were compressed into three months of TV viewing, according to filming schedules reviewed by Radar. While it looked like contestants were losing more than five pounds per week on screen, they really lost a much more reasonable average of 1.9 pounds per week.

Michaels has also admitted that the show's training set-up could seriously endanger her clients. "There's nothing good about it and there's nothing safe about it," she's said. "It's really scary. … In real life, with a 526-pound client, I wouldn't want anybody else in the gym, because I wouldn't want the slightest distraction. When I have 22 people working out … it's really hard."

The show doesn't always promise to take care of the contestants' health, either. According to a contract, reviewed by Radar, contestants must sign that "no guarantee has been made as to the qualifications or credentials of the medical professionals who examine me." Even contestants over 400 lbs. must sign that they believe themselves to be "in excellent physical, emotional, psychological and mental health."

But despite the brutal physical challenges, Hibbard has said, "The psychological warfare that production plays on you is the worst part … You never knew who you could trust, and when you did, sometimes during interviews production would deliberately say something to make you suspect that you couldn't trust your friends on the ranch."

Isolating the cast made it easier to control them, according to one former contestant. "For the first six weeks, we weren't allowed mail or phone calls," the source told Star. "when we finally got mail, it had been censored, blacked out. And all our phone calls were limited to five minutes and chaperoned by a production assistant."

As for the show's psychologist, the source said, "He was hardly ever around. I never knew where to reach that man during the show, and I never heard from him again after."

Hibbard has said she even began to develop an eating disorder as she approached the final weigh-in. "I got to the point where I was eating less than 1,000 calories a day," she claimed. "I was working out five to six hours a day. My hair started to fall out, and I was covered in bruises. When I told production this, I got no help."

Contestants often don't get the happy ending viewers see on TV. Season One winner Ryan Benson gained back all of the 122 pounds he lost at the ranch.

Season Three winner Erik Chopin gained back all of the weight he'd lost as well.

Insiders say that the contestants' dramatic reactions at the weigh-in are acting. "They actually get weighed earlier in the day on a cattle scale," an insider told Star. "The scale viewers see is a prop and contestants are filmed 'reacting' several times."

Former contestant Paul Marks had to have six surgeries after leaving the show, and friends blamed his medical troubles on his reality TV stint. Reps for the show insisted that joining The Biggest Loser saved his life.

Trainer Michaels has been sued four times over her supplement line. The lawsuits claimed that they contained potentially dangerous ingredients. Others have claimed that they are simply ineffective. Michaels called the suit "baseless." She later reached a class action settlement over the claims.

In 2010, a contestant on Biggest Loser Australia was kicked off the show after being charged with child pornography offenses. The show was rewritten without explaining his absence, and he was sentenced to a maximum two years in jail.

Earlier this year, two more contestants were kicked off the Down Under version of the show amid rumors of an inappropriate relationship and an "event" that had to be related to authorities.

In 2009, Michaels claimed that a contestant accused her of providing drugs to her team so they could lose weight faster. "We had an entire 'Kenneth Starr' investigation," she told TV Guide. "Because the minute someone makes that claim, you have to. They didn't shut down production, but it took a week. I was so furious, so disgusted. I felt so betrayed."

While contestants are not allowed to take diet pills, they are provided caffeine pills to help them wake up and power through workouts, according to multiple on-set sources. Those pills are distributed by the show's medical team.