I made Supersize vs Superskinny - this is why…

Should I Delete That?

Alex Light & Em Clarkson

Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Colette Foster was the executive producer of Channel 4’s factual entertainment show Supersize vs Superskinny.

The show was hosted by Dr Christian Jessen and each week it saw two contestants, one overweight and one underweight, swap diets whilst at a Feeding Clinic, under the supervision of Dr Jessen. Both participants were shown the extent of their poor diet.

This week, we have been exploring the role that television played on how we feel about our bodies - and we were thrilled when Colette agreed to come and speak to us. We were keen to find out about the inception of Supersize vs Superskinny, what safeguarding was in place for contributors and how the production team reacted to criticism directed at the show.

Colette is founder and Creative Director of Full Fat TV, a new factual entertainment company based in Birmingham, focusing on factual entertainment and feature formats with an emphasis on emerging talent. You can read about their work here: https://fullfattv.co.uk/

If you would like to get in touch - you can email us on [email protected]

@shouldideletethat

@em_clarkson

@alexlight_ldn

Should I Delete That is produced by Faye Lawrence

Music: Dex Roy

Studio Manager: Dex Roy

Trailers: Sophie Richardson

Video Editor: Celia Gomez

Social Media Manager: Emma-Kirsty Fraser

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome back to Should I Delete That. Over January and February on this podcast, we are doing an eight-part series exploring our relationship with body image.
0:11.0	On Monday, we took a look back to the world of TV. And as part of that episode, you heard part of our conversation with Colette Foster, who was the executive producer of Super Size
0:20.8	versus Super Skinny, a show which saw two contestants, one overweight and one underweight,
0:26.8	swap diets whilst at a feeding clinic. We were so grateful to Collette for agreeing to come on
0:31.9	the podcast, and although at times it was a difficult conversation, it was important for us to
0:36.9	hear what went into the production
0:38.4	of the show and to get inside understanding of how and why diet shows were so popular in the
0:43.7	naughties and 2010s. This is our conversation with Collette in full. If you haven't heard Monday's
0:49.2	episode yet, you can go back and listen and hear mine and them's reactions and reflections
0:53.9	on the interview.
0:55.1	But for now, let's dive into the world of super size versus super skinny.
1:04.0	So your portfolio and your experience and your career in TV is really extensive.
1:15.1	And a lot of your career has been working on and coming up with some really huge, popular, very, very popular mainstream shows like
1:20.7	super size, super, super skinny versus super size. Super size versus super skinny. Sorry, right. The first time. Super size versus super skinny. Sorry, right the first time.
1:28.7	Super size versus super skinny.
1:31.1	How to Look Good Naked, Ten Years Younger.
1:35.1	A lot of these, a lot of your work has centered around bodies and women's bodies, I guess, specifically.
1:42.8	Can you talk to us about the culture of that time?
1:47.1	What, like, take us back to the, you know, the inception of those shows. What was it, what was the culture like?
1:54.0	How was it at the time and how did these shows kind of come to be?
1:57.0	Well, it didn't necessarily start this century. It started last century, didn't it?
2:01.3	But an obsession with weight loss and looking a certain way and appealing to people.
	...

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