The Biggest Loser Is Casting in Philly

NBC’s The Biggest Loser will be back in Philly this summer to cast for its 15th (!!!) season. The Philly stop is part of an 11-city casting tour that also includes Chicago, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Boston.

The show’s casting team will be at the Shops at Liberty Place on May 11th from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. You have to have at least 80 pounds to lose to qualify for the show. Here’s what else NBC is looking for, from a press release about the casting:

Casting producers are looking for charismatic individuals who have the desire to change their lives forever and vie for this once-in-a-lifetiume opportunity to lose weight and compete for a grand prize of $250,000. Candidates must be at least 18 years of age and legal residents of the United States.

You’ll have to fill out an application once you get there. If you can’t make it on the 11th, you can also apply via video submission by May 13th. Details on that are here.

If you’ve never seen the show (really? Who are you?), The Biggest Loser pits overweight contestants against one another in the ultimate weight-loss competition. Trainers Bob Harper, Jillian Michaels and Dolvett Quince work with (um, putting it mildly there) the contestants over the course of the show to help them lose weight. The contestant with the highest percentage of weight loss at the end of the show wins the prize money.

The workouts, of course, are intense—made more intense by added-post-production music, editing, and tears (lots and lots of tears). But lest you think it’s all just for TV, take a read through the Be Well Philly archives to see what my workout with Jillian Michaels was like last summer. In summary: it was haaard.

And in related news, Jillian Michaels herself will be in town this Friday at the Kimmel Center. More on that here.