This is what Marissa had to say: “Marissa’s reasons for not returning to season 2 are the following: the format of the program did not allow her to interact with the contestants and offer them encouragement and support, and criticism she received from producers regarding her appearance.”

To me that means the producers thought she was fat and probably told her this more than once. This is a show about people embracing who they are as people. Sure, the idea is to lose weight, but to throw someone up there like Mel B who weighs what, 85 pounds kind of defeats the whole purpose. Was Marissa the best host in the whole world? No, but allthe producers are doing is telling the world they don’t believe what they are trying to sell on the show. They are trying to sell that all people no matter their size are beautiful, but then kick off Marissa and replace her with someone who is not typical and instead is probably a size zero and has fake breasts and says this is the ideal.

The producers’ official statement is that the core fans of the show grew up Spice Girl fans so this is what they really want. Uh huh.

Here are some of the comments about the change:

Marissa’s personality makes me want to rip my eyeballs out. Mel B is more engaging, I believe. If this is a program about weightloss via dance, than I would think Mel B is more inspirational than Marissa since Mel B has successfully shed some pounds.

Marissa was one of the big girls on DWTS and I was always embarrassed for her whenever the male partner had to lift her. I didn’t think it was possible to do it without him getting a back ache and dropping her. She was heavy and certainly not graceful enough for the dances. Also she’s very bubbly but in a way that I find annoying.

This is one of my guilty pleasure shows. I love dancing and I love seeing everyone’s journey through the weight loss. I must say though, Marissa was one of the bad points of the show, as far as I’m concerned. I didn’t think she did that great of a job of hosting, but what really was disturbing is just how TIGHT the clothes she wore on camera were. Seriously, she looked like she was going to pass out from not being able to breathe most of the time. She always looked extremely uncomfortable in the clothes. I’m no fan of Mel B. but to be honest, I care more about the contestants than who’s hosting it, so it doesn’t matter to me. The contestant’s stories were always very inspirational to me. But I must admit, it does kind of send a bad message to get someone thinner to host.

I don’t watch the show myself, because the weight-loss component seems shirty to me. Your thoughts?

[*Chamein also kindly stopped by the comments to post the text of the original article. Thanks!]

I read your article about the rise in the number of plus size people on television this summer. I noticed the same thing but I can tell you that not all of us are happy with the current offerings. As a full figured woman, I enjoy Drop Dead Diva, Ruby and I’m very interested to see what More To Love has to offer. I know this isn’t politically correct but I hate Dance Your Ass Off and The Biggest Loser. It’s not that I have anything against trying to become more healthy, I just can’t stand that it seems they find the most misreable overweight people in the world. Let me tell you for every one person with a sad story I know at least 20 plus happily full figured people. I consider myself to be one of them, but I learned to be happy in my skin the hard way.

You see I entered this world big from the beginning. I weighed in a few ounces shy of nine pounds and then I spent the rest of my life trying to live down a tiny three lettered word ‘big’. I hated being the big girl. At one point in my life I had so much black in my closet I thought I’d hear the voice of James Earl Jones as Darth Vader at any minute.

She goes on to talk about how her battles with cancer and MS:

I can’t tell you how many hours and days I was in the bathroom floor green with nausea wondering how on earth anyone could want to make themselves sick just so they won’t gain weight.

As horrible as it was Illness was a epihany for me. For the first time in my life I wasn’t focused on losing something, I was focused on gaining. I wanted more minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years to spend with my children. I was desperate to see my toddler sons grow up and to make it to my 30th birthday. It took a diagnosis of cancer to make me realize what truly counted in life and it wasn’t size; it’s love. During my treatment I met couples going through the depths of illness together and the love they showed one another touched me in the deepest part of my soul. I still get choked up when I think about it now. It was a real testament to for better or for worse. It was then I decided to forget my obsession with size.

Thanks for taking the time to make your voice heard, Chamein.

When we first heard about More to Love, meerkat said:

I expect that many of the women will eliminated for infuriating and anti-feminist reasons (if this works on the reality show model of eliminating a competitor every week). And I wonder how wide a range of body types there will be? And if there is a wide range, will the less-conventionally-attractive ones have a snowball’s chance in Hell?

And in our discussion of Dance Your Ass Off based on the previews, Bethany said:

On one hand, I love that there are fat people in hot, tight dance outfits shaking their groove thang for all to see. At least some of them seem to be sexy and talented and comfortable in their own skin. But at the same time…with all that focus on weight loss it takes it into “Biggest Loser” land where the bottom line is always losing pounds. And that’s an oppressive message.

It’s like with one side of their mouth they want to empower fat people to enjoy embodiment as they are, and with the other side of their mouth they want to make sure they know they will never fully be acceptable until they can lose the weight.

The Fatistician railed against the weight loss component of the show (there is a clip there also):

So essentially, no matter how well you dance, if you don’t lose weight you won’t win. Let’s totally ignore the fact that you’re working out constantly and potentially gaining muscle which weighs more than fat. But if you don’t lose lose lose you’re just LAZY. Nothing beats starving yourself while simultaneously working your ass off and causing injuries Healthy Weight Loss UR Doin it WRNG.

I also can’t decide if they think fatties are HILARIOUS or pathetic victims of their own gluttony, or really, anything? I mean, I guess I will never know because I will not be watching this show. (If I could get Oxygen taken off my cable, I would.)

It’s also been described as a new wave of “fatsploitation” television:

The appetite for “fatsploitation” entertainment isn’t yet sated. Earlier this month in the US, a new sitcom, Drop Dead Diva took the controversial step of casting a US size 16 (UK size 18) actress in the lead role. The series, in which skinny model Deb dies in a car crash and is reincarnated as plus-sized Jane, drew record audiences and has been applauded for showing a larger woman in the main role. Rosie O’Donnell, Liza Minnelli and Paula Abdul have signed up for guest appearances and the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times gave it rave reviews.

Earlier in the summer, reality shows More to Love (a plumper version of The Bachelor) and Dance Your Ass Off (a super-size Dancing With the Stars) were also hits. Although Drop Dead Diva goes some way to redressing the fat phobia balance, it still employs stereotypes to explain Jane’s obesity. The character drools over doughnuts and in a moment of despair, finds solace in a mouthful of squirty cream cheese straight from the can.

Well I’ll watch out for the donuts and cream cheese on Drop Dead Diva, and report back. In the meantime, are you watching More to Love or Dance Your Ass Off? What do you think?