This is a serious question I want you to think about.  What do you suppose would happen to you if you walked up to someone at the grocery store, looked in their cart, and then picked something up and asked them if they should be eating whatever it was that you picked up?

They may look at you like you were crazy or they may spray you with a can of pepper spray.  This very incident has happened to my wife and I on several occasions.  When you go on television you open yourself up to receive unsolicited opinions both bad and good.

Here’s the weird part, we don’t mind when this happens to us.  It is our life.  Suzy and I have opened our lives up to the world.  People know a lot about us, they know about our children, they know about our marraige, we have made that available to them.

The thing is that the people they “know”, they really don’t know at all.  Most of what they know is based on CHARACTERS from television.  I changed a lot during my time on BL.  There are actually very few people who really know me. 

When I first signed up to go on the show I was very naive.  Seriously, I thought that when you go on a reality show you just have a camera following you around while you do whatever it is you do.  I didn’t know about filming days or interviews or doing press.  I was like the country bumpkin going to the big city.

I’m not going to lie, when I arrived at the BL ranch I was there to workout, lose weight, and win some money.  That was it.  I didn’t care about getting famous or being on tv.  Needless to say, I was a tough person to work with.  I didn’t realize until later in the process that I was a character in a story.

What people see each week is a two hour story based on hundreds of hours of footage.  What the viewer gets to see, and the opinions that they form by watching, is based only on what the story line is for that week.  You will never really get to know the people on the show unless you meet them personally.

“Matt, quit complaining.  You won a bunch of money and this what you get.”  You are right and I am not complaining, in fact, I enjoy it.  My career as a speaker depends upon people wanting to see me and hear about my life.  What I am saying is that I had no idea how much life would change as a result of being on BL.

Yes, it is tough when you read some of the harsh words that people say from time to time and yes I do see it.  I would bet that most people who have been on the show see what is being written about them.  What I am saying today is this.  I wish that people would think about what they are saying about another person when they say what they say.  I wish they would give the contestants the courtesy to be human, to make mistakes and even have struggles.

I love this country and the rights that we have.  I believe in free and uncensored speech and opinions.  All I ask is that before saying what a horrible person someone is or calling them names is that we think about a couple of things.  First, you may not really know that person or what they are going through.  Second, that person probably has family and friends who do know them and words from a stranger can hurt.

For me, words from strangers can sting but often they motivate me.  You wouldn’t believe the things that people said about me when it was announced that I was doing the Kona Ironman.  At first it was a little rough but then I used it to motivate me.

Lesson for today:  The people who go on BL are real people.  They have feelings.  They have struggles and successes.  They have jobs, families, and friends.  They have opened up their lives in order to inspire, motivate, and yes, even entertain perfect strangers.  Keep that in mind next time you may feel like tearing them down. 

As for me, let it rip!  I love the good and the bad of being a “celebrity”.  It allows for me to have a great life, spend time with my family and love my career.  I appreciate and value the opinions that I get from everybody because at the end of the day I know who I am.  My family, friends, and my God know who I am and that is all I need to know.

See you tomorrow!

PS.  For those who were wondering if I ever tried to reach out and talk to Jillian, the answer is yes.  I wouldn’t have talked about it if I hadn’t taken action on my end.

Add new tag, Biggest Loser, fitness, Ironman, life lessons, Matt Hoover, weight loss

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010, 5:07 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.