Supersize v Superskinny

We’re still trying to digest the first episode of Supersize vs Superskinny kids, which aired last Tuesday.

The show, which has been running for a while now predominately focuses on two extreme eaters – one very overweight and the other severely underweight and urges them to swap diets in an attempt to change the way they view food and eating.

Throw in some diet tests and food ideas from Dawn Porter, who last series also visited and followed the progress of anorexic women, and you have a show that’s enlightening and interesting.

However, it seems that the producers of the documentary ran out of ideas – Gillian McKeith’s bum fighting exercises also didn’t make the cut – when it came to the new series because they decided to give it a youthful twist – get rid of the adults and bring in the kids.

With childhood obesity at a high it makes sense that this would be the next step. However, seeing children battling weight issues on both ends of the spectrum can be hard to digest especially when you consider that one in six young children are fighting to be as skinny as their celebrity idols.

The programme aimed to showcase this by grabbing kids from both camps and putting them into the same feeding clinic as the adults in the other series.

First up was 15-year-old Ieuan from Newport, who weighed twice what he should and 15-year-old Jess from Bristol, whose diet of chicken fried rice with barbecue sauce and the occasional tuna baguette left her two stone underweight.

Dr Christian, the host thought he had the cure when he told the parents to retake the reigns, but of course in situations like this it’s easier said then done.

And the other solution was of course to out the two in the house and make them swap diets.Cue the tantrums, tears and heaving while both tried to endure the others food habits. After the gruelling week the pair continued with a three month plan and then came back to be weighed. On their return, Jess had gained and Ieuan had lost a disappointing three pounds, hmmm not really a promising starter C4.