Alison Sweeney returns to host Season 14 of The Biggest Loser on January 6 at 9pm on NBC – Photo: NBC
Alison Sweeney returns as host of The Biggest Loser on Sunday, January 6 while celebrating her 20th anniversary on Days of Our Lives at the same time.
Host of NBC’s The Biggest Loser and a longtime star of Days of Our Lives, Alison Sweeney is a busy lady in both primetime and daytime television. In the two-night Season 14 premiere on Sunday, January 6 and January 7, The Biggest Loser takes on child obesity by featuring kid participants for the first time ever on the show, joining 15 adults eager to lose weight and change their lives forever.
With Alison Sweeney back as host, The Biggest Loser also welcomes back trainer Jillian Michaels who joins Bob Harper and Dolvett Quince at the ranch for a new season of workouts.
When The Biggest Loser returns for Season 14, however, much of the show will focus on child obesity and the fight to keep kids fit and healthy for the future.
Given the impact and influence of The Biggest Loser, how does Alison Sweeney feel about the show taking on child obesity?
“Well, I’m a mom, and it’s a such an important issue for our country and the world, “Sweeney told The Deadbolt ahead of the new season premiere of The Biggest Loser. “I see kids all of the time who are struggling with obesity. I think it’s so important to start talking about it and really figure out what we can do as a society to heal our kids.”
Although Alison Sweeney will soon begin a new season of The Biggest Loser, Sweeney also celebrates her 20th year on Days of Our Lives where she’s been under contract with NBC since January 6, 1993.
In the past two decades, however, the soap opera world has changed dramatically given the evolution of television and technology. Still, despite the loss of many network soap operas, Days of Our Lives is still going strong and continues to be one of the most popular soaps on the air.
In what may be strange ironic fate, Alison Sweeney has been working in a shrinking soap world and an expanding reality market at the same time. Over the past three years alone, soap fans have had to say goodbye to three major daytime shows in Guiding Light, All My Children, and One Life to Life.
So, how does Alison Sweeney feel about witnessing the decline of soaps while still being on Days of Our Lives?
“It’s tough,” Sweeney admitted to The Deadbolt. “It’s hard to say goodbye to shows that have been on the air for so long. They have such loyal fans. I can only imagine what it’s like for the fans to have to say goodbye. These are characters that you’ve seen for sometimes over forty years, and they feel like family.”
Although reality television continues to expand in primetime while various forms of talk variety rule daytime, Days of Our Lives remains intact and thriving at NBC.
Still, despite the longevity of Days, soap operas have an uphill battle for ratings in today’s TV landscape.
“For us at Days of Our Lives,” Sweeney added, “we’ve really embraced the challenge and tried to stay relevant, current, and give our fans something to keep watching for and the network to keep resigning us. We hope to keep exciting and entertaining our audience for some time to come. So, we’re looking at it as a challenge and we hope to keep going.”
The Biggest Loser airs January 6 at 9pm on NBC.