Advance Review - Shedding for the Wedding, Season 1, Episode 1

Shedding for the Wedding – Dearly Beloved, We Are Gathered Here

Air Date: Wednesday, February 23, 2011, 9:00 pm EST

Rank: 4 stars

The CW Network has jumped into the reality diet craze that has been inhabiting our television sets of late with their latest offering, Shedding for the Wedding, which premieres Wednesday, February 23^rd at 9:00 pm ET, immediately following the season 16 premiere of America’s Next Top Model.

(L-r) Laura and Austin, Lindsay and Chase, Dawn and Adam, Ginny and Marc, Laeresa and Stephen, Allison and David, Valerie and David, Samantha and Brooks, Taylor and Peter. Photo Credit: Patrick Wymore/The CW Â© 2010 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

Shedding for the Wedding is a combination of two very popular reality shows – TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress and NBC’s Biggest Loser, which, by the way, has recently been renewed for the 2011-2012 season. The show pits nine couples against each other in a race to lose the most weight. The prize? The wedding of their dreams. Shedding is hosted by a very thin Sara Rue, whose new figure is the result of the Jenny Craig diet. Rue herself is slated to be wed this May so I’m sure she can particularly relate to these couples.

Advance Review - Shedding for the Wedding, Season 1, Episode 1 2

Host Sara Rue. Photo credit: Patrick Wymore/The CW Network

Ashley Koff, R.D. is the nutritionist who will be selecting the food to stock the kitchen so the couples can prepare their own meals. The couples will also be keeping a daily food journal which Koff will review with them. Hopefully, they will learn how to buy and prepare healthy meals for themselves, leading to successfully keeping off the weight they lose during the course of the show, and a new healthy lifestyle.

One of the trainers is Ricky Holender, a former world-class soccer player who now trains athletes and celebrities like Mel B and Kendra. The other trainer is Jennifer Cohen, a professional trainer for over ten years in addition to frequently appearing on The Today Show. While Holender’s Australian accent is just adorable, I didn’t feel a connection with either trainer. Hopefully, that will change as the weeks go by.

Of course, there is a wedding planner – Brian Worley – who is responsible for helping the couples plan their perfect dream weddings. Those weddings range from a “fairy tale, over the top” wedding for Allison and David aka Team Fairy Tale, to a game-themed wedding, including a beer pong table for Dawn and Adam aka Team Fun & Games, and a fantasy game venue for Taylor and Peter aka Team Gamers, who met online playing Final Fantasy XI together. The other contestants include Allison and David, Team Fairy Tale; Laeresa and Stephen, Team Hollywood; Lauren and Austin, Team Football; Lindsey and Chase, Team Greek Week; Samantha and Brooks, Team Eco-Lovers; Valerie and Dave, Team Big Band; and Ginny and Marc, Team Beach Romance. Most of the couples are in their 20s; two grooms are in their 30s – Adam is 30, and Marc is 36.

Advance Review - Shedding for the Wedding, Season 1, Episode 1 3

"Team Greek Week" - Chase and Lindsay Photo Credit: Patrick Wymore/The CW

Each week, along with their grueling work-out sessions, the couples will face several challenges. The winners of the weekly challenges will win various elements of their dream weddings. The big winner – the couple left standing at the end of three months – will have their wedding covered in People Magazine. This week, Worley takes the women to Winnie Couture on Rodeo Drive where they try on and pick out their dream wedding gowns, while the men pick out their tuxedos. Their first challenge is a dance marathon – the couples wear heart monitors and must keep their combined heart rates over a certain amount as determined by Rue. If they fail, they are eliminated. The winning couple gets to keep the dress and tuxedo each chose earlier in the day. This was so fun to watch – some of the guys couldn’t dance at all! As the beats per minute were incrementally raised, it was amusing to watch the tactics some couples resorted to – from running to doing jumping jacks.

Needless to say, just like Biggest Loser – Couples, each week there is an elimination challenge based on the combined amount of weight each couple has lost. The twist for Shedding for the Wedding is that the two couples with the lowest amount of weight loss face off against each other in a challenge called “To Death Do Us Part.” Only one couple will participate in this challenge which, this week, is based on their winning bid of how long they can keep five 40-lb. weights suspended over a glass before the weights fall, crushing the glass.

There is one final component to Shedding for the Wedding – the eliminated couples will return to the show for the season finale, where they will weigh in for one last time to determine who will win their fantasy honeymoon.

What sets this show apart from all the other reality weight loss shows out there are the challenges and the relationships between the couples. This will be not only a test of their abilities to lose weight, but it will be a test of the couples’ relationships. Will they be able to withstand the pressure dieting can bring? And how will they handle the challenges – will their relationships flourish or die? Can there be two more stressful things in life – dieting and planning a wedding? I think not.

Tune into Shedding for the Wedding on Wednesdays at 9:00 pm EST on the CW Network. To watch full episodes online, go to http://www.cwtv.com/shows/shedding-for-the-wedding/episodes.

Biography of the Author(Read Below)..
Latest Posts (view them )..

Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!