And Finally

This year, Operation Transformation has a fancy new scale for the weekly weigh-ins. But how will this transform the transformation show? Donal O’Donoghue investigates

OT 2019 debuts a new weighing scale but will it make a di erence? Donal O’Donoghue sifts through the body of evidence

When I think back on past seasons of Operation Transformation, it’s always the weigh-ins I remember. is is the TV bit, the entertainment factor, the moment of truth and so on. How much has the leader lost or gained, have they met their weekly target, will they crack up before they step on the scales, will they cry a river when the gures are read out? It is staged like the piece of TV theatre that it is: the drum roll (metaphorical), the pause (real and dramatically prolonged) and then the gures (last week X, this week Y). en it’s either a hug or a tear before the experts weigh in with their tuppenceworth. What’s not to love or to hate?

But things are changing for this weigh-in. For many years, it was as black and white as the contenders in their dark body-hugging Lycra and skimpy swimwear. is year brings the appliance of science. OT dietitian Aoife Hearne told me about it rst, the machine that does more than just weigh and spit out the near-naked truth. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the Body Composition Scales – or as it not likely to be known, the Truth Machine. is piece of hardware will tell you all the details like some piece of sorcery, by sending “an imperceptible” current through your body.

So I did what everyone does when faced with something they don’t understand: Reader, I Googled it. Apparently, this scale is all about bioelectrical impedance analysis or BIA for short, which of course, also means food in Irish but we won’t go there. BIA gives you a quick measure of the water and fat percentage in your body. ey come in all shapes and sizes, from high end to budget, and can measure muscle mass, bone density, muscle quality and how many sneaky pints of beer you had the last night (OK, maybe not that one!). e future is here, but the hard work remains the same.

I remain suspicious of all weighing scales, those cartoon contraptions where you drop a coin in the slot and it barks out something like ‘Get o !’ or ‘You must joking!’ Weight has always had a funny side. e physical manifestation of comedy from way back in the days of silent comedy (Fatty Arbuckle, Laurel and Hardy) right through to John Candy in bed with Steve Martin (‘ ose aren’t pillows!’). e fat man (or woman) didn’t need to say anything, the joke was on him. And in popular culture too, being plump brought its own baggage of discrimination, whether you were Fatty in Lord of the Flies, the chubby kid in e Goonies or Billy Bunter in the comics.

e scales of justice always weighed against them. So while the new season of Operation Transformation debuts its all-singing, all-dancing, all truth-telling machine, the story might still be black and white. So now the machine won’t just tell you to get o , it will tell you why you should get o . And while the answer might be longer and more involved, the scéal or scale remains the same in one crucial aspect. is is, a er all, reality TV and as everyone should know by now, that genre always exacts its pound of esh. And we’re not talking metaphor here.