A Lister

Today

There we were, Paul and I, in Tesco, picking up a few bits and pieces for the weekend. Just by the coleslaw a woman we'd never seen before bounced up to us with a huge smile.

"I know you!" She cried. "At least, I've seen you on the telly!" She became a bit embarrassed by her forwardness and stammered a little. "but you both look wonderful!" "But that was years ago" we said. "Ah well, I've been in Dubai." she said as if that explained everything.

"Well I've put all the weight back on," said Paul "Although I guess I carry it better..."

In My Day

"Diet Trials" started back in 2002. We answered an ad in the RT for overweight people who'd like to participate in a study of diet plans. Paul weighed about 120k and I about 85. We signed up and entered the weird world of reality TV.

We learnt how to make video diaries and how to act naturally when cameras followed us to Weight Watchers, parties, holidays, health checks and at home. As a jolly middle-aged couple who enjoyed more than a glass or two of wine we were good camera fodder and were apparently dubbed "The Boozy ..............." by the Beeb. We learnt how supposedly spontaneous actions were filmed again and again. "Would you mind just going out and coming back home again, Julia, just for the cameras?" the camera person would say. And our meals got cold while they had another go at filming.

We were interviewed by Eamon Holmes and met other key weight losers at the studios in London (why are these places never as glamorous as one imagines?). Our picture was in the papers, national and local, and Paul did a radio interview. All in all it was great fun. And we did lose weight - two stone each with Weight Watchers over the duration of the trials.

What we were unprepared for was being recognised and stopped - in the street, bars, restaurants, shops, airports at home and abroad. Generally people didn't say "excuse me." they just bounced up and asked us whether we still consumed wine (silly question) or told us off for having a plate of food at a buffet. Most people told us how great we looked. Our record in one day was on a shopping spree to Clark's Village in Street where we were topping up on smaller sized clothes. I think we were stopped about 15 times.

Interest fizzled as the programme became old news. But it did have about 6 million viewers in the UK and is rolled out on various UK Gold channels across the world, it seems, from time to time.

Perhaps the reason why it's so hard to keep the weight off is that it can never be as much fun again.