Is Khloé Kardashian's 'Revenge Body' the Most Depressing Show On TV?
When Amy Schumer hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2015, she lamented the loss of Khloé Kardashian's curvier body. "We used to have Khloé. Khloé was ours, right?" she said of how fans would choose one Kardashian sister to identify with, the way one particular Sex and the City character seemed like your on-screen counterpart. "Then Khloé lost half her body weight. She lost a Kendall."
Khloé, of course, struck back on Twitter. "No need 2 tear down others just 2 make urself feel bigger. It actually makes you quite small. I'm on a healthy journey. I don't care 4 the hate."
Curves aside, Schumer's comments hit on so many aspects of Khloé Kardashian's Keeping Up with the Kardashians persona. She's the funniest family member, the most down to earth, the warmest, and the most vulnerable, as she occasionally deals with tough issues by lashing out or isolating. Yes, it's bizarre to like a reality star for their ostensible "realness," but it's that suggestion of authenticity that makes her the sister you most want to hang out with.
Now, Khloé is hosting the latest Kardashian spin-off, Revenge Body, which premieres tonight on E!. Her promotion of the show has hinged on the very weight loss that Schumer mentioned, and there's something so odd about the Instagram pics:
Yes, she looks different. She looks less happy in the 'after' pics. Is that what she's going for?
In the before shots, she's smiling, with her natural dark hair, photographed head on or from below, which is typically unflattering. In the afters, she's bleached blonde, severe, sucking in her cheeks, and taking photos from above, which most teenagers with front-facing cameras know gives you a more angular, lollipop-on-a-stick look.
Then there's the show itself, Revenge Body. The term is typically applied to a weight loss or shape up that a person undertakes to look as hot as possible after being dumped; the best revenge is living well, as the saying goes. The idea of changing and conditioning and punishing your body for the sake of someone else - someone who doesn't even like you - is problematic at best. (It's certainly not a long-term weight loss solution.) And the promos only show participants suffering, sweating, and giving up, when fitness should be fun and about feeling good. Who's getting revenge on whom here?
"It's not about a weight number, it's about how you feel," Khloé says at one point. But these people, and Khloé herself, look like they feel awful.
At the close of the commercial, she asks them point blank who their revenge body is for. In a voiceover, as they run up stairs and push past curtains, the stars respond, "My ex-fiance. My mom. My friends." Is Khloé getting revenge on her sisters, her mother, her ex-husband Lamar Odom, whom viewers know has been suffering with drug addiction for years? We don't know, because it seems like Khloé isn't willing to get that real in front of the cameras.
The whole idea just seems sad, a little bit dangerous, and unhealthy both mentally and physically. "I'm on a healthy journey," Khloé tweeted in response to Schumer. But, honestly, it kind of looks like just on the opposite.
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