Celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels is set to pursue legal action against Netflix following the debut of their explosive docuseries on The Biggest Loser.

Michaels, 51, served as a fitness expert on the weight loss show intermittently from 2004 to 2013. She faced controversy in 2013 when producers accused her of rule-breaking by administering caffeine pills to her team without obtaining a doctor’s approval.

Consequently, American Idol alum Ruben Studdard, who had been eliminated, was reinstated in the competition, and Michaels received an on-air reprimand. At the time, she defended her actions, asserting: ‘I stand by my opinion. A caffeine supplement is significantly healthier than unlimited amounts of coffee.’

The renewed focus on this incident in the Netflix series, Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser, which premiered earlier this month, prompted Michaels to claim that host Bob Harper and show medic Dr. Robert Huizenga falsely denied endorsing the caffeine pills, prompting her decision to sue.

In an interview with TMZ, Michaels disclosed that she is consulting with Justin Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, to pursue legal action against Netflix, as well as the documentary producer Harper and Huizenga.

Additionally, she alleged that Brandon Riegg, the executive responsible for acquiring the documentary for Netflix, held a senior position at NBC during the final seasons of The Biggest Loser.

She denied she was sneaking contestants caffeine pills, and posted emails she claims showed it was always approved on the show, alongside Ambien and smokeless tobacco, which she did not dole out. 

On Tuesday she posted emails purportedly between herself, Harper, the show producers and Huizenga’s aide which she claims proves caffeine was never a banned substance and that she was encouraged to hand it out.

She captioned the post: ‘Here is an email chain with @bobharper – the Biggest Loser’s producers – @drhuizenga’s guy, Sandy Krum, who stayed on set with us and distributed the fat burners about which “fat burners” / caffeine pills to purchase the contestants. This is one email of many that shows:

‘Dr. Huizenga did approve caffeine pills on many seasons of Biggest Loser.

‘Bob Harper not only knew about the caffeine pills the “stackers fat burner” were actually his suggestion. I wanted to use my brand instead because they were cleaner and had no more than 200mg of caffeine (equivalent to a strong cup of coffee).

‘Caffeine was NEVER banned on The Biggest Loser.

‘Wild how some folks still lie like it’s 1985 before texts and email were a thing.

‘And, the last image is my second to last text ever to Bob Harper. Take from it what you will.’

The penultimate text to Harper in June 2014 read: ‘I really think it’s s****y of you to not even respond to my texts. It’s this kind of thing that always makes me  so disappointed in our relationship.’ 

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Netflix, NBC, Bob Harper and Dr. Robert Huizenga for comment and has yet to hear back. 

The hit series, which ran for 18 seasons on NBC and USA, saw obese or overweight people from across the US dropping upwards of 100 or even 200 pounds over a matter of months. 

Michaels declined the opportunity to appear in the three part Netflix series.

In the series Harper reveals the decline of the pair’s friendship – despite appearing to be close pals onscreen.

Discussing his 2017 heart attack, he said: ‘It was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever gone through.

‘I was dead on the gym floor for nine minutes. It was only because there was a doctor that was in this gym – he had to pound and pound on my chest to try to get some sort of electric current going through my heart again for the AED to work.’

A clip of Harper on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen plans – with Harper saying he ‘heard from almost everyone’ after his heart attack.

‘People were always like, “You and Jillian have been so close.” I was like, “Well, we were close on television.”  

‘After I had my heart attack, she’s the one person I never heard from. So, I mean, that to me spoke volumes.’

He later told The Guardian: ‘We weren’t besties, but we were partners on a television show for a very long time… I would not expect Jillian Michaels to do anything other than what she wants to do.’

Huizenga added: ‘I didn’t have a relationship with Jillian, but I had a good relationship with Bob. He was willing to discuss things out and to compromise and, you know, was looking for some help, wasn’t thinking that he knew everything.’

The doctor claimed he didn’t speak to Michaels ‘for any of the last 16 seasons’, with Harper giving a barbed message to Michaels to ‘have fun watching’ the series. 

The show ran from 2004 to 2016 airing on NBC, before it was cancelled. It was then rebooted on the USA Network in 2020, before being cancelled after just one season. In its heyday, the program went global, with versions appearing in countries around the world, earnings hundreds of millions of dollars. The branding was licensed for products including cookbooks, DVDs, and weight-loss camps.

When its NBC run was cancelled in 2016, it came after controversy, with critics arguing that it prioritized a number on the scale rather than contestants’ overall health and well-being.

Netflix’s new docuseries, titled Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser, ‘takes a look behind-the-scenes, exploring its cultural relevance and complicated legacy’ – and as part of that, previous contestants spoke on camera about some of the dangerous habits they practiced in a bid to lose the most weight, and scoop the $250,000 prize.

Those practices included fasting for 10 days, and surviving on minimal calories while undergoing intense exercise regimes among others.