Living Large on the small screen

We’ve recently seen Dr. Charles Procter treat morbidly obese sisters Tammy and Amy Slaton in the TV series 1,000lb Sisters. Now in the new TLC series Too Large, he’s taking on even more patients to support them through weight loss before he can perform bariatric surgery. He has 1 more job, though: making reality TV. Read on as he gives us a rundown of how it works.

Watch Too Large now Watch TLC now

Binge watch Too Large Season 1 as a Box Set from Monday, 28 February to Monday, 28 March on DStv Catch Up.

Making Too Large

What did you think when you first saw Dr. Now and My 600-lb Life?

“It's funny, I had never watched that show until I signed on to do Season 1 of Family By The Ton, back in 2016. And it scared the heck out of me! I saw a patient who left the hospital after (gastric bypass) surgery, and went directly to a fast-food restaurant and ordered a bunch of food (Zsalynn Witworth in season 2, episode 1) and I said, “My gosh, are my patients actually doing this?”

“The audience, and perhaps the network, have that model in their heads when they turn on another bariatric surgery show. I know that just through following Twitter feeds and so forth, that the audience was taken aback when they first started watching our show because my personality is very different from Dr. Now's. But Dr. Now has been doing this for a long time, and there's a lot to be learnt from that. I try to glean as much as I can medically, and about how he manages different problems that come with the patients and so forth.”

You've tackled reality TV before with 1,000LB Sisters and Family By The Ton. What's different about Too Large?

“I think it's the tone of the show. For the first time, I'm really getting more actively involved with the lives of the patients outside just being in the doctor's office and in the operating room. We are highlighting the lives of the patients and their day-to-day so that the viewer kind of gets a real feel of what their life is like, which is unique in the medical reality world. The reality is we have thousands of patients, and I don't quite have time to get involved with the lives of all of them. But anytime somebody's life is changed for the better that much, I want to continue to be part of that journey as well.”

“With Family By The Ton and 1,000-lb Sisters, I was quite new to the reality TV world and felt swept down the river. Now we have a show where I think both the network and I wanted to break out of the typical medical reality type show. We’re getting more of a personal connection with the patients, allowing a little bit more insight into my own personal life, so the patients felt like I was human outside of just being a doctor.”

How involved were you behind the scenes, from the casting to the edit?

“The casting, I was heavily involved in. Now that we've had some exposure through TLC, patients, for the first time, are seeing that even though they are 600, to 700 pounds (272 to 317,5kg), there is somebody out there who is willing to do what they can to help. These patients have been told “No” so many times that a lot of them had given up on seeking help. I personally help screen the cast along with the production company. As far as the editing goes, that's certainly not in my wheelhouse. I'll leave that to the experts.”

What are some of the criteria that you had for selecting patients for the series?

“TV is a visual medium, and the larger the patient, the more massive the change somebody could go through. But we also want to find people who are just good people that an audience can connect with. There are some patients out there who are interesting for different reasons. They're funny, or they may struggle more than somebody else from the mental hurdles that they need to get through to get the surgery. It's important for the viewer to see all types of patients, from those patients who are gung-ho from Day 1 and want to make a change, to those patients who are resistant to making these lifestyle changes but finally come through the end.”

What are a couple of things that your patients said to you during this program that have really stuck with you?

“We've had funny moments, certainly with Corey. Some of the things he said off camera and on social media have come back several times (like when he referred to Dr. Procter as a “Daddy”). But the things that really stick with me are the things that they tell me that they are doing that they've never thought they would be able to do. Things like taking a child to the amusement park and getting to ride the rides with him for the very first time. I had 1 of my patients tell me that she sat down to fly on an aeroplane and asked for the seatbelt extender, and the stewardess looked at her and said, “Why do you need that? You're not big enough for that.” It hadn't even clicked with her until then that she had lost that much weight. It's little victories like that. My patients refer to them in English as NSVs, or non-scale victories. Those are the things that will always stick with me.”

Curious and hungry for more? In our other interview Dr. Procter talks about why it’s so hard for his patients to lose weight, and why any major lifestyle change needs a special approach.

Watch Too Large Season 1, Mondays at 21:00 on TLC (DStv Channel 135)

 

TLC (DStv Channel 135) is available on DStv Premium, Compact Plus, Compact, Family and Access. To upgrade your existing package, click here. Or if you'd like to Get DStv, find a service that suits your needs here.