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Has anyone ever watched Secret Eaters? It's about people who are genuinely baffled by their weight-gain, but when secretly filmed are exposed for eating greasy meals in their driveway, and hiding their eating habits from their families.
Hosted by Anna Richardson, the UK series first aired in 2012 and ran for three seasons until 2014. But Amazon Prime has resurrected the classic, and all 21 episodes are available to stream here.
Full episodes are also available to watch on YouTube.
In each episode, Anna meats her unsuspecting guests, usually friends, siblings or partners - who can't seem to explain their weight-gain. They are perplexed and frustrated because they genuinely believe that their food intake doesn't justify their size, and even keep a calorie log, often coming in well below their recommended daily allowance.
The guests agree to be filmed in their home for a week, with the cameras rolling, the pair go about their daily routine and viewers are privy to their mealtimes and often mindless munching.
But what guests aren't told is that they are being followed by two 'private investigators' Cameron Gowlett and Duncan Mee who monitor their every move and record everything they eat outside of the home. When they think no one is watching...
And this is where the show gets exciting when guests think they are off-camera and sneak in a Cinnabon at the mall, scoff down a burger in the work parking lot and indulge in a sneaky post-gym slice of pizza.
The investigators go as far as to follow the guests through the fast-food drive-through or sit at the restaurant table right next to their unsuspecting targets, before submitting their findings to evidence.
Who knew? Cheaters, diet edition!
At the end of the week, they are confronted with the true extent of their secret eating, which includes hiding their poor food choices from their friends, family and even themselves.
They are then also given dietary advice by expert Lynne Garton about what they should be eating, and given a plan forward.
The team then meet up with their guests after several weeks, and the pair then step on the scale once more, only to reveal an impressive weight-loss.
One of my favourite episodes featured sisters Precious and Florence, from Sidcup (season 2, episode 8). Florence insisted that she is a healthy home cook and enjoys low-carb meals. But it's later revealed that the sisters were under the impression that pap was a vegetable, when in fact it's a carbohydrate, and would pile 3/4 of their plate with maze meal.
Precious is a dedicated gym bunny and goes to the gym every day, doing cardio and strength training. According to Precious she too follows a low-calorie diet, but Precious has a theory: After she works out, she believes she can eat whatever she wants for an hour because her "metabolism is still running" and that's when she goes for the takeout and sweet treats. After speaking to the experts, Precious learns that this is not true, and makes better choices for her post-gym snack.
The girls also hid their chocolate and croissant eating habits from each other, because they didn't like sharing, and were mortified to learn that private investigators followed them into the burger joint, and even filmed then eating chicken wings in the parking lot!
After Precious and Florence learnt that they were eating more than double their daily calorie allowance, the pair made some healthy changes, and the weight started melting off.
