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Biggest Loser Season 1 Winner Ryan Benson Recalls Feeling the Show ‘Set Us Up to Fail’: ‘We Were Exploited’

Ryan Benson, 56, who won Season 1 of 'The Biggest Loser' in 2005 says he feels the reality show "set us up to fail": "We were exploited." On the show, "doctors tested our urine and they told me there was blood in mine because I was so dehydrated," Benson tells PEOPLE.

Twenty years ago, Benson, 56, now SVP of Global Content Delivery at Lionsgate, was an aspiring actor in Los Angeles looking for his next big gig when a friend told him about the new weight loss reality show. While the physical process took extreme endurance and dramatic weight-loss expectations tested the contestants’ resolve, Benson recalls the experience could seem especially cruel by the “temptations” the show put in place. “I did a master cleanse where you just drink fresh squeezed lemon juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup mixed together, and eat nothing, for 10 days while working out a lot,” Benson recalls.

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