Tonight is the finale of Shaq’s Fat Camp. Most people who have not had the fortunate opportunity to watch the show would assume that Shaquille O’Neal is the star of the whole thing. My friends, I’m here to tell you that Walter Holleger has stolen the spotlight from Shaq. The 14 year old Floridian has made a fan of me in a matter of weeks. Walter maintains the most positive attitude of any kid on the show. When the show first started, Walter’s body mass index was incalculable he was so heavy. Now, Walter has lost 35 pounds and dropped his body fat by 8% and he shows no signs of slowing down.
In honor of Walter’s awesomeness here are his greatest moments on the show in reverse order…
8. On Halloween, instead of going out trick-or-treating, Walter stayed at home and passed out candy to kids that came by his house. To ensure that he wouldn’t eat the candy himself, his mom bought candy that he hates.
7. In one episode, Shaq drew some inspiration from Rocky and had the kids chase chickens around for exercise. All the kids did it, but I enjoyed Walter the most.
6. Walter’s mom is very sick. She stays in bed all day because she is so sore which requires most of his dad’s attention. During a visit to the doctor, Walter promises the doctor that he’ll keep going with the program so that his can use him as an inspiration to get well.
5. Walter is full of great quotes. Two of my favorites: “Don’t question the good,” and “My butt is a dodge-ball magnet.”
4. During the most recent episode, Walter had the idea to invite his friend who is also overweight to attend the daily workouts. That snowballed into an after school workout with approximately 40 kids attending every day.
3. During the credits of one episode Walter tells viewers about his PE class where they were showing a video on tribal African dances. He proceeded to demonstrate what it looked like. Apparently tribal African dance looks like invisible hula-hooping.
2. Every moment when Walter is playing Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is pure entertainment.
1. During the first episode when the kids are all doing the initial President’s Challenge fitness test, Walter farts on Shaq because he’s trying so hard at sit ups while the Big Fella is holding his feet. “You can’t be farting on me, Walter.” This scene was in the commercials for the for series premiere and is what initially hooked me into the show. It still gets me every time.
I have set aside time to read this… the popcorn’s bought (no salt & not caramelized), I have a diet soda ready.
Do not disappoint me Mr Lunchbox!
Finally the comments work on here! I’ve been trying to comment on these ‘Big Challenge’ for weeks! Great job on the rundown. If these kids were politicians Chris would be the President and Walter the Vice-President. Great show, great kids…I hope they can keep it going.
I can’t believe I forgot about the fart! Walter is solid gold.
I loved this kid on the show. Shaq’s Big Challenge was the greatest idea for a reality tv show ever. Why in the Lord’s name was there only one season? I thought it was a good cause and it made a great change in these young kids lives. However, every time I saw a promotion for this show I just about died laughing too- just the combination of Shaq and fat kids -I dunno it just put me over the top.