Abstract
This thesis examined comments sections pulled from five articles that were part of an 11 article series published by People magazine online focusing on Rachel Frederickson’s weight loss and win on The Biggest Loser Season 15. In particular, this thesis argued that the discourse supports the idea that there is a social hierarchy of health, whereby thin bodies are privileged over overweight bodies and functions as a layer of social class. Jäger’s (2001) method of critical discourse analysis was paired with a Foucauldian approach in order to examine how the comments discuss Frederickson’s weight loss. Comments were organized into 12 unique themes and were examined to better understand perceptions of obesity and weight loss.