RUBY Gettinger could be the poster girl for that terrible phrase: “But she has such a beautiful face.”
Ruby, you see, was a hugely overweight single woman living in Savannah, Ga. Now, Ruby’s a hugely overweight woman in Savannah, Ga. with a reality show and a shrinking waistline.
Style’s new documentary-style reality show “Ruby,” which premieres Sunday night, revolves around not just Ruby’s reluctant decision to try to get down to a normal size. It’s also about Ruby’s everyday life, which – unlike what you might imagine – is filled with devoted friends, fun dinner parties and a live-in nephew whom she loves like crazy.
What makes this show different from regular weight loss shows is that Ruby seems to have a secret so big that it dwarfs even her considerable size. In fact, it’s such a deep, dark secret, she doesn’t even know what it is herself!
In episode two, we find out when Ruby visits a psychiatrist that she has no – absolutely no – memory of anything in her life before the age of 13.
The question then becomes, of course, what the hell happened to this child that was strange enough to have no childhood memories.
Psychological mysteries aside, Ruby’s weight-loss campaign requires a team. So, in addition to the shrink, there’s an obesity specialist, a nutritionist who puts her on a diet of pre-made meals and a terrific personal trainer named Reece, who is so cut you could slice steak with his pecs.
The show begins with Ruby at 477 pounds – though at one point, she’d weighed as much 700 pounds.
Because she is so huge, and because her friends – including her best friend, actress Britney Daniel, who encouraged Ruby to agree to the series – are normal sizes, we see the compromises Ruby has had to make. For example, when there’s a dinner party, she can’t fit into a chair with arms, so she sits in a different room from her guests, who are at the table.
Clearly, there’s more going on here than meets the eye with her family, too.
Ruby’s nephew, Jim, for example, lives with her because his parents bought a cat even though they knew that the kid was allergic to cats. (That’s enough to make this kid forget his childhood, too.)
It’s not what you see – her size – that makes “Ruby” a fascinating series. It’s what you don’t.
“Ruby” Sunday night at 8 on Style
