'More to Love' Feeds Weight Debate

Sept. 15, 2009— -- "More to Love" has everything you'd expect in a reality show: group dates, multiple make-out sessions, cat fights ... even a marriage proposal.

But what sets "More to Love" apart is all in the title. On this show, which airs on Fox, size-2 women need not apply -- try size 22. Eligible bachelor Luke Conley is looking for a full-figured wife, and the show even reveals the exact poundage of the women vying for his affection.

Conley, a 26-year-old former college football player who works as a real estate investor, is no exception. He's 6 feet 3 inches tall and tips the scale at 330 pounds.

But not everyone is loving "More to Love." Juanita Sanford, founder of Big Connections CT, a social networking group, is offended by the display of the women's specific weights and the heavy emphasis on food.

"A lot of big women don't eat that much food and for them to emphasize the food because it is big women is ridiculous," Sanford said.

Her biggest complaint is the crying by contestants bemoaning that they have yet to find love.

"I want someone who will not be embarrassed to be with me," one contestant said tearfully.

Such comments play into the stereotypes, Sanford said. "The fact that these girls are constantly crying, 'No one ever pays attention to me,' it's not realistic," she said. "Big women are out there dating all over the place. I'm just tired of the perception all the time [of] the poor fat girl."

But contestant Kristian Allbright said the show is not only real, it helped her deal with issues she has struggled with since childhood.

"I was the heaviest girl in my class," Allbright, 26, said. "I couldn't fit the desks so I would have to sit at the teacher's desk and I would get made fun of. Kids are cruel."

As an adult, one ex-boyfriend bought the Wallington, N.J., substitute teacher a gym membership for her birthday, even after she'd lost more than a 100 pounds with gastric bypass surgery.

"He started complaining about how I looked: 'You're not losing any weight, look what you're eating, I am embarrassed to be seen with you,'" she recalled. "I think men should look past the physical and really get to know a person."