If Peetz had said no when Chantel asked for one of his shortribs, I think she’d have burst into tears right then and there.
Remember when they were in the motel room and he told her the machine had no ginger ale? She looked completely crestfallen, started ticcing and even though he was still speaking, she interrupted and said “well, can I have some of your sprite?” As soon as he said yes, she smiled happily, calmed down and was able to focus.
Her obsession with food is complete and total. It’s all she thinks about, day and night. She’ll never be able to climb out by herself, and the amount of psychological help she’d need would take more years than she has left.
Whatever desire she had to get a handle on it came from Bibi. Despite her claim of him being her “rock,” I suspect he wasn’t very supportive of her obsession. All the late night car eating sessions were to hide from Bibi (which was stupid because it’s on video), and I’m sure he expressed annoyance at her constant eating at home and her desire to eat whatever he had too. That’s probably why the failed attempts at diets and fasts, to placate Bibi. I feel like as she grew and got sicker and dirtier, Bibi, a guy who values cleanliness and being an adult, grew increasingly upset with her. It seems clear that the final break happened when he supposedly went to Africa, even though they didn’t separate until after she was healed from her surgery. Whether they knew it or not, Bibi’s reminder of home and normality made him realize how sick of a situation he’d let himself devolve into.
Now that Bibi is out of the picture, she has no mental restraints, no reason to even pretend to diet or not eat whenever she feels like it, which is every waking moment. She doesn’t care what James thinks, he doesn’t care how much she eats or if she showers, and he supports her right to fart and shit her pants, because it’s “funny.” Although he said everybody finds farts funny, he’s wrong, a lot of us find them disgusting.
These overgrown toddlers deserve each other. Whatever happens won’t be pretty, there is no chance she won’t either end up 600 lbs or dead. I really hope that Bibi realizes that he let a very sick relationship go on far too long. Whether it was co-dependency, complacency, concern, or hope “this time” she meant what she said when she promised to stop, or whatever-I’d recommend therapy for him too so he doesn’t fall into this situation again.
My dream video is that one day Chantel tells this story: As Peetz is pushing her to eat fast food in her bariatric wheelchair, she sees Bibi walking next to a pretty, thin wife while he pushes a baby stroller. The bitterness that would pour out of her soul would be my version of “funny.” Of course, she’ll be bedbound or dead before that’s possible.