Check this out: According to this link, NBC Dateline is going to do a full investigation into the Kimkins controversy. WHOA! This could get ugly for you know who.

OH WOW, Jimmy. This is gonna get BIG. I am kicking myself badly for mentioning you-know-who's website in "the" magazine article. I just didn't KNOW back then!

Holy smokes This is gonna get as big and nasty as Kimmer herself!! I just hope it isn't presented as "low carb" instead of what it really is, starvation.

Good thing you got out when you did Jimmy.

Oh I hope it's true, Oh I hope it's true, Oh I really really hope it's true! Me, trying, but failing not to get too excited about this:

I was thinking about this issue also. I just hope it doesn't boil over into something really nasty for everyone else.... Are her (ex) admin staff concerned? Jimmy, will this impact on you and this forum? It is a worry.

I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking along these lines, Vee...

I wasn't going to write anything, I didn't want to be the one raining on the parade, but I was wondering, and I'm worried. I am especially concerned that this garbage doesn't spill over into our new home--that all the refugees, as well as Jimmy's long time blog readers, don't panic, and decide to decamp until all this blows over. That would be our ultimate loss, and her ultimate victory. If she can't have us, Jimmy can't either, because we've all been scared away.

Chrysalis

Chrysalis

Jimmy, that article was originally posted on 3fatchicks.com, here.

I hope this rumor is true. I'd love to see Chris Hansen say to Kimmer, "I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline" Like he does on the "To catch a predator" series.

And to those who posted above, I sincerely hope your privacy is not invaded in all of this. I can seriously understand your concerns.

Something in my gut (har) says that there is entirely too much nuance in the real story for any news program to get the story straight. I’d be willing to bet money the story comes out looking like this.

Owner of a popular low diet called Kimkins—based on the controversial ‘Atkins diet’—turns out to be a 300 pound fraud. Blah, blah, blah about the story leading into the take home message: (spoken by a ‘real’ weight loss expert while the camera shows some attractive person eating an orange or banana) “Low carb diets don’t work. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat a “balanced diet” and exercise regularly. Only dreamers think they can lose weight by eating steak. There are no easy fixes.”

I don’t believe this is going to end up being a good thing for the public perception of low carb. I just don’t see them saying “This women is a fraud!” Rather, I think it will be presented like “Look, ANOTHER low carb controversy…just like Dr. Atkins himself.” Or something to that affect.

Then again, they could surprise us.

Hogsfan, I think (and dread) you are probably right on the money

Me too Hogsfan, but I hope you're not.

Yeah, Hogsfan, that's what I was thinking too. I am personally not worried about anything related to this because I ain't got no dog in this hunt. This is a problem for you know who and NOBODY else.

I hope you are right Jimmy. With just the little bit of time I have gotten to know the Kimkins Refugees they are amazing people who were duped and lied to. It just turns my stomach that someone would take advantage of people in such a vulnerable state as when we want to lose weight. Then on top of it, at the expense of their health. Shame on you know who.

I DO think it will be all about Kimmer and the fact she is obese and lied about weight loss..and her "starvation/laxative/fasting" advice. It won't be focused on lowcarb, I don't believe..That is not the big news item..It will be focused on the very low calorie aspect of this thing..

And, the fact that Kimmer (according to her son's ex-gfriend) has been a scam artist all her life...This is just one more scam.

I don't think anyone else has to worry about being exposed or whatever..
Dateline will focus on the scammer Kimmer..And might find other scams she has been involved in.

People getting sick from being on her diet, the fact she never lost weight, she posted fake pictures of herself and other "after" stories...They will pull out the big story, I think..

Should be very interesting..huh?

Okay Chrysalis and Hogfan - now my litle bubble has ben officailly popped.

Chrysalis, I hadn't even considered that any members would be affected, has this happened in other cases? I mean, we are the victims here, but I suppose regardless of what is "allowed," I highly doubt that Kimmer/Heidi would hesitate to use anything that she thinks would help her regardless of privacy. I don't think I have anything to be worried about, but I guess I should be concerned perhaps for some of the former admins.

Hogfan - you are probably too right - the media LOVES to low-carb bash, so even if the angle is the whole fraud thing, I'm sure they would love to try to make sure that while they are slinging mud at Heidi that Dr. Atkins gets a good splashing too!

So now I've officially gone from this: to this:

Oh well!

Hogsfan and Chrysalis I agree with yall. I really hope they decide not to do a show on it. Yes, I am happy she was exposed, yes I am happy everyone is leaving etc. I have to worry too about the exposure we kk members are going to get. There has been no "official" investigation by anyone yet and I already have had posts/fitday copied and posted elsewhere without anyone asking me. And no, they did not even bother to remove my name before they posted it. If NBC contacts any of the bloggers that still have access, you think they are going to hesitate before they copy stuff from KK and give it to them? The whole thing makes me sick. Kimmer is a liar and a scammer but the means that some people went to to expose her do not justify the ends in my opinion. This I think, can only make things worse for the kk members and the LC community in general. Remember, her plan is touted as a LC plan, not a VLCd and the original Kimkins plan, as written, is not necessarily low calorie.

At this point all we can do is wait and see. I PRAY that those giving the information to the Dateline people stop and think about what they are giving them before they do it.

That forum came up in my search around the web yesterday. I'm bound to end up anywhere, ChickyCola!

Trying to impact our culture with the positive message of livin' la vida low-carb!

Maybe I missed it, but I don't see anything that proves that what she says is true about Dateline doing a story.

No..several people have notified Dateline with all the links, etc..However, whether they do the story is up to them. I'm not sure it would be public
knowledge anyway until the story is solidly in tv form. They don't usually let the public know that they are investigating someone until it happens.

We shall see..It would make a great story, I'm thinking.

Media would have no legal grounds to access anyone's personal records without your permission. If Law Enforcement were to become involved that would become a different story but they would also need to have legal paperwork to demand that information from Kimmer.
If she were to give the member information without your permission to Media I would say that would be grounds for another law suit against her.
I am not by any means an attorney but with my non profit experience with this type of thing I believe that this is the correct information.

Interesting!
They could go a few ways but they might even go the internet safety way too.
I know lately there have been alot of new stories about it around here.......just recently it was about ordering from the us with your visa and them charging an extra fee and then it was kids being harrassed.......every week there seems to be something. At least up here.

As regards to former members worrying about being found liable for some sort of wrongdoing; here's a quote from a site regarding criminal liability:

Intention
Generally a person has to intend to commit the act before he or she can be found guilty of a crime. A crime could also have been committed by a person acting recklessly (not caring about the result of their actions).

AND

Summary of Criminal Liability
For a crime to be committed:

A criminal law has to be broken

The person accused must normally have intended to commit the act or have committed the act recklessly

The person accused must be at an age of criminal responsibility and know that what he or she did was wrong

Source: Criminal Liability Link

I imagine that there are much better sites out there but I thought that this one was pretty clear and did not require a JD degree to understand it.

It seems to me that there is only one person who needs to be worried about liability here. That person KNOWINGLY and INTENTIALLY committed these acts - she did not seem to care about the results of her actions.

Welcome Cathy! It's good to see you here.

To all the people that have had their lives impacted by the KK disaster, I wanted to offer my support and encouragement.

YOU GALS AND GUYS ROCK! I have be SO impressed and humbled at the same time at what an incredible job you are all doing to support, love, and take care of each other.

All of you are in my thoughts, heart, and prayers.

-Kristen

I think Kimmer would be entirely willing to bring down anyone and everyone if she could, but with 40,000 members, I don't think there's much worry that the regular members will be exposed.

Dateline or anyone who does the story--if anyone--would most likely want to talk to Becky, Christin, Deni, Jimmy.... Maybe a few others who are *willing* to talk to them. (They will want a couple whose hair fell out, and at least one who thinks K is the moon and stars.)

I can't imagine they're going to stalk ordinary members who don't want to talk to them. It wouldn't make them look good at all. They want to come across as "rescuing" America from a threat.

I do hope that anyone who is likely to be contacted is practicing sound bites. "Unlike a healthful low-carb diet,...."

I have to agree they will expose her as a fraud and use that to discredit low carb, Your right on Hogsfan, right on. Sadly, but true.

Oh I would SO love to see that too Gypsy!! What a thrill. Catch her walking out of quick e mart slurping a sugar laden slurpee and show her a supposed pic of herself as the thin kimmer. Riiiight! UGH

It's been quite a ride so far with this thing! It's kickin' my blog's tail right now in traffic. But I LOVE IT!

I would have to say that everything happens for a reason. At least for me it did.
I joined Kimkins because I was desperate but I am not a person that just jumps into things. I got the information first, tried it for a week before joining, got caught up in the idea of losing fast (I lost 7 pounds in one week) but I also studied up on ketosis to understand what it was. I didn't join blindly but I did join thinking that Atkins wasn't the diet for me because of all the bad press it had gotten.
I had this idea that Atkins was (just like the way I see Kimkins now) unhealthy and that you can't stay on it long. BUT... I was wrong!!! And if it weren't for Kimkins I would have never decided to start the Atkins way of eating.

Not only that but I can only imagine that, for me,it will seem so much easier to stick to after going through hell on Kimkins. I felt deprived of foods that are healthy because I wanted to keep my carbs really low and it took a toll on my digestive track. But had it not been for Kimkins I wouldn't have learned to listen to my body and take control.

I also wouldn't have met such wonderful and supportive people through the forums. And I definitely wouldn't have come to this site had it not been for the information provided by one of the supportive, wonderful, sweet members (soon2bslim) that told me about this site and urged me to come over to the "Force" (and leave the "Dark Side"). So for me I am looking at it as this...
I paid $60 to...
1) Meet the best support team I have known (WW, e-diets, spark people, ivilage can't touch 'em)
2) Learn to listen more closely to my body and all it's needs and concerns.
3) Learn a better way of eating that will help me to take action on what I learn from my body.
and....

4)Finding a WOE that will help me become a better and healthier human being.

I am so glad that you have provided this site to us lost souls Jimmy. I just thought I would put a different spin on the whole Kimkins ordeal. Of course I didn't go through any of the more serious side effects as others have so it is much easier for me to see the silver lining. My heart goes out to those that had to go through any medical issues due to the false information kimmer/heidi/Kim/"the devil woman" lead them to believe.

At this point I am putting my experience in the past and moving forward and for some that is impossible and I hope that those people find some peace.
As for whether or not Dateline will do an expose on Kimmer. I could care less. I believe in Karma and for a woman to pretend to be something she is not and to be overweight (which we all know how that feels) she is probably a very sad, depressed, miserable person and will reap what she sows. I leave it to the universe to make it right. She will get her just rewards whether it be an investigative report on national television, a class action lawsuit or something unexpected in her life that changes it forever. It will happen.

Ditto Dragonfly. There is a silver lining in every cloud.

Check out these links about Kimkins.

http://vphealthandfitness.com/2007/09/13/kimkins-complaints/

http://vphealthandfitness.com/2007/08/31/k...ation-petition/

The first one is about the supposed Dateline story
And the second is a petition for those who want to have Kimkins investigated due to their experience with the diet. This is to be sent to the FTC, BBB and the CA Attorney General

I thought they were interesting.

Welcome to my forum, Pazinhim (LOVE THAT, BTW!)! It's good to see you here and we welcome you with OPEN ARMS to join in the conversation. You are among friends here and we want to help see you SUCCEED! YOU CAN DO IT!!! Let us help.