Tropedia

  • All unique and most-recently-edited pages, images and templates from Original Tropes and The True Tropes wikis have been copied to this wiki. The two source wikis have been redirected to this wiki. Please see the FAQ on the merge for more.

READ MORE

Tropedia
WikEd fancyquotesQuotesBug-silkHeadscratchersIcons-mini-icon extensionPlaying WithUseful NotesMagnifierAnalysisPhoto linkImage LinksHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconic
Cquote1

Mr. Prince: We'll see you when you get back from image enhancement camp.

Martin Prince: Spare me your euphemisms! It's fat camp, for Daddy's chubby little secret!

Mr. Prince: You promised you wouldn't make a scene.
The Simpsons episode 4.1 "Kamp Krusty"
Cquote2


A summer camp where overweight and obese children are sent to lose weight. Of course to children's parents are oblivious to what actually goes on in fat camp.

Drill Sergeant Nasties are everywhere, pushing the kids to their limit. The children constantly have to run up hills and the food is so scarce it could starve the kids to death, provided that they don't sneak candy into their rooms.

Treatment is so bad that the kids will eventually plan a Great Escape, in which the camp councillors will use the same methods that prison guards will use to recapture escapees.

This is not true of real fat camps of course, which always use positive reenforcement, and attempt to teach the children healthy eating habits, instead of starving them. They are called, the more politically correct, fitness and weight loss camps, and now also allow teens and adults to attend.

Some of the stereotypes of fat camp is Truth in Television however. Especally the running up the hill part.

Examples Include:
  • South Park: Cartman was sent to a fat camp, and came back skinny but it was really another kid he paid to show up
  • The Simpsons: When Bart went to Kamp Krusty, Martin and others went to "Image Enhancement Camp."
Cquote1

 For you fat kids, my exclusive program of diet and ridicule will really get results!

Cquote2
    • Another Simpsons episode had Bart sent to a fat camp, alongside other Springfielders like Rainier Wolfcastle, Apu and Kent Brockman.
    • And then Homer himself went to fat camp as a teenager, managing to escape despite the ultimate obstacle- a slight incline.
  • In The Goonies, one of the things Chunk confesses to when caught by the Fratellis was being sent to a fat camp and getting kicked out for pigging out.
  • Family Guy: After Lois lost her memory from Stewie's attempt at matricide, she works at a fat camp and tries to keep the kids from eating each other.
    • In Killer Queen, Peter and Chris are sent to a fat camp and soon discover that someone is killing the campers.
  • Many a Reality Show has been built around this.
    • MTV had a show called "Fat Camp."
  • Short-lived teen show Huge.
  • One of the short stories in E.L. Konigsburg's Altogether, One At A Time is about a girl who's sent to fat camp.
  • An episode of The Critic has Jay's son sent to Exercise Camp. Its right next to the Exorcise Camp.
  • Disney movie Heavyweights. The camp is actually quite fun, until it's taken over by an overbearing fitness trainer played by Ben Stiller.
  • An adult example is The Biggest Loser.
  • Inverted in several African countries, where an engaged woman is sent to camp to gain weight and come back as a Big Beautiful Woman.
  • About half of Robert Kimmel Smith's Jelly Belly takes place at one. While it's not the sadistic kind, and protagonist Ned would actually like to be thinner, he hates the place and befriends kids who have no intention of losing weight or keeping it off if they do. He does lose weight, but it's only after he comes home that he realizes he wants to lose more and keep it off.
  • Hey Arnold: Harold gets sent to one in one episode. He comes back heavier than ever, and it's up to Arnold to help him lose the extra pounds.
  • The Well Farm project in Fat that Grenville attends towards the end of the book. It becomes the victim of one of his rampages.
  • On Frasier Daphne visited one of these off-screen. In Real Life Jane Leeves was on pregnancy leave.
  • The Hollywood Pudgy Gaby in Camp Nowhere is supposed to be sent to diet camp by her parents, but she ditches in order to run the titular camp with her friends. She does eventually start to lose weight when she becomes more active and stops binging on junk food.
  • Connie Benge from Doug was chubby in the Nickelodeon series, but the Disney follow-up has her slim and trim after going to "Camp Make-em-Over." The show doesn't say, but it's pretty obvious it was a fat camp. This did not go over well with fans.