Should the theater seats be made larger for plus size guests? Former Miss GB tells GMB it distracts from obesity crisis, but campaigner insists taller people ‘deserve to feel good’

Increasing the seats for plus-size people would “open a pot of worms” that distracts from the country’s obesity problem, said a former Miss GB – who herself was once on floors 17-9 -.

Speaking in a Good Morning Britain debate about whether seating at various venues – such as theaters – should be increased to accommodate growing waistlines, Jen Atkin admitted she was concerned about the long-term implications of the idea.

“My husband is 1.90 m tall” and on the plane he has to pay extra money to fit in his seat. While I think it’s a good idea, I think it’s just opening a huge can of worms.

“He doesn’t physically fit in his seat because he’s 1.9 meters tall,” she added. “But folks who are overweight, I’m not saying it’s always a choice, but why should they be given vacancies?”

Jen continued, “Where do you want it to end?” Theater seats, airplane seats, we’re going to have to make the cars bigger, they’re going to have to make the freeways bigger.

“I think it’s just a matter of opening a big can of worms and actually bypassing the problem, which is people’s weight.”

“And I think as we’re going through it and people are getting taller, we need to start focusing on the problem, which is that people aren’t eating right and people aren’t exercising right.”

But body awareness activist Queen Mojo vehemently disagreed, saying larger seats at the venues would benefit “everyone”.

“Plus size people deserve comfort just like everyone else,” she said.

Queen Mojo also discussed the incident that originally sparked the debate: Comedian Sofie Hagen revealed that she called the venues ahead of time and asked if they could seat her.

“Most of the time I’m just like, ‘I’m calling because I’d like to come to a show at your venue and I was wondering if you could tell me the size of your seats?’ “I just need to know if my bum fits in,” she wrote in the Guardian.

“It doesn’t hurt to have a venue, an airplane that just tells people the size of their seats to make us feel comfortable,” the influencer said.

She also denied Jen to invoke her husband’s height as a valid comparison, revealing that while he might be uncomfortable in a smaller seat, she struggles with the lack of blood flow.

“We have grown over the past few years,” Queen Mojo continued.

“The average size used to be a size 12, now we’re a size 16. A lot of people will benefit from bigger seats.”

“The problem is not the weight. “It’s about making places more accessible so that overweight people feel they have enough vision, empowerment and strength to make lifestyle changes if they want to.”

“If the seats were wider in general it would help everyone… I’ve been using seat extenders all the time.” “I’ve traveled all over the world and I feel like I deserve it.”

The exchange drew a mixed reaction on social media, while others commented on the issue.

Some said larger seats weren’t a problem – but noted that these inevitably came at an additional cost.

“I’m a plus size but I think if you want a bigger, more comfortable seat you should pay more for them and I’d happily pay for them if they were available,” someone wrote.

“If people are paying for more legroom, why not pay for extra seating as well,” added a second.

“Wheelchairs take up more space than a regular seat, will we charge for them more?” a third questioned.

“Extra for a stroller in the hold if you have a child?” Many overweight people can’t do anything about it.

“Will you let fat people go cheap for medical reasons, but lazy greedy fat people pay double?”