Fall TV Blog

This week on The Biggest Loser, the contestants got brand new looks thanks to Tim Gunn and Tabatha Coffey on the highly anticipated makeover episode. Looking their best, they each gave emotional speeches about their weight-loss journeys to a packed auditorium. In a heated elimination, Rebecca Meyer, 25, was sent home after Rudy Pauls questioned her trustworthiness. A student from Des Moines, Iowa, Rebecca is now down to 157 lbs., and spoke to reporters about finding love with fellow contestant Daniel Wright and how they stay in shape together. –Melody Chiu

You and Daniel met on The Biggest Loser. How has meeting on the show affected your relationship? (more…)

I can remember so vividly the memories of makeover week. It’s something all contestants can’t wait for, because you get to see yourself in a full-length mirror and get a little sense of normalcy. At this point in the game, the contestants are really tired and need that makeover to help them remember that they are still people with lives outside the Ranch.

Seeing Tim Gunn and Tabatha Coffey walking out of the limo was so exciting and exactly what I was expecting. Tim is a guru of fashion, but also an amazing person. The day I got to meet him, he was so attentive to our needs and understood that a makeover was about more than just new clothes. He knew everybody’s name before we met him and he learned about who we were so he could make the experience more meaningful. Tabatha makes you feel cool when you meet her for the first time. I know that sounds strange but when you are in her presence, you perk up and want to listen to her. The contestants know that they’re in good hands with the makeover, but sometimes it is hard to let go of what you are comfortable with. (more…)

This week on The Biggest Loser, contestants jumped through hoops — literally — to avoid being sent home just two weeks before finals. In a double elimination, Daniel Wright, a student from Willow Spring, N.C., was immediately sent packing after falling below the newly introduced red line. After a heart-wrenching decision, the contestants decided to send home Shay Sorrells, a social worker from Newport Beach, Calif. After appearing on The Jay Leno Show to show off their slimmer physiques (watch a clip), Daniel and Shay spoke to reporters about the changes in their lives and what bad habits they’ve kicked since leaving the Biggest Loser Ranch.

How are you both doing?
Shay: I’m at 322. I’ve lost 154 pounds.
Daniel: I weigh 224.

Shay, Jillian really pushed you so you could stay on the Ranch. What was going through your mind when you were crying and Jillian was yelling at you? (more…)

Daniel Wright, the first contestant to compete in back-to-back seasons of The Biggest Loser, didn’t want to go home on last night’s double-elimination episode of the weight-loss competition.

“I was getting so close that I was getting a taste of being a finalist,” says Wright, who was eliminated from the show Tuesday. “It was never something I wanted when I went the first time.”

When Wright walked onto the Biggest Loser Ranch for the first time in season 7’s January premiere, he weighed 454 lbs. — then the heaviest competitor in the show’s history. By the finale, he had lost 142 lbs., but still had a long way to go. He continued to shed the weight at home and returned for a second chance on the current season. In all, he has lost more than 226 lbs.

Despite learning how to eat healthy, Wright says he continues to struggle with binge eating, which he kept hidden from the show.

“The Ranch doesn’t have candy bars or fast food sitting around but there are things you can munch on,” he says. “If I [was] really stressed out, instead of talking to somebody, I would suppress it by going for handfuls of cashews or something.”

Still, the experience has changed his life. Once he reaches his goal weight — he hopes to be below the 200-lb. mark for the finale — he plans on donating his clothes.

“I would like to keep one shirt and one pair of shorts that I used to wear all the time and frame them,” he says. “That way, I can keep them as a reminder of where I’ve come from.” –Elaine Aradillas

For more on Daniel’s struggle to keep losing weight with diet and exercise, pick up a copy of the new issue of PEOPLE, on stands Friday

Jeffery Salter

The Biggest Loser this week had a major twist to stir things up: There are two lines! Knowing that two people would be sent home must have been stressful. At this point in the season, you can feel how far along you are in the game. There are times when you can’t find someone to workout with, just because there aren’t that many people left! You become extremely close with those that are left in the house as the cast grows smaller. The closer you all become, the more your true colors come out because you are comfortable. This was seen on last night’s episode when Shay exploded at Rudy during the hoop challenge and with Rebecca losing it on Jill and opening up to Amanda. Contestants are now making the mental shift of realizing that they deserve happiness and that other people’s wishes do not always have to come before their own.

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As The Biggest Loser contestants headed to Washington D.C., they also embarked on their first week of individual competition. When Liz and Tracey fell below the yellow line, both were up for elimination, but it was Tracey Yukich, 37, the most controversial person on the Ranch this season, that was sent home. Tracey, a homemaker from Allen, Texas, spoke to reporters about returning to run the mile that took her down, how she balances family and fitness and why she’s keeping her current weight-loss a secret. –Nina Tyler

Were you surprised you were sent home?
I was not surprised that I was sent home once I fell below the yellow line. I always knew [I would be] on the chopping block because of the choices that I did make in the beginning when I got to the Ranch. But … there’s a lot of people who have gone home that have wished they didn’t go home and maybe had the feeling of “Maybe I should have done this or maybe I could have done more,” and I never felt that way. (more…)

First let me begin with answering some of your comments and questions about Daniel and Shay. Daniel has been struggling lately and it’s apparent that both Jillian and Bob are wondering what is wrong. I think he is uncharted territory for them. He has been on an extreme weight-loss kick for some time now, much longer than other past Biggest Loser contestants. His gaining a pound could be his body telling him that it is stressed and needs a break. Don’t look at Daniel as only losing approximately 60 lbs. so far, but rather look at him as losing 142 lbs. plus all the weight he took off this season. That’s a whopping 200 lbs.!

As far as Shay goes, she can’t be compared to the men in the house who used to be athletes and have a greater amount of muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn. Men and women lose weight differently. Even though Shay is bigger than the men in the house, it’s still difficult because a woman’s body naturally maintains more fat than a man’s. The hard part for Shay is that she still has to lose more pounds to be competitive and stay above the yellow line. In the coming episodes, I am interested to see if it will be easy or difficult for her. (more…)

After losing the weigh-in, the Black Team was forced to deliberate over which member of their team to send home. The remaining contestants voted off Abby Rike after she offered herself for elimination. The 34-year-old teacher from Mabank, Texas, captured hearts early in the season with her tragic story of losing her husband and two young children in a 2006 car accident. She recently spoke to the reporters about how The Biggest Loser has helped her to rejoin life and how she has managed to go from 247 lbs. to 167 lbs. — and keep it off! –Nina Tyler

You used to use food as a coping mechanism. What did you replace food with, or how have you confronted your issues?
At this point I’ve just learned about ‘what do I really want out of life?’ and it’s about feeling good physically for me and so I choose foods that physically make me feel good, but I also I reach out and I lean on my support system … I make plans and I maintain and have made some great new friendships that I treasure. I’ve joined into fitness classes that are a wonderful outlet. I think I’ve just really made it a point to actively engage in my life and that is what I use now. (more…)

Neil Tejwani, 26, the 6′2″ chemical engineer-turned-fitness consultant who weighed as much as 460 lbs. before he competed on the fourth season of NBC’s The Biggest Loser in 2007, had three things to celebrate this Saturday — his wedding to longtime love Stefanie Nigro, his two years of maintaining more than 200 lbs. of weight loss, and the fine figure he cut in his Wilke-Rodriguez tuxedo after skin removal surgery this spring shed another 15 lbs. from his frame.

“This was by far the best day of my life,” Tejwani tells PEOPLE after sharing his wedding day with 175 friends and family in West Babylon, N.Y., including trainer Bob Harper and past Biggest Loser winners Erik Chopin and Bill Germanakos among others from the show. “Everyone seemed to really have a great time, and I’m sure I probably burned a few thousand calories by dancing up a storm!”

Even though guests didn’t have to worry about a post-vow weigh-in, Tejwani says he and Nigro had their health in mind when planning a menu. “We both eat relatively healthy,” he says, “but we also have friends who eat whatever they want and not a gain a pound, and a few guests that are vegetarians. So we had a very diverse menu of appetizers from salad to seafood, and seven entrée choices ranging from fish to vegetables to Peking duck, and lean cuts of beef. We did however make sure to bank up a few extra calories for our big day, so we don’t feel too guilty indulging a bit or enjoying the open bar!” (more…)

Although the Blue Team won the chance to go home during a grueling sand-digging challenge, they gave up their tickets to the Black team and stayed at the Ranch with Bob for a week. Their choice paid off as the Black team lost the weigh-in. Although Daniel disappointed the group by gaining a pound, the Black Team ultimately sent Dina Mercado, a 27-year-old custodian from Commerce, Calif., packing. Beginning her journey at 253 lbs., Dina now weighs 178 lbs. She spoke to reporters about her time on the Ranch and more importantly, her time back home. –Melody Chiu

Even though Daniel gained weight, did you sense that you would still be the one to go home?
That’s initially what I was hoping for … I wish they would have thought twice and kept the Black Team strong, but instead they went with friendship, and I wasn’t too surprised. (more…)