Competing on NBC's The Biggest Loser is both a physical and emotional challenge for contestants as they try to lose as much weight as quickly as possible, with weigh-ins in front of their peers on a regular basis. At times, the men go topless and the women appear in sports bras. It takes a lot of nerve to go all the way on the show. Ali Vincent became the first female The Biggest Champion winner back in Season 5 in 2008, but she's struggled with her weight in the years since. In April, she joined Weight Watchers to help her remain motivated and has taken to social media to share her story, writing this:
I joined Weight Watchers and weighed in close to the weight I started at on The Biggest Loser [234 pounds]. I swore I would never be there again, be here again. I couldn't imagine a day again that I would weigh over 200 pounds. I feel ashamed. I feel embarrassed. I feel overwhelmed. I feel like a failure.
Ali Vincent's April reveal on Facebook came almost eight years after winning the top prize in The Biggest Loser Season 5, and it's hard not to sympathize with her. She went through a body transformation that involved losing nearly half her body mass over 16 episodes in front of millions of people. Vincent was famous for losing an extraordinary amount of weight in an extremely brief window of time; she has faced public scrutiny based on her looks ever since she returned to normal life.
The Season 5 winner had more to say about her mindset during and after her time on The Biggest Loser, sharing this:
The Biggest Loser gave me the opportunity to believe in myself, and I don't know that I ever really did. Everybody wanted me to and I wanted to for them, and I had the results to prove it. But do I really deserve to have everything that I dream of? Do I deserve to have this happiness?
Ali Vincent spoke about her difficulty with believing in herself during a chat on T.D. Jakes. It seems that her successes with weight loss that could be quantitatively measured with percentages and pounds didn't mean that she felt the successes from an emotional standpoint. She didn't say anything about whether or not she experienced some of the insane things that other Biggest Loser contests reportedly endured over the seasons, but she clearly had a difficult time with aspects of the competition.
Former contestants from The Biggest Loser often gain back the weight due to metabolic rates after leaving the show, so Ali Vincent isn't alone in her struggles after leaving the camera behind. Leaving the Ranch where the constant focus is on finding ways to lose weight and then returning to a world that doesn't revolve around weight loss is a shock to the system that can lead to significant weight gain and quickly. The contestant's bodies are altered by the intensive experience in ways that cannot always be changed back. Hopefully Ali Vincent's choice to join Weight Watchers and speak out about regaining her initial post-Biggest Loser weight will help her to start feeling better and believing in herself.
As of now, NBC has not yet revealed whether or not The Biggest Loser will be back for another season at any point. The show has been mired in controversy ever since rumors of drug use on set broke out, so we may not want to count on another season. Check out our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what you'll be able to catch on the small screen in the near future.
