The Biggest Loser Australia season 1

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The Biggest Loser Australia
Season 1
Starring Jillian Michaels
Bob Harper
Adro Sernalli (Winner)
Presented by Ajay Rochester
No. of episodes53
Release
Original network Network Ten
Original release13 February (2006-02-13) 
27 April 2006 (2006-04-27)
Season chronology
Next 
Season 2
List of episodes

The first season of the Australian version of the original NBC American reality television series The Biggest Loser premiered at 7pm each week night on Network Ten for 10 weeks from 13 February to 27 April 2006. The eventual winner, as decided by percentage of weight lost, was Adriano "Adro" Sarnelli, who won A$200,000. The host was announced as Ajay Rochester, who had previously gone through weight loss herself. American trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels reprised their roles from the previous American version. Applications closed on 11 November 2005 with over 6,000 Australians having applied to take part. The finale was watched by 2.310 million Australian viewers. [1]

At the beginning of the season, all contestants were given one 'last meal' of their favourite meals such as steak, spaghetti, chocolates, lasagna, lollies, alcohol, and other items.

Season overview

Game variations

Game elements

The Weigh-Ins

The following is a list of contestants and their weekly weight losses. [2] [3]

ContestantAgeHeightStarting
BMI
Current
BMI
Starting
Weight
WeekFinaleWeight
Lost
Percentage
Lost
123456789
Adro2617444.527.8136.5128.8126.9124.4122.8122.2114.9112.5108.9X102.6 [4] 85.251.337.58%
Harry3519049.231.0178.9166.7162.6156.8155.5 [5] 147.5132.4112.766.237.06%
Kristie3216438.424.3104.895.494.692.590.890.285.691.583.4X80.566.138.736.80%
Fiona2217534.924.7101.194.894.992.991.594.486.686.387.1X81.471.629.529.15%
Shane3817053.334.6154.0145.2140.6136.6131.2133.8127.9122.6119.8119.8100.453.635.00%
Ruth2816953.645.7155.2150.4147.9144.5141.5140.5137.2135.5132.3130.924.314.62%
Wal [6] 4219646.228.8176.7161.2157.5150.6150.1145.3140.1140.8110.466.337.52%
Artie4217749.536.9156.4147.8144.8142.9140.5138.7132.4116.440.025.51%
Tracy4417535.728.1109.8103.6101.8100.198.698.1X86.023.821.49%
Cat2716954.536.0157.8151.0146.6144.2130.6104.153.733.91%
Jo3316539.928.1108.0101.8100.788.676.731.328.58%
David3317266.049.9196.7189.3175.1148.847.924.42%
Contestants
  •   The week's biggest loser
  •   Had immunity for the week
  •   Weigh-in for previously eliminated contestants
  •   Winner (among finalists)
  •   Winner (among eliminated)
BMIs
  •   Healthy Body Mass Index (less than 25.0 BMI)
  •   Overweight Body Mass Index (25.0–29.9 BMI)
  •   Obese Class I (30.0–34.9 BMI)
  •   Obese Class II Index (35.0–39.9 BMI)
  •   Obese Class III (40.0 or above)

Eliminations

Each week, after a weigh in, contestants must cast a vote against another contestant and avoid elimination. The contestant that received the most votes left the game immediately. Contestants can avoid elimination by their team or themselves losing the most percentage of weight loss, winning immunity at a temptation challenge. Contestants make themselves an elimination target if they are a threat of losing a lot of weight by the end of the show. Elimination episodes screened on Mondays. Below is a table of voting history for what each contestant voted.

WeekWk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9
EliminatedDavidJoCatHarryTracy & ArtieWalRuthShaneAdro
Adro
ShaneJoXXXWalFionaShaneX
Harry
XXFionaTracyEliminated Wk 4Adro
Kristie
DavidJoXXTracy & ArtieWalRuthShaneAdro
Fiona
XXCatHarryRuth & AdroWalXXX
Shane
??XXTracy & Artie?RuthXEliminated Wk 8
Ruth
David?JoXXXXEliminated Wk 7
Wal
XXXXTracy & ArtieXEliminated Wk 6
Artie
XXCatHarryXEliminated Wk 5
Tracy
XXCatHarryXEliminated Wk 5
Cat
XXFionaEliminated Wk 3
Jo
DavidAdroEliminated Wk 2
David
JoEliminated Wk 1
     Immunity
 X  Immunity, unable to vote
 X  Below yellow line, unable to vote
 X  Finished last in the elimination challenge, eliminated
 X  Not in elimination, unable to vote
 ?  Vote not revealed
     Eliminated or not in house
     Valid vote cast
Elimination notes

Finale

The finale was broadcast as a live contestant reunion on 27 April 2006, where the remaining four contestants were weighed to determine the first Australian Biggest Loser. Although commenting "I'm gonna win this", and losing 66.2 kg (37% of his body weight since his first weight-in), Harry lost out to Adro's marginally better 37.58%, who in total lost 51.3 kg. Adro had the highest percentage of weight loss, making him Australia's Biggest Loser for 2006 and the winner of A$200,000. For Harry's efforts, he won $30,000. Third place went to Kristie, who lost 38.7 kg (36.93% - only 0.07% below Harry and within a percent Adro). She won a total of A$20,000. Coming in fourth was the lightest and youngest contestant, Fiona, who lost 29.5 kg (29.18%) and won A$10,000.

At the end of the show, Adro could only manage to yell, "this is unreal", as the stage was invaded by loved ones and eliminated contestants. As Wal shouted 'Young Bull' at the top of his voice and the crowd cheered. On the Sunday night following the finale, 30 April 2006, a special episode of the show aired to reveal Secrets of The Biggest Loser which includes all the diet and nutrition tips which were used as part of the show as well as a behind the scene look at the show itself.

All previously eliminated contestants were also weighed for the chance of the runners-up prize of A$50,000. Wal lost 66.3 kg (37.52%) of his original weight, making him the biggest loser of those eliminated. The remaining contestants achieved the following results:

Final 4
ContestantStart Weight (kg)Finale Weight (kg)Total loss (kg/%)Notes
ADRO136.585.251.3 (37.58%)1st place, won A$200,000
HARRY178.9112.766.2 (37.00%)2nd place, won A$30,000
KRISTIE104.866.138.7 (36.93%)3rd place, won A$20,000
FIONA101.171.629.5 (29.18%)4th place, won A$10,000
Eliminated contestants
ContestantStart Weight (kg)Finale Weight (kg)Total loss (kg/%)
WAL176.7110.466.3 (37.52%)
SHANE154.0100.453.6 (34.81%)
CAT157.8104.153.7 (34.03%)
JO108.076.731.3 (28.98%)
ARTIE156.4116.440.0 (25.58%)
DAVID196.7148.847.9 (24.35%)
TRACY109.886.023.8 (21.68%)
RUTH155.2130.924.3 (15.66%)

Contestants

(In Order of Elimination)

ContestantAgeHometown
David "The Ox" Hilyander33 Sydney, New South Wales
"Jo" Cowling33Sydney, New South Wales
Catherine "Cat" White27 Melbourne, Victoria
Tracy Moores44Sydney, New South Wales
Arthur "Artie" Rocke42 Hervey Bay, Queensland
Vladimir "Wal" Milberg42 Townsville, Queensland
Ruth Almeida de Campos28 Newcastle, New South Wales
Shane Giles35 Ballarat, Victoria
Fiona Falkiner23 Geelong, Victoria
Kristie Dignam33 Perth, Western Australia
Harry Kantzidis (Runner-up)38Melbourne, Victoria
Adriano "Adro" Sarnelli (Winner)26Newcastle, New South Wales

Controversies

Records

A number of The Biggest Loser records were set during the first week, with contestant Wal losing 15.5 kg (34 lb), the most weight lost by any contestant in one week; together with the greatest total weight loss for all contestants with 97.8 kg (216 lb); and the Blue team losing the most weight by a single team with 56.4 kg (124 lb). Kristie lost the most percentage of body weight in the first week of any show. In later shows, Shane, Fiona and Kristie were the only contestants to gain weight, Shane gaining 2.3 kg (5.1 lb) and Fiona gaining 2.6 kg (5.7 lb) - both "Water Loaded" so they could lose more weight the following week. Similarly, a contestant on US season 4 utilized the same strategy, water loading to gain 7.7 kg (17 lb) in one week and then losing 14.9 kg (33 lb) the following week, although unlike Kristie, he did not have immunity, and gained the weight not to lose extra the next week, but to sabotage another player.

Notes and references

  1. "Top 20 programs 1998-2009 - Top programs - in the archive - Industry trends - Television - Fact Finders".
  2. http://www.thebiggestloser.com.au Weekly totals for season 1 contestants were taken from news posted on the Official Biggest Loser website
  3. http://www.the-biggest-loser.com.au/mambo/season-1-contestants.php Contestant data for season 1 calculated from data listed on the Biggest Loser Fan site
  4. Adro was eliminated in week 10 but brought back to compete in the final four.
  5. Harry was eliminated in week 4 but returned when the eliminated contestants took part in the Super Challenge to add one additional member to the final three.
  6. Wal moved to the Red Team in week 3 to balance teams.
Contestant pages