Every year The Biggest Loser finale offers up some dramatic before an after shots of contestants who have lost unbelievable quantities of fat and built up impressive muscles. This season gave us all of that and a bit more with its winner, opera singer Olivia Ward.
At the beginning of the season, Olivia could not have been anyone’s front runner. She wasn’t as big or as determined as Courtney. She wasn’t as atheletic as Rulon. She didn’t have all those man pounds that seem to melt away easier than girl pounds like Austin or Justin or Jay. She was a 200+ woman tired of being big and not sure how to move forward. We’ve seen that type before. They don’t win the show.
Olivia Ward is different. She kept her head down for the first half of the season, but it didn’t appear to be game play. She just did her thing. Then, about week 10, she started picking up steam. She and her sister Hannah started believing that they could do something special, and they started working harder (not that they hadn’t been working hard before).
When Olivia did her makeover week reveal, a light had come on inside of her. She was gorgeous and luminescent. The other contestants looked good. She was radiant.
From then on, it was her game to lose. Jay had the body to win, but not the fan base to get him to the finale. Hannah and Irene were strong, but (no offense to either lovely lady) no real competition for Olivia. And, when she showed up on stage in that slinky black and white dress, anyone who might have doubted her was out of running room. Olivia was the Biggest Loser. It was her show, and everyone else was living in it. Even Anna Kournikova’s appearance and the official announcement of her role next season was less exciting than Olivia’s transformation, and that’s saying something.
So . . . congratulations, Oliva. We think you’re fabulous. Good luck in your operatic career and in everything else that you attempt. We’re behind you all the way!
Olivia before and after her stunning 129 lb. weight loss:
