Dina Mercado not "too surprised" about 'The Biggest Loser' ouster

Dina Mercado claims she wasn't surprised that her fellow Black Team members decided to oust her instead of Daniel Webster during Tuesday night's The Biggest Loser broadcast.


"I have to say I wasn't too surprised. Ultimately the way I feel is my team chose to stick with friendship rather than keeping the team strong and you know, that's pretty much all I can say about that," she told reporters during a Wednesday conference call.

"Instead they went with friendship bonds. And you know, I wasn't too surprised."

The 28-year-old custodian from Commerce, CA, became the sixth contestant eliminated from The Biggest Loser's eighth season during Tuesday night's broadcast of the NBC reality competition.

Mercado said her Black Team might have won the weigh-in that preceded her ouster had they been able to win the previous challenge -- which was instead won by the Blue Team, who decided to send the Black Team home for a week while they stayed on campus and continued to train with Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels.


"I think things would have been a lot different," answered Mercado when asked if the weigh-in would have gone differently had the Blue Team been sent home.  "I think the Black Team ultimately would have won the weigh-in."

In addition, Mercado said she had a difficult time being split from her original Blue Team member Rudy Pauls -- who ended up on the new Blue Team that was created during last week's broadcast when fellow contestant Tracey Yukich got to pick the two new squads.

"My biggest struggle was having to separate from my partner at that time," she told reporters, adding that she knew Tracey would split them up.

"Going into that whole situation I pretty much knew she was going to split us, because of the fact that she has played the game from day one.  So going down there I didn't have any weird feelings at that time. I have to say that I did get pretty upset when she made the comments that she was choosing these teams with her heart."

After entering the competition weighing 253 lbs., Mercado said her weight currently sits at 178 -- meaning she's lost a total of 75 lbs. Still, she added it hasn't been easy shedding the weight at home.


"There has been struggles I mean I'm not going to lie. This is not an easy process," she told reporters.  "But I do have to say that I have come so far and learned so much for myself and really learned how to counter myself."

Mercado added working out really hasn't been a big problem, but eating a healthier diet has been.

"My biggest struggle is probably eating - and not so much eating because I do well but it's being tempted. Being tempted to eat," she explained.

Mercado said her husband has been "shocked" by her weight loss but added he and their son have been supportive of her new lifestyle.

"We do work together. I have to say coming home my husband had a little bit of a difficult time, he's gotten on board now. He is trying really hard to stick with everything that I pretty much have been doing myself," she explained.


"He is very proud of me and he's ready to do it he started and he's come quite a ways. You see him now today compared to what you saw last night, you can tell that he's lost some weight and he's looking good."






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio