'The Biggest Loser' crowns Jeremy Britt thirteenth-season champion

The Biggest Loser crowned Jeremy Britt its champion during Tuesday night's live finale of the NBC reality weight-loss competition's thirteenth season.


Jeremy, a 22-year-old banker from Rockford, MI, began the competition at 389 pounds and weighed-in at 190 pounds during the finale, giving him a 199-pound weight-loss and a whopping 51.16% weight-loss percentage that won him the show's $250,000 grand prize. 

Jeremy ousted from The Biggest Loser in Week 16 after he posted the lowest weight-loss percentage of the season's three remaining players at the weigh-in but then won the chance to re-enter the game and become a finalist by beating all of his fellow thirteenth-season previously eliminated contestants in a series of challenges.

"It feels great. I made it no secret that I felt like I was supposed to be in this moment. I felt like I was supposed to be here, and in that challenge, I just told myself that that's where I was going to be, and it all came down to the mental side of things and I fought for it. I fought. I wasn't giving up. There was no way I was giving up, you were there," Jeremy told The Biggest Loser host Alison Sweeney prior to weighing-in, referencing his endurance challenge victory that had earned him one of the three spots in the finale.

"I was going to stand up there as long as I had to and it was all for this moment."


Kim Nielsen, a 38-year-old former professional wrestler from Roswell, GA, started the competition weighing 252 pounds and currently weighs 134 pounds, finishing as the runner-up. She shed 118 pounds and posted a 46.83% weight-loss percentage.

"I don't know what my future holds. I'm ready for anything. I'm ready for everything. I really feel like I can do anything now, and I'm just ready for the next chapter of my life," Kim said before she stepped on The Biggest Loser scale for the last time.

Alison announced during the finale broadcast Kim had also won a $30,000 gym for her community for coming in first place in an online challenge that required the contestants to try to motivate people at home to walk everyday and live a healthier lifestyle.

Conda Britt, a 24-year-old nutrition health services technician from Rockford, MI, began the competition weighing 294 pounds, and she finished in third place after dropping down to 179 pounds. She lost 115 pounds and posted a 39.12% weight-loss percentage.
 
"Life for me is completely different. I came here to change myself. I came here for my daughter, and just to have her watching me up here, it's like I accomplished what I came here to do. It's the best feeling in the world," Conda said before the night's weigh-in results were revealed.
 
Mike Messina, a 41-year-old cook from Oakland, CA, won the weigh-in of The Biggest Loser's previously eliminated thirteenth-season contestants by a large margin and therefore claimed the $100,000 at-home consolation prize.

Mike started off the competition weighing 358 pounds. He lost a total of 160 pounds and weighed-in at only 198 pounds, posting a 44.69% weight-loss percentage.


"I don't know what to say. I'm just overwhelmed right now. I'm so happy. My God, I'm happy! I'm just so happy!" Mike said before he even learned he had won the consolation prize.

The start and finish weights and final weight-loss percentages of the other previously eliminated contestants -- who hoped but failed to win the consolation prize -- are as follows.

Isaac "Chism" Cornelison, a 19-year-old student from Magnolia, TX, whose starting weight was 361 pounds, shed 103 pounds. He dropped to 258 pounds, posting a 28.53% weight-loss percentage.

Nancy Rajala, a 63-year-old retiree from Fowlerville, MI, who started her The Biggest Loser journey weighing 217 pounds, slimmed down to 161, losing 56 pounds for a 25.81% weight-loss percentage. Her granddaughter Cassandra Sturos, a 25-year-old in-home senior caregiver from Fowlerville, MI, whose starting weight was 239 pounds, shed 92 pounds, dropping to 147 pounds and posting a 38.49% weight-loss percentage.

Ben Shuh, a 34-year-old retail store manager from Howell, MI, whose starting weight was 396 pounds, lost 139 pounds and slimmed down to a weight of 257 for a 35.10% weight-loss percentage.


Adrian Dortch, a 34-year-old music producer and community activist from Evanston, IL, started off the competition weighing 370 pounds. He fell to 262 after losing 108 pounds, posting a 29.19% weight-loss percentage, while his sister Daphne Dortch, a 37-year-old paralegal and kids activity team member from Evanston, IL, shed 88 pounds and posted a 32.47% weight-loss percentage. She started out the show weighing 271 pounds and dropped to 183 pounds.

Emily Joy, a 29-year-old teacher from Huntersville, NC, whose starting weight was 264 pounds, fell to 162 pounds and shed 102 pounds for a 38.64% weight-loss percentage. She came in second place for the $100,000 prize.

Megan Stone, a 21-year-old student and support staffer for an organization that assists disabled adults from Dittmer, MO, started off the competition weighing 259 pounds, lost 76 pounds and dropped to 183 pounds for a 29.34% weight-loss percentage. Her mother Kimmy Stone, a 48-year-old registered nurse from Dittmer, MO, fell from 219 to 148 pounds after losing 71 pounds over the course of the season and posted a 32.42% weight-loss percentage as a result. 

Gail Lee, a 57-year-old realtor from Poolesville, MD, whose starting weight was 322 pounds, slimmed down to 235 after she lost 87 pounds. She posted a 27.02% weight-loss percentage, while her daughter Lauren Lee, a 26-year-old exercise physiologist also from Poolesville, MD, started off the competition weighing 246 pounds and fell to 157 pounds after she lost 89 pounds for a 36.18% total weight-loss percentage.

Christine Pickler, a 42-year-old who is self-employed and from Middlebury, IN, started off her weight-loss journey at 240 pounds. She dropped down to 163, losing 77 pounds total and posting a 32.08% weight-loss percentage. Her husband Roy Pickler, a 63-year-old self-employed Santa Clause also from Middlebury, IN, started off the competition weighing 306 pounds but fell to 218 after he lost 88 pounds and posted a 28.76% weight-loss percentage.


Allen "Buddy" Shuh, a 42-year-old pastor from Wayne, MI; Joe Messina, a 38-year-old truck driver from Auburn, NY; and Mark Cornelison, a 43-year-old youth pastor from Magnolia, TX, were absent from the finale broadcast because they had all decided to quit The Biggest Loser's thirteenth season during filming.

Joe opted to leave the show mid-season due to personal reasons in which he had claimed he was missing his family too much to bare, while Mark and Buddy quit The Biggest Loser near the end of the competition after they had learned of the twist in which the previously eliminated thirteenth-season contestants would get to "unfairly and undeservedly" vie for one spot in the Final 3 and resume competing for the $250,000 grand prize.

The three players were not able to participate in or attend The Biggest Loser finale and were therefore ineligible to compete in the consolation weigh-in for the $100,000 consolation prize.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski