Last night on The Biggest Loser, the contestants were shocked to learn that the Pink team, which consisted of mother and daughter duo Helen and Shanon, had fallen below the line. All the other teams were locked out of the gym during the week except for the Pink and Brown teams.
What was more shocking was the request Shanon and Helen made of the rest of the cast. They pleaded that the cast send Shanon home instead of Helen. Shanon, who was arguably the bigger threat, got her wish and eliminated in a unanimous decision.
I was able to chat with Shanon earlier today and get the update on her life. We talked about her experiences at home and her dream to become a roller derby girl.
What made you decide to join roller derby?
I started skating again actually right before I auditioned for the show and I just thought if I could get good at it or if I could build up the stamina, I’d really like to get into roller derby. I came home and I was like, this is the perfect opportunity to start working and to start training to be a roller derby girl, you know? The workouts are intense. They are two, three, four hours long and five days a week if I want. It’s awesome. It’s fun. It’s competitive. I’m like, perfect!
How long have you been training now?
Well I trained for about two months before I left and it’s been about 2 months since I’ve been home. I think it’s been about two months.
Do you have to tryout for teams and have you tried out yet?
What you have to do is pass your skills test and then there’s a draft.
A draft?
Yeah, you have to go through the boot camp, pass your skills test and then get drafted to a team. Right now I’m just training. The boot camp starts in June. I missed the fall boot camp but there’s a summer boot camp thing. They kind of opened up a couple practices for me and they’re being awesome here.
Back to The Biggest Loser – Do you regret asking to home?
I don’t know if I’d say I regret it. I’ve been really happy at home and successful at home. I miss my mom and I miss not being able to be with her every day but we’re right where we need to be. As of right now, I feel like we made the best decision that we could have possibly made.
Do you think your mom will struggle on the ranch without you there?
Nope, I think she’s going to win the whole thing. She’ll be the biggest loser! Keeping it in the Pink team.
Do you think the rest of the cast sent you home because you were the bigger threat? That was definitely a lot of their discussion.
You know, I watched the episode and I heard them say that last night but I think that there’s a really great cast this year and I think that they were just listening to what me and my mom said. They said, “They wanted that, we’re going to give it to them” whether they thought it was the right thing or not.
Who were you closest to in the house?
I love Cathy, the mom from the purple team. I love both of those purple ladies, Cathy and Krisin. We actually shared a room for the first month or week that we were there. It was all four of us in the same room so we got really close to them. And I love the blue guys, Filipe and Sione. They’re so funny and polite and you couldn’t be around two better people. So I’d definitely say Purple and Blue.
What do you think went wrong with you having the only access to the gym all week and yet ending up below the yellow line?
You know, I was going to write this in my blog, but there’s the Santa Ana’s blowing really bad and they had all those fires. I don’t know if you’re from California but I’d never been out there and I’d never even heard of the Santa Ana’s. There was ash falling from the sky that looked like it was snow. It was crazy. We couldn’t even work out. We weren’t even allowed outside and one of the days they took us to the mall because the air quality was so bad.
Really?
Yeah, totally. And plus, I was on my period for fifty something days.
Oh, because your body was reacting?
Yeah. But I mean, that night before the weigh in, my mom and I walked ten miles that night before we went to bed. We were the last ones working out that night. To see 3 pounds… I was really surprised. I know they showed me goofing off a lot but I work just as hard as I goof off.
I completely agree that you probably work really hard because you were so successful at home originally.
And it’s hard at home.
What did you do? Because a lot of the other contestants weren’t and it looked like they were trying really hard but I mean what you managed to pull off was impressive.
Well I kind of just had the blinders on, you know? It was like “I’m going to do this” and if I want to do this, I have to come up with a schedule, and I have to do something with exercise in it every day. I have to burn a certain amount of calories every day. I have to consume this many calories in my day, every day. It’s math. It’s simple math. If I’m going to put this many calories in, I’m going to take this many calories out to get this accomplished. That’s all it really breaks down to. I’d call up one of my friends and say, “Do you want to go on a hike? Do you want to the dog park? Do you want to go?” And if they didn’t want to go, I’d go without them. Every day I’d be in that gym and I still am. I actually messed up my knee. I tore something in my knee a couple weeks ago and I couldn’t even walk for two days. I just got in the pool and I was like, “I’m not going to let anything stop me.”
What is the hardest part to adjusting from the ranch to home?
It’s just the temptations. On the ranch, it’s like a bubble. You’re safe. You have people asking you what’s going on twenty-four hours a day. You have people looking over your shoulder. Not only that, but you’ve got your competitors right next to you competing against each other. You see someone else running around or walking around and you’re like, “Okay, well I’ve got to keep walking around or running around.” At home, it’s like I’ve left the gym and I’m hungry and my friends want to go to this restaurant and get something to eat but I’m going to eat this bananas I already have in my car. You just have to be ready and make the right choices and you’ll be good.
As a wrap up, two separate questions: Who do you want to win (besides your mom)? Who do you think WILL win?
And I can’t say my mom?
You can say her for who you think will win. I’ll let you do that.
Who do I think will win? I’d like to see one of those… I’d like to see Filipe win but I know my mom’s going to win so second place should be good enough for him.
Why do you want him to win? I think I’ve done three of these interviews and every single person wants someone from the blue team to win.
They’re just really nice, stand-up guys. They’re polite. They have manners. They have ethics. They have morals. They’re religious. They love their wives. They love their families. They’re just great people to be around. They don’t give off any bad vibes at all. They are just totally nice, down to earth people. They sweat like it’s going out of style but that’s the only bad thing I could say about them.
That’s hilarious. But, of course, your mom’s going to win? That’s your final answer?
She’s got it in the bag. She’s a soldier. She’s got it.
Awesome Shanon, thank you so much for talking to me.
You’re welcome.
Good luck and I can’t wait to see you on the finale.
Okay, thanks. Thanks so much.
-Kim Wetter, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image Courtesy of NBC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
