Former American Idol winner Ruben Studdard didn’t let it get him down when he was eliminated on The Biggest Loser 2013 last week. Instead, he was so motivated by the experience that he has lost 104 lbs since he started on the show. Of course, it didn’t hurt any that Jillian’s white team broke a rule by taking caffeine pills and rendered the weigh-in invalid, thus allowing Ruben to rejoin the show! What was Jillian thinking letting her contestants take pills not approved by the staff doctors?
Ruben stepped onto the scales on The Biggest Loser 15 at 462 lbs and learned during his medical evaluation that he had type 2 diabetes. Now weighing in at 358 lbs and falling, Ruben Studdard said in a press conference call after his elimination that he has “taken on a promise to myself to have a more active lifestyle.” He says that so far he is doing great and “still on the same plan I was on, and I’m just moving forward.” (Note how vague that statement is, which came out before we knew he was back on the show!)
We can see he is looking quite a bit slimmer and healthier in a photo posted by Carl Payne on Twitter from the Soul Train Awards. Contestants do get to go home for a while before the live finale, so this pic doesn’t mean he doesn’t make it to the end!
Even if he is eliminated from The Biggest Loser 2013 again, Ruben would still qualify for the at-home $100,000 prize for the person who has the highest weight loss percentage off the ranch. With Ruben losing 104 lbs as of last week, it looks like me might stand a good chance of competing for the prize even if he gets booted. There is still a lot of season left to air for him to keep losing lots more weight before the live finale. We hope he’ll never have to look back at this old photo he posted on Instagram and be unhappy about his weight ever again!
Up next for Ruben? He’ll be showing off his trimmer form at the Magic City Half Marathon in Birmingham, AL on November 24. He’s also currently working on a new album with producer David Foster. We can’t wait to see Ruben at The Biggest Loser finale and see how well he’s doing then!