From Tragedy to Transformation: Where Are The Biggest Loser Australia Contestants Now?

It’s the controversial reality TV show that saw overweight Australians shed a whopping amount of weight in just weeks.

During its 11-year stint on-air, The Biggest Loser attracted criticism from viewers, contestants, and even former host Ajay Rochester.

Many claimed the program promoted ‘fat shaming’, while others argued that losing a high percentage of weight in such a short time was unhealthy and unrealistic.

Since their time of on the show, one contestant has suffered a shocking personal tragedy, while one underwent a huge transformation and another found themselves behind bars. 

Here is a look at some of the series’ most memorable participants today.

Alison Braun – 2008 

Mother-of-three Alison Braun has managed to maintain her whopping 66kg weight loss after walking away from the show in 2008.

She has kept her slim figure almost two decades on despite facing her fair share of hardship in the years after filming the show.

Alison’s husband tragically took his own life in 2009, and she was forced to have surgery to remove her toxic breast implants in 2016.

She now describes herself as a motivational speaker on social media.

In 2017, Alison revealed how she managed to stay trim after her impressive weight loss on the show.

‘It’s not motivation. Everyone thinks the secret is motivation, but it’s actually just setting a routine and making a choice,’ she told the Today Show.

‘It was hard to step back into (normal life) and do things differently… I had to go home and change my life.’

Craig Booby – 2014

Craig Booby wowed viewers of The Biggest Loser: Challenge Australia in 2014 by shedding almost 80 kilograms.

He weighed 183.4kg when he appeared on the show aged 34.

He took home the prize money of $75,000 after beating out the other contestants with a final weight of 103.6kg.

His transformation placed him at the forefront of his home town of Ararat, which was once named the fattest town in Australia, and ignited a town-wide diet within the community.

But just two years after leaving the show, Craig started putting weight back on.

He is now a fisherman and looks very different to how he did during his time on the show after struggling – like many people who have shed kilos – to keep the weight off.

Daniel Jofre – 2015 

Daniel entered The Biggest Loser competition tipping the scales at 132kg and won the competition after shedding 51.6 kilos, bringing his weight down to just 80kg. 

He was the joint winner with his uncle Rob and brothers Pablo and Tony, who also went on to make show history with the biggest combined weight loss totalling 208kg.

Following their time on the show, the family focused on health and nutrition and ran a successful personal training company.

But these days, Daniel appears to be focusing on his personal life after recently welcoming his second child with his wife Aimee.

His brothers Pablo and Tony also appear to have struggled to maintain their huge weight loss over the years.

Sam Rouen – 2008

Perhaps the most popular winner in the show’s history, 19-year-old university student Sam Rouen certainly struck a chord with viewers.

The overweight teenager went from 154kg to 93kg, winning the season after clocking up the year’s biggest weight loss.

Since his time on the show, Sam has become a firefighter and shown off his ripped physique in fundraising calendars.

It was only after Sam lost weight in the 2008 season of The Biggest Loser Australia, that he was fit enough to become a firefighter. 

Sam successfully passed the 2011 recruitment process, and has been working as a firefighter ever since. 

‘I proved to myself that I could do what I put my mind to. I still face demons and challenges, but this day empowered me to realise my worth and self-empowerment,’ he previously said.

‘I hope that everyone has that opportunity to reflect on themselves, and realise how amazing they are, what they can achieve, and what they are worth.’

Adro Sarnelli – 2006  

Adro won the first season of the reality weight loss show in 2008, having dropped a massive 51.3kg from his 136.5kg frame in just four months.

The father-of-three was celebrated on the program as the embodiment of an Aussie battler who overcame long odds to take out the title.

He used the $200,000 prize for winning The Biggest Loser to open a weight loss centre in Melbourne.

The centre closed in 2014, and Adro became bankrupt on February 12, 2015 after accruing debts of about $280,000.

In November 2017, he received an inheritance of nearly $33,000 from his late mother’s estate, but tried to hide it in a friend’s bank account, instead of using the money to pay back his creditors.

When his trustee asked for the identity of the friend, Adro refused to tell, a statement from the Australian Financial Security Authority said.

The personal trainer was charged with not fully disclosing property he received during bankruptcy to his trustee.

He was also charged with concealing, removing or disposing of that property and failing to disclose the identity of the person he gave the property to.

It came after Adro was handed a 12-month good behaviour bond with a $2,000 surety for racking up credit card charges of more than $8,000 within two years of becoming bankrupt.

His more recent offences breached that bond, and he lost the surety.

He pleaded guilty to the charges relating to his mother’s estate, and was sentenced to four months prison for each charge, to be served concurrently. 

Fiona Falkiner – 2006 

The contestant-turned-host of the weight-loss series got her start on TV as a shy 23-year-old from Geelong, Victoria.

Fiona went on to to lose 30kg on the show, dropping down to just 71kg, and has since enjoyed a career as a successful plus-size model.

The stunning blonde returned to the show as its host in 2015.

She is now married to Hayley Willis and the couple share two sons Hunter, four, and Spencer, two.

The pair became engaged after just seven months of dating in 2019, when Hayley popped the question on holiday in Vanuatu.

In 2020, Fiona announced the pair were expecting their first child, sharing a photo to Instagram of Hayley cradling her bump, and they welcomed son Hunter in May 2021.

They delayed their wedding due to Covid restrictions, welcoming their second child in August 2022 before walking down the aisle a couple of months later.