Ship Shape - An Interview with the Navy Wives of The Biggest Loser: Special Edition

Brian: So, one of the main reasons your team did all right but didn’t achieve record-setting weight losses was because you all had to shut it down to varying degrees for health-related issues. I’m surprised none of that information came out during the second episode.

All: We agree!

Brian: How important was that final week of training you won with Bob?

Tina: To be very honest, I did not participate in the final week. I had a job that I did not want to miss work for. For the camera, I worked out with my teammates on the weekend before the final weigh-in.

Dari: We were not all able to do the final week but for those who did, it was an edge above the rest. I wasn’t able to do the whole week. It gave us time to focus on dropping those last few pounds before the weigh-in. That being said, they make it sound like a big bonus when in actuality it was only an hour a day with Bob. I do more than that at home on a normal day. Jessica and I did a lot on our own but they afforded us the chance to be away from our families and focus on ourselves.

Jessica: Very important for me! Unfortunately, Tina, Tami, and Dari weren’t able to take advantage of it. I was the only one that was able to completely get away.

Tami: Yes, I was only in LA for one day for that, and it only lasted about twenty minutes.

Brian: Once the mirror was raised at final weigh-in, did you think you had won?

Dari: Amanda did great, she was the competition I was worried about. I think we knew we had it when we saw the “telegram.”

Jessica: The first person I saw was Amanda, and that worried me, but when I saw the rest of the team I thought we might come out on top.

Tina: To be honest, I felt very confident when I saw the other girls. Amanda and Sharon I could tell a difference, but Amber I could not. I was not too sure about Rosalina.

Tami: When I saw the girls for the first time that night, I kind of had a good feeling about things. Amanda was the one that worried me, she looked fantastic.

Brian: Post show, how's it going? Are you still workout buddies?

Jessica: Everything is going well with me! I’m still keeping the weight off. I’m working out, but not seven days a week though.

Unfortunately, because Tina and Dari have moved to the east coast, we don’t get to see each other, but we keep in touch by phone and email. Tami and I live in the same neighborhood, but rarely see each other. We talk a couple of times a week though. Life is just busy as all get out and it’s hard to hook up sometimes.

Tami: No, I don’t talk to Dari, Jessica lives a couple of blocks away and I've only seen her at a few ship functions. I talk to Tina probably more than anyone, but she lives in Virginia now.

Tina: Things for me are OK considering all that I am going through. I try not to make cancer the main focus of my life. I try to live a normal life. I do the best I can with my limitations. I do not work out because of my limitations. I do, however, take part in physical therapy. My physical therapy is no way near as helpful to me as regular exercise. It helps with mobility of my right arm that was affected during my first of three surgeries.

Dari: Unfortunately, I had to move away from California the day after the final weigh-in. It was a really tough transition for me as I moved across the country. I am in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I love being here as I spent most of my life here.

The difficult part was that there is no 24 Hour Fitness here. Therefore, I lost my gym membership that show had given me, and I also lost 25 personal training sessions that I had left at 24 Hour Fitness – it was truly starting over for me. For Christmas I had my husband purchased me a gym membership at Gold’s Gym, and I have stuck to my way of eating. I count calories. I have good days and bad days but overall I am pleased with my results and my continued progress. I am comfortable in my skin now and much happier with the person I see in the mirror.

Brian: Did you ever get used to the constant presence of cameras and microphones?

Dari: I loved it. I think I was born to be on television; I never had a problem with the cameras and I felt very natural when I was interviewed.

Tina: For a week and a half it was a normal part of my everyday life. We became experts, we knew how and where to hook it up. We were very helpful to the camera and audio crew.

Jessica: At first it was a novelty, then it got old, then became fun again. I guess it depended on what we were doing, our frames of mind, or how we were feeling. Most of the time we had fun with it though.

Tami: For me, not really. I can’t stand being fake or acting fake so I just shut up. It’s not me, if I'm not feeling something I can’t fake it. An example, they wanted me to say how happy I was about the workout with my husband on the ship... they got frustrated with me and moved on. I thought that was hilarious!

Brian: Did you have many interactions with the other team? Was the Navy/Marine conflict a set-up for TV?

Dari: The conflict is natural and of course we played it up for the show. In all they were lovely girls. We wanted to not like them but in actuality they were great and very nice to talk to.

Tami: We saw them on the ranch but not once we got home. I actually ran into Sharon at the gym one day, but that was about it. I don’t keep in touch with them or anything like that. The show was fun and I'm glad I did it, but it's over and I'm ready to get on with my life. I’m not living for the next big interview or to become a TV star.

Jessica: We saw the other team daily on the ranch. After that, I didn’t see them. I think I talked to Sharon once or twice before the weigh-in, but we kept it kinda sterile as far as giving away any details about how the teams were doing. She’s a really nice gal; I like her a lot. I hear from Amanda too, she’s doing great. I got an email from Amber once. I’ve never heard from Rosa.

And the Navy/Marine rivalry goes back years. It’s mostly something I think we all have fun with though. I have a lot of friends who are either veterans of The Corps or have husbands that are Marines. I love them all. I don’t care what branch of service anybody is in.

Now what was really funny, during one interaction that didn’t air, we were all sitting down talking and eating some healthy snacks that each team prepared and it came out that (Marine wife) Amanda’s husband is actually in the Navy! He worked with the Marines and was stationed at Camp Pendelton!

After the shows aired, she called me, and during our conversation she apologized for talking so much smack! I asked her if she meant it at the time she said it. She said she did. And I told her “Well then, you don’t need to be apologizing!”