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

Tina: I would say that I would have liked to have seen more air time for each girl that participated. I have had several of my family and friends say that they seemed to focus more on one or two particular girls. We also had a scene where we had dinner with Bob after our workout on the ship. I think that with the amount of time we spent away from our families, they could have at least showed this as part of the show.

There were a lot of parts that we did at the ranch that did not make the cut. We had a part where the doctor came in and talked to us about issues that we were having medically. We had a time on the ranch where they came in and filmed us in our bungalow cooking meals.

Brian: One comment I often get from readers is that there isn’t enough emphasis on the diet and food preparation.

Tami: There was so much material left out of that show we could have done a full week, probably. Jessica's wedding renewal was one. Interviews that lasted all day long at our homes. Interviews with our children, workouts with Bob. They filmed us in La Jolla eating lunch with Bob.

Tina: We all got into it with our trainers, both teams. There were some issues of miscommunication and not enough clarification that did not make it to the big screen that I would have loved to seen on air.

Dari: They had enough footage to tape a whole season with us. Of course we wished we had been given more time. It was a truly unique experience and I would not give it up for anything.

Brian: Why did the participants of some Biggest Loser Special Edition shows appear on other shows like Tyra, Today Show, or Entertainment Tonight and your teams did not?

Tina: We were told that we would do press for the show. But it never happened. I know in particular my group was told we would do People Magazine, Access Hollywood, and Star Magazine. Hey guys I’m still waiting!

I would love to share with women, people in general that healthy lifestyle changes can save your lives. I am a witness. Because if I had not done the show I would not have found the lump in my breast that lead to the discovery of breast cancer. I am grateful for the opportunity that was given to me and I would love to share my experience in a helpful way.

Brian: Do you think it would have transpired differently if your trainer had been Jillian instead of Bob?

Tina: Well, let me be the first to be honest on this question. The results would have been the same!

WE did the majority of the work ourselves at home on our OWN. We took what they gave us the on the ranch and incorporated it into our daily lives. The Marine wives received the same information and were given the same opportunities that we were, in that they had gym memberships, and personal trainers as well. They too were given the $100 gift certificate to a grocery store.

So to tell you the truth if we had had Jillian "Little Hitler" we would have still kicked ass. I did mention that we very rarely heard from our trainers once we stepped foot off of the ranch, they were busy doing the remaining three episodes. Even though we were the fifth episode of six to air, we were the third of six to be filmed. So, our trainers were not around. They also had the Biggest Loser 2 to be a part of.

Tami: I'm so thankful I had Bob as a trainer. I think he was a better fit for our team than Jillian. Even though I think she is a great person outside of the gym, I didn’t want to work out with her. She's very friendly and supportive to everyone. Some of the girls from the Navy team had questions about injuries and she didn’t have a problem giving them advice.

Jessica: I personally am very thankful we got Bob. I think I could identify with him better than Jillian. Not to mention the fact that although I think Jillian is a truly wonderful trainer, I think there would have been some friction between her and I.

When I was in the Army, I could take the heat from a male drill instructor much better than I could a female. I had a not so pleasant experience with a female drill instructor who tried to break me, and when she couldn't, she got tougher and tougher and tougher on me. I did every single thing she told me to do, over and over again. I was utterly exhausted and reached muscle failure, yet she continued to push me. She wanted to see me break down and cry, and when she finally realized she wasn't going to get what she wanted, she moved on. I guess it left a bad taste in my mouth after all these years, so I'm really glad to have had Bob as our trainer.

I'm not saying that I feel Jillian would have mistreated us by any stretch of the imagination. That gal has a heart and you could see that when she worked out the Marine wives. She also spent time talking with them. She's got great character. She even gave us Navy wives some tips and was so very nice to us.

But I felt Bob was the right person to work with the Navy wives. We were four heavy-weight older broads that needed to be handled a certain way and Bob knew exactly what to do to us and how to treat us.

Brian: Anything else you’d like to say?

Jessica: In my experience as a military wife, I’ve met a lot of people along the way. Some become lifelong friends and I knew from the first meeting with each of these ladies that they would be my friends forever. This experience has made me even closer to them

Dari: For the record I want to say that I think our show was harder than the season show. We only had eight days on the ranch to learn all that we learned and then we had to take it home and finish it on our own. If I had been sequestered on the ranch for three months I would have probably doubled my weight loss.

Reality is we have families and we had to incorporate all aspects of life into our weight loss, including not having our husbands around to help out. I do however think that as a life-altering event we will be more inclined to stick to it because of the fact that we had to force ourselves to learn how to do it on our own. I am truly grateful for the experience and thank everyone involved with the show for affording us the ability to succeed.

Brian: Well, that concludes our session. I hope everyone enjoys reading it as much as we enjoyed exchanging thoughts!

My profound thanks to all four Navy wives for their honest and open expression of their memories and their feelings, and I hope they get that interview with People Magazine, including the cover shot!

Brian lives in Toronto where he can be reached at uncle_bto@rogers.com. He likes to hear your opinions and promises to respond to all serious email. If you want me to pass a message on to one or more of the wives, I can do that too.

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