Connecticut's Biggest Loser Enters Final Four
By BOB CONNORS and LEANNE GENDREAU
Updated 8:38 AM EDT, Wed, Dec 2, 2009
Rudy Pauls no longer looks like The Biggest Loser's real-life Paul Bunyan. Instead, he could be Bunyan’s younger looking, much slimmer brother as he heads into the finals.
Rudy, an engineer from Brooklyn, weighed in at the start of the show at nearly 450 lbs. He's dropped 213 lbs. and has set records for the show along the way. He has struggled with his weight since leaving college, according to his Biggest Loser bio page.
He’ won $4,000 by answering Suzi Orman’s questions and finished a marathon, fighting “beat down” feelings to keep on going.
Pauls is one of the final four finalists still in the competition who were sent home for 60 days to continue the weight loss journey, away from the ranch, the trainer, and the round-the-clock cameras.
Throughout the season, Pauls has not just a bit player. He's getting national attention and Entertainment Weekly called him the "lovable engineer from Connecticut" and the No. 1 reason to watch the show.
"I've been a big fan of the show for years and wanted to give it a shot," Pauls told the Hartford Courant in a recent interview.
The former football player says the fact he's an athlete gives him and advantage, but he credits the show's star trainers with helping him lose the weight.
On the Biggest Loser Web site, all the contestants confront their old selves by looking at bigger than life photos of what they looked like when they first came to the ranch.
Pauls marvels at how big he was compared to how far he has come.
“He’s still learning,” Pauls said looking at his own before photo, “but I’m a lot better off.”
At one point, Jillian turns to Pauls and asks him about an order his sister once gave him – to take care of himself.
“Do you think you can honor that request,” she asks him.
“I think I am always going to be working on that request,” he said. And it’s always going to have to be a challenge for me.”
First Published: Nov 17, 2009 1:30 PM EDT
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