By David McAlpine

Last week on The Biggest Loser: Couples, each of the final four contestants, Ron, Helen, Mike and Tara, reflected on their time on the ranch and on the show. Each of them ran a marathon, then weighed in one last time. Helen and Tara secured their spots in the finale, while Mike and Ron fell below the yellow line, pitting them against each other in America's vote for who the third person in the finale would be.

Tonight, I got the chance to go to the live finale and catch up with some of the contestants, as well as see who would win the $100,000 prize and who would walk away with the title of The Biggest Loser.

At the beginning of the show, Mike and Ron were brought out on stage, both of whom look fantastic. After much anticipation, Alison revealed that America has voted for Mike to be in the finale, eliminating Ron from the competition.

Later, Alison introduced Erin, a 22 year-old senior at The Ohio State University, and Amanda, a 19 year-old from New Jersey, both vying for a spot on the next season of The Biggest Loser. They both went backstage and started working out with Bob and Jillian while the voting lines were opened and America was left to decide who would be appearing on the show in the fall.

One by one, the former contestants from this season were brought out and weighed as America was updated on their lives since leaving the show. The results of the weigh-ins were as follows (total pounds lost):

Jerry: -177 (-47.97%)
Kristin: -167 (-46.39%)
Nicole: -123 (-45.72%)
Ron: -192 (-44.65%)
Sione: -146 (-39.25%)
Dane: -154 (-37.38%)
Filipe: -135 (-37.09%)
Damien: -136 (-35.70%)
Daniel: -161 (-35.46%)
Mandi: -92 (-34.98%)
Estella: -83 (-34.30%)
Carla: -128 (-33.77%)
Shanon: -92 (-32.51%)
Cathy: -95 (-32.42%)
Blaine: -116 (-31.78%)
Laura: -86 (-30.18%)
Joelle: -80 (-25.89%)
Aubrey: -55 (-22.09%)
David: -43 (-10.94%)

So it ends up that Jerry, the 64 year-old retiree and the record holder for the oldest contestant on The Biggest Loser, wins $100,000 as the winner of the at-home prize.

After revealing the first winner, montages of Mike, Helen and Tara were shown chronicling their journey from the first day to the present. Afterwards, Mike was brought out, followed by Helen and Tara busting through the old pictures of themselves. All three of them looked absolutely amazing, and I couldn't believe how far they had come. Because Tara left the show with the highest percentage of weight lost, she got to decide the order in which they would weigh in. She decided to do it from least percentage lost to most at the end of the show, so Helen, then Mike, then Tara.

Helen weighed in first. Having started the show at 257 pounds, her final weight was 117 pounds, resulting in a loss of 140 pounds (-54.47%). I thought Helen had it in the bag, even with Mike and Tara to go. Mike steps on the scale next, finishing the season at 181 pounds, 207 pounds less than what he weighed at the beginning (-53.35%). The amount of shock in the room was unparalled as Mike was knocked out of the running to be the Biggest Loser. The tension mounted as Tara stepped on the scale, and the room went silent as the numbers flashed on the screen. The results of the final weigh-in were as follows:

Helen: -140 (-54.47%) [now at 117 lbs.]
Mike: -207 (-53.35%) [now at 181 lbs.]
Tara: -139 (-52.72%) [now at 139 lbs.]

After the confetti fell and the streamers popped, I got the chance to catch up with some of the contestants, including the three finalists, and get their thoughts on what happened at the finale and what they're doing now.

Mike:

I also got a chance to speak with the new record holder for most weight lost by a contestant on any season of the show.

"How did I let myself get this way? I'm never going to lose this weight, even being here I didn't think I would lose that much weight," Mike said about his first few days on the ranch. "And you know as time went by, it just kept rolling and rolling and I got to that point where it's like, I'm not going to quit, I'm going to change my life."

He also said that his biggest challenge for himself has been overcoming the shy, introverted kid that he used to be. Mike did say, however, that he was confident that he can overcome that.

When I asked about Max, Mike explained that Max has the same trainer he has. He also said that he thinks it's incredible to see Max work out, and he plans to give him as much support as he needs.

Mike plans to attend Michigan State University next year and is looking forward to being an active college freshman.

Tara:

"Knowing that I've been able to inspire people feels even better and that's something during the show I didn't realize was truly happening," Tara said when I spoke to her. "What else can I do? How else can I give back? In changing my life, I'm trying to help others, too."

Tara was no doubt an unstoppable force, winning 12 challenges during the show and never once falling below the yellow line. How did she do it?

"I remember telling myself during every single challenge to keep up, keep going, you have it, don't give up," she said. "And then before you know it, my mind was telling my body to keep going and my body to listen. It truly was mind over body.

"Every night before I went to bed I made sure that I was proud of myself for that day's accomplishments. I didn't want to leave the ranch thinking regretting that I could have done just that little bit more."

Tara is looking forward to running half-marathons and half-Iron Mans in the future, as well as enjoying her new active lifestyle.

Jerry and Estella:

According to them, they both hoped that he would win the at-home prize for the most percentage weight lost for an eliminated contestant, but Jerry and Estella both insisted they didn't expect it.

"We never dreamed we were in the running for the money, but we knew we were in the running for our lives," Jerry commented. They also stressed that they wanted to be available grandparents for their children and grandchildren, a goal that they have now accomplished.

As for the $100,000? "We're going to give some of it to our church, but we're going to blow it...we're going to spend it on our family," Jerry laughed.

Since being eliminated from the show, both Jerry and Estella followed the diet plan that they laid out with Dr. Huizenga the first week at the ranch, and the results showed. Jerry told me he never gained weight from week to week, and he actually gained 22 pounds of muscle while at home.

Estella also threw in that neither of them had any muscle when the competition began, whereas some of the younger contestants did, so they had a harder battle to fight.

Alison Sweeney, host:

After the finale, Alison couldn't stop smiling, because she was obviously moved and touched by the outcome. According to Alison, she knew that this season would be a great one after meeting all the contestants at the beginning, but she wasn't able to predict how successful it really would be.

"I had no idea how many ways that would be true. That it would be the most emotional, the most heartfelt, the most inspiring, that each contestant would have a story that moves America."

Alison also commented that it seemed to her that the contestants' biggest challenge was sticking with the program because it was such a long time to do so.

Nicole and Damien:

I was very excited to chat with Nicole and Damien, who both were very proud of their own accomplishments. I was interested to know how they were feeling after they'd both been somewhat burned, Nicole when she was eliminated after returning for just one week at the ranch, and Damien after the tie vote with Joelle.

According to Nicole, "I thought I needed to be on that ranch and I deserved to be on that ranch, but there I realized that the ranch was exactly where I didn't need to be."

She added that she thought she needed to be in a loving and caring environment, which was right at home with her fiancé, Damien.

Damien was equally as straightforward about his elimination. "We were all working really hard and Joelle didn't want to be there. Someone saw me as a threat, but I didn't really understand that."

However, Damien and Nicole went home and did lots of cardio, ate right (Nicole says Damien is a great cook), and gave each other space at the right times. Nicole attributes the Biggest Loser for giving her and Damien the jump start they needed, but they're now preparing for their wedding on August 16, where Nicole will be wearing a size 8 wedding dress, her goal.

Laura:

According to Laura, her hip is still injured and she has been going to physical therapy quite often since leaving the show. She has been on crutches every day (even though she was given the go ahead to be off them for the taping of the finale), but she hasn't let that stop her.

"Unfortunately, I think it did hinder my weight loss," she said. "I might not lose it as fast as everyone else, but I'm ok with that."

Laura also said she hadn't seen Tara until tonight, but she kept in touch with her over the phone, trying to give her words of encouragement to keep her going. She said that was her and Laura's specialty: motivating each other.

And the biggest lesson Laura learned? "I can do whatever I can put my mind to, because I now have self esteem. I can do what I want to do because I deserve it."

Helen:

"I feel absolutely incredible. I have this new life, I have this new body, I have this new self-esteem and now I have the title of the Biggest Loser...it really doesn't get better than this," Helen told me, smiling.

"I never thought this journey would take me to the end, I thought I would make it halfway through if I was lucky and I made it! Now I'm healthy and I'm happy and it goes to show that diet and exercise can bring you this far."

Shanon:

When I spoke to Shanon, she couldn't stop talking about how proud she was of her mom. She was so happy that her mom could inspire so many people, especially at her age.

"You know, so many ladies say that they're past their prime, but it goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks--not that my mom's a dog or anything," Shanon said. "Anyone can do it, you just need to put it the time and the effort and you can lose that ass!"

When I asked Shanon about why she went home over her mom, she simply laughed and responded, "That's because we knew what we were doing!"

"I don't think we realized that it really was a game. I'm a big old sensitive baby and my mom is really tough...I don't think I could have made it like she did."

Shanon also noted that she was very proud of everything she had accomplished, but also said that the ranch was a tough place to be because of the paranoia. She said she really didn't play the game and people discluded her from the gameplay. Instead, she had her own problems that she was worrying about.

"While I was on the show, it was like, I turned 30, I was on my period for two fricking months (59 days is what she told me, to be exact), and I was sweating my ass off, literally."

Michelle Aguilar, winner, Biggest Loser 6:

I caught up with Michelle off to the side of all the action, who was proudly showing off her still slim figure. She said she was proud of all the contestants because they all proved that being big is not a disadvantage if you're trying to lose weight if you're willing to work hard and commit to it.

"Looking at the past winners, we've had someone in their 20s, their 30s, their 40s...in fact, Helen is almost 50 now, so there's no more excuses now," she said.

Michelle also said she was still on a reduced calorie diet, but she was finidng ways to be flexible to fit with her schedule. She is also getting married in a month, and plans to continue with her motivational speaking.

Filipe and Sione:

It wasn't hard to find the Tongan cousins on stage, since they were both sporting bright pink leis. Both Filipe and Sione were excited about what they had accomplished and what they looked forward to doing.

"There's no greater feeling to know that you've come so far and you've done things that you weren't supposed to do," Filipe said. "It goes to show you that anything is possible. Yeah, we were on a show, but we all did it. Everyone here did it."

"It's not about the number we got to, it's about the journey," Sione added. "It's about what we learned on the way."

Both Filipe and Sione said that they were on the show, at least for some part, because of their families. Both cousins said their relationships with their children has only grown stronger because of what they've been able to accomplish.

"My daughter loves the fact that she has an active, healthier dad," Filipe said. He noted that he thinks his whole family has benefited from him being happier about life.

"They notice that I'm happy, and it rubs off on them. It's not just a physical change, we really try to enjoy life," Sione said. He also said that he used to be too tired to enjoy anything, but when his kids know that he's happy, they're happy.

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