Beyond The Biggest Loser with Bonnie Griffin

This week on The Biggest Loser, 63-year old Bonnie Griffin saw her time at the ranch come to an end when the players entered the first round of individual competition. Although many had Bonnie pegged as the one to leave The Biggest Loser early, Bonnie endured both the mental and physical challenges necessary to remain on the ranch. As it turned out, Bonnie surprised everyone – perhaps herself – when she entered her ninth week on The Biggest Loser before accepting that she could continue her journey at home.

Following her elimination from The Biggest Loser, The Deadbolt caught up with Bonnie Griffin to learn more about her time with Blue Team trainer Anna Kournikova, why she connected with Red Team trainer Dolvett Quince, and what advice Bonnie would give to those who want to change but don’t have a Biggest Loser trainer.

THE DEADBOLT: When Anna was your trainer, there was such an obvious tension between you two before you made such a deep connection with Dolvett. Can you take us through both of those relationships and why they were so different?

BONNIE GRIFFIN: There were three trainers on the ranch, and I can honestly say that each trainer had their own way of getting us to the goals that we set. I can honestly say, from the beginning I had told Anna in the first week that I was ready to take on the second chapter of my life and I knew that she was going to lead me to do it. Anna did the best with what she had to work with. I mean, I’m a 63 year-old woman who went on the ranch with bone-on-bone knees. I can say with the help of her I was able to fool them all when they thought I was going to leave the first week. I fooled them and I became the cat with nine lives and I made it nine weeks.

So, she did remarkably well. I mean, everybody has personality conflicts but it was just fine. It was just the knee issues that I had. Some of the things were harder to do than other people. Then when Dolvett came on board, he more or less worked around some of my knee issues maybe more than Anna did. I cannot thank Anna enough. She led me for six weeks towards the goal that I wanted and I will always have her to thank for it.

THE DEADBOLT: You are truly such an inspiration to anyone over 50, as well as to people with mobility issues. What can you tell people who want to take charge of their health but don’t have a trainer in their life?

BONNIE: One thing I was really trying get out to people who are considered senior citizens was that for many seasons I had watched The Biggest Loser and ate the wrong things while watching all of these wonderful people lose weight. Now that I can say that I experienced this, I know if you can’t walk – that was my problem before, I had bone-on-bone knees and it was a struggle for me – if you can’t do things like that, just the fact of sitting on a chair and getting up and down. Any way you can find to get your heart rate up is a positive for you.

It’s not just about nutrition. You need to get some form of exercise in your life also. That’s what I’m trying to tell people. No matter how old you are, no matter what your disability is, you can work around it and do something about your health and welfare.