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Running Back Home with Cathy Skel of The Biggest Loser Couples
by Troy Rogers
 Picking up from the elimination of Mandi Kramer in last week's episode of The Biggest Loser Couples, this week saw the contestants head home for a week to return again to the ranch for the next weigh-in. The Biggest Loser action heated up when they were put to the challenge after a tin of cookies arrived at their doorsteps with a DVD by Alison Sweeney who revealed that they'd all be running a half-marathon. The twist, however, was that each contestant could eat up to six cookies that could add five minutes to any team members of their choosing per cookie. But the person with the best time in the run would take home $10,000. With Mandi returning to run with sister Aubrey, all Biggest Loser Couples team members finished the half-marathon except Ron, with Sione eventually winning the $10,000 after Helen gave Tara a five minute cookie penalty. Ouch!
When it came time to weigh-in and send someone home, Cathy Skel of Wisconsin volunteered to leave the ranch in favor of keeping Kristin in the game. After finishing the half-marathon with a time of 3:15:21 (not bad at all), Cathy's request was approved by her team and she became the latest to leave The Biggest Loser Couples with a total weight-loss of 78 pounds.
The next morning we stepped on the conference call scales with Cathy Skel to find out how she resisted the temptations of home, what she will do with the prize money if she wins at home, if she ever talked about her elimination with Kristin, and which exercise kicked her butt the most.
THE DEADBOLT: You still lost a little bit weight after going home. But how hard were all of the temptations?
 CATHY SKEL: Actually, I was pretty good. I have to admit that. I mean my biggest temptation is if we go out to eat. So I knew I needed to avoid that. At home I’m lucky enough that I don’t have children. I don’t have children at home, I’m an empty nester, so my cabinets are pretty much cleaned out from when I was home for the thirty days. [laughs] And it goes with that little bit of will-power you have for staying sober for twenty years. So I’m now putting that towards sweets because that was my next addiction. I have such a sweet tooth.
THE DEADBOLT: If you win the $100,000, what do you plan on doing with the money?
CATHY: Wow. If I win the $100,000, what would I do with the money? Right now I would probably just save it, honestly, no plans. If I could do anything I would probably go back to school. Yeah, I honestly would, and I would either be an AODA counselor or I would probably go into some type of physical therapy to assist people in the cardiac unit.
THE DEADBOLT: It seemed obvious that the choice was for you to go home. But did you and Kristin ever discuss her going home?
 CATHY: Never. I would never allow it. Kristin would never go home. You know, Kristin coming in as the second heaviest female ever on the show. She never had to go home. It was never a question of her going home. My biggest fear was - and that’s how it kind of played out for us - it going to a tie and the Black Team would come in and they get to choose who goes. My biggest fear was [that] if it went to a tie they would get rid of Kristin. She was a bigger threat, with so much weight to loose, that she had an "X" on her back. And as a mother, I don’t think I could’ve stayed there. If I was there and they chose to send home Kristin and I stayed, it would be very hard for me.
THE DEADBOLT: What was your favorite exercise and what was your worst exercise?
CATHY: Right now I love spinning. I love spin class, it’s fun. I love how it’s upbeat and it’s to music. And probably my worst exercise, I would have to say ...
THE DEADBOLT: Which one really kicks your butt?
CATHY: [laughs] The kick butt one is running. It’s the best for me. But at my age I’m not a runner and I try hard. I try very hard to run and I can run sprints. But the day I can run a full 5k, I’ll be very proud without stopping. And I’m going to continue to try, it’s one of my goals.
THE DEADBOLT: So when that half-marathon challenge came down, you knew that you were out of the money?
CATHY: Oh, absolutely. I knew I was out of the money. But it’s one of my greatest accomplishments. It’s right up there with twenty years of sobriety, I’ll tell you that.
THE DEADBOLT: What really shocked you about the ranch?
 CATHY: I think what really shocked me was that we were totally responsible for cooking, for our laundry, and responsible for our exercise. I mean we didn’t have a schedule of exercise. What you did, you had to do on your own. You could go take a nap if you wanted to or you could walk or hike the ridge. So it was all in your hands of how many calories you were going to burn. Also, what you put in your mouth because we did our own cooking.
THE DEADBOLT: Was there a set time you guys had to go to bed, or could you just stay up as late as you wanted?
CATHY: Yep, we could stay up all night and work out if we wanted to. We had a set time that we had to be downstairs, showered and ready to be mic'd, and ready to go for filming. But other than that, the time was ours to do what we wanted with. Of course we had to stay on the ranch. But the exercises that we did, we chose to do. How long we did it was up to us. We were given homework assignments but nobody really holds you accountable except your body. So you’re at your own destiny.
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