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Rethinking "Golden" Strategy with Sione Fa of The Biggest Loser Couples
by Troy Rogers
 Although one of the most popular episodes of The Biggest Loser comes down the weight-loss pike next week, with Tim Gunn of Project Runway and Tabatha Coffey of Bravo's Tabatha's Salon Takeover jumping in to makeover the Biggest Loser competitors, Arizona landscape businessman, Sione Fa, won't be taking part in the festivities.
This week’s episode of the Biggest Loser Couples saw Ron still mad at Sione and his cousin Filipe because they voted for him the week before. As the competition got going, the first Biggest Loser challenge was for a "golden ticket" that would give one player control over who went home between the two competitors that fell below the yellow line at weigh-in. The catch was, however, that the challenge involved scarfing back a heap of junk food until the ticket was located, hidden under one of many silver trays in the gym. When it over, Tara’s partner, Laura, won the weigh-in power before heading to a reward challenge for a week long trip to a spa.
In one of, if not the toughest challenge of the season aside from the mini-marathon, each Biggest Loser player had to run up half of the stairs at the famous Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. And when it was over, the two fastest had to do it again, head to head. The final challenge came down to Tara and Sione, with Tara shocking the players as she beat Sione to win. However, at the weigh-in, Helen and Sione fell below the yellow line and Laura used her "golden ticket" to send Sione packing from the Biggest Loser ranch.
 The morning after Sione was humbled by Tara at the Rose Bowl, we hopped on the phone to join a conference call where we picked Sione's brain about what he would have done had he won the "golden ticket," his time on The Biggest Loser, and what it was like to see Nicole return to the ranch the week before.
THE DEADBOLT: If you would’ve won that golden ticket, how would your strategy have changed?
SIONE FA: You know what? I thought about that, too. Obviously I fell below the yellow line, and if I would’ve had the golden ticket I would’ve lost the ticket [laughs].
THE DEADBOLT: That’s true.
SIONE: So I look back thinking, obviously, maybe if the weight-loss would’ve been the same, I would’ve lost it. And then it still could’ve changed the outcome of the game, because then it would’ve went to regular voting and majority winning. So maybe I would’ve had a chance, maybe I wouldn’t have. But I mean, you just never know. Like I said before, it was in the moment, and I guess you could say you wanted that power, control of the game and I went for it.
THE DEADBOLT: So if you had it and didn’t go below the line, what were you looking to do with it?
SIONE: It was no secret I tried to get Ron off, and if it happened again I would’ve went for Ron.
THE DEADBOLT: [laughs] Actually, that wouldn’t have worked either because he lost a lot of weight this week.
 SIONE: [laughs] Yeah, exactly. So I mean, there’s so many [ways]. Even on the ranch, you go through all of these scenarios in your head, and you think you’ve covered every possible scenario, and when you actually go weigh in it never is any of them that you thought of. It’s always the "what if?" So all you can do is lose weight. I only focused on getting that vote [golden ticket] and I guess I never really thought about how I would use it.
THE DEADBOLT: How did you feel losing to Tara and the car pulling challenge, and the Rose Bowl stairs challenge? Those were two pretty heavy challenges.
SIONE: Yeah, they were. Obviously I was devastated, and I set out to win them, and I wanted to win them and I was very disappointed in myself when I didn’t. But the one thing I look back on, especially the car pulling challenge, going into that challenge I felt like I was the one to beat. And, you know? A lot of people thought I was the one to beat, too, that I would take it.
But by not winning, it really made me step back and look at myself and be like, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ Actually, on the car pulling challenge is when a lot of things clicked, a lot of things in my life. Whatever I start, I start it with full force and full of energy, but I putter out at the end. That really opened my eyes to pace myself and finish strong instead of killing it at the beginning and not finishing. So even though I lost to Tara, I learned very valuable lessons that help me even now.
THE DEADBOLT: She certainly does bring out the best in you.
SIONE: Definitely. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. I think me and her definitely pushed each other to the limit and it worked out.
THE DEADBOLT: Well, you must have. When you guys all went home, you pulled it out to win that half marathon.
SIONE: Yeah, that was something I never thought I would do. I thought marathon runners were crazy. Actually, right now I’m training for a full marathon at the end of May. So it’s weird how your mind changes.
THE DEADBOLT: How did Nicole returning to the ranch for a week help you prepare for going home?
 SIONE: Actually, when I saw her and the stuff she’s accomplished on her own, I just knew. You know, it’s like that goes to show you right there, not just for me and for people on the ranch, but for people at home who are thinking, ‘Oh, the only way I’m going to lose this weight is to be picked as one of The Biggest Loser contestants.’ She showed everybody that you can do it at home if you want it bad enough.
I mean, she came into the house with the second highest percentage of everybody. It was like, ‘You know what? If she can do this at home, we should be able to do unbelievable things on the ranch.’ It actually excited me to know I don’t need the ranch, you know? I wanted to be there, but I don’t need that. And she showed not only us but America that anything is possible and you can lose the weight on your own. You don’t need the show. And there’s a lot of people who try out season after season to get on the show and don’t make it, and they’re still stuck. So hopefully what she did will inspire them to just do it.
THE DEADBOLT: You guys all looked shocked at how well she did. Was that just because she looked great or is it because you guys are so isolated from the outside world?
 SIONE: Yeah, both ways. It was shocking just because we saw each other every day. And mentally you know you’re losing weight but you don’t know how much. You don’t know the change or how far you’ve come. To see them it really just showed us we’ve all come so far. And it was good to see a couple of new faces.
THE DEADBOLT: I know you’re rooting for Filipe. But if he goes down, who else do you think deserves to win?
SIONE: [laughs] Right now, I just hope Filipe gets it.
THE DEADBOLT: What is you’re ideal weight?
SIONE: I’m shooting for as close to the 200 mark as I can.
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