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Post Ranch Weigh-in with Allen Smith of The Biggest Loser
by Troy Rogers
 With
the December 8 finale of The Biggest Loser on
the horizon, this week's Biggest Loser episode
was very much about second and last chances as
the Biggest Loser competitors, including firefighter
Allen Smith, were given a few options to save
themselves. A Biggest Loser episode filled with
last week workouts and a Save Yourself Quiz, the
most recent week of The Biggest Loser also saw
an appearance by financial wizard Suze Orman and
NFL great Ron Woodson.
Interestingly for Indiana native Allen Smith, Suze Orman schooled Allen on how health affects wealth, even telling Smith to call his insurance company since he's no longer obese. As for Rod Woodson who dropped by The Biggest Loser for the latest football challenge, the NFL great saw Allen Smith win the Biggest Loser gridiron test and a vacation package to the 2010 Pro Bowl. But despite the Biggest Loser gains for Allen Smith, the competition was narrowed to a point where Amanda became a swing vote and sent Allen packing from The Biggest Loser ranch after siding with Liz.
The morning after The Biggest Loser, we hopped on the line for our weekly Biggest Loser exit interview to chat with Allen Smith to find out how Allen feels now that he's home, his thoughts after winning the Biggest Loser football challenge, what foods still tempt him today, and what Biggest Loser advice he took away after meeting Suze Orman.
THE DEADBOLT: Going back to the first episode, you felt really upset with yourself that you couldn't do anything to help Tracey. So when did you start feeling different physically?
 ALLEN
SMITH: When we were going into week three
is when I really started thinking, "Wow, you
know, I wish I could really go out there and
run that mile again and actually finish better
than what I had." I had a real hard time with
shin splints the first time we ran that mile
and it really hindered me to the point where
I couldn't even walk. I was in so much pain.
But through the help of our athletic trainer
and Dr. Huizenga, and also Bob and Jillian,
I was able to work through those shin splints.
That was a big hindrance I was able to work
through and I really started to make great strides
and progress after that.
THE DEADBOLT: Now that you're home, what goes through your mind about the other competitors when you're working out, because you can't see them to gauge their progress like on the ranch?
ALLEN: What's going through my mind now is, "Man, they have to be working really, really hard if they want to beat me." [laughs] So I just envision them working just as hard as they did at the gym. And I said this several times on the ranch, it was good for me to know or to see that someone was working hard, because it motivated me to work harder. And of course, they would see me working harder and each of us would just be pushing each other. In the end we would all definitely be better for that.
THE DEADBOLT: Aside from winning, what did you think of that football challenge?
 ALLEN:
That football challenge was awesome. Being able
to be there with Rod Woodson - I don't know
if you guys know, but Rod Woodson is from Indiana,
so he is a born and bred Hoosier. So when they
introduced him, it was like, "Wow, did they
do this just for me?" [laughs] That's what was
going through my mind. I know that they didn't,
but it was just a great pleasure and honor to
be able to meet him. Then actually doing the
challenge itself, I was surprised at how well
I was able to move the weight, because I was
thinking, "Here we are at the end of the contest.
I'm really trying to cut weight and I don't
know if I'm going to have the strength to do
that." But once I got going, it was just like,
"Wow, this is going to be a really good challenge.
I'm going to do well at this one."
It was just a lot of fun, the atmosphere, the other contestants. I mean, Rudy is truly my best friend there on the ranch, and my buddy, and we were both stoked. He was like a little kid in the candy store just waiting to get out there and I was trying to hold him back. But that's what made it exciting for me, to see how excited he was, and also Danny and Amanda and Liz.
THE DEADBOLT: Is there any junk food or unhealthy snacks that still tempt you today?
 ALLEN:
Cheese tempts me all of the time. Cheese is
my vice. Cheese is my chocolate and my wife
is always on me. She's like, "Is that a low
fat cheese?" So she kind of keeps me in check
as far as that goes. But yeah, cheese is always
there haunting me. I still eat cheese but I've
gone to eating a lot more low fat cheeses and
I definitely watch my portions of cheese. It
used to be nothing for me to sit down and eat
a pound, pound and a half, sometimes even two
pounds of cheese in one sitting. I would just
sit there and cut it off as I'm watching TV.
But now I get my portion, put it on my plate
and then that's all that I eat. I don't go back
for anything else.
THE DEADBOLT: That's a lot of cheese, man.
ALLEN: [laughs] That is a lot of cheese, a whole lot of cheese.
THE DEADBOLT: You mentioned that you really enjoyed the football challenge. What was your least favorite?
ALLEN: My least favorite challenge was probably the circus challenge. It probably runs a real close second to the baseball challenge but more so the circus challenge. At the circus challenge we had already gone back to individuals, so I was wanting a challenge that pitted me against everybody else as individuals. That is not how that challenge worked out. That's probably my least favorite. That's probably why and I expressed that in some of the interviews, and those didn't make the show.
I felt that I knew what was going to happen as soon as they told me how this challenge was set up. I'm like, "It's going to be just like the baseball challenge." The only difference was that they went for Liz first instead of coming after me. But as soon as they knocked out Liz then, "boom", they were right after me. It just goes back to me feeling and saying, you know, that target on my back. So yeah, that was my least favorite, the circus challenge.
THE DEADBOLT: What were your first thoughts when Suze Orman showed up and started talking about finances?
 ALLEN:
Well, I think that when she came in - I honestly
have to say that I didn't have a chance to watch
the last episode yet. But I know that when she
was there, what she stressed was your wealth
can be a direct result of how your health is,
and that is so true. If you're in bad health
and you're always having to go to the doctor
and you have to have medicine, and maybe have
to have multiple surgeries due to bad health,
whether it be diabetes or high blood pressure,
that's taking money out of your pocket and away
from your family.
You could be using it for other things such as retirement or putting it into a ROC IRA. So that money could be going somewhere else to be used to benefit you down the road instead of spending it on doctor's bills and medicine when it's something you can easily take care of if you just were in just a little bit better health. So I think there is definitely a direct correlation with that and how those two match up.
THE DEADBOLT: I was surprised at how high those numbers were.
ALLEN: Oh yeah, they were extremely high. I was just like, "Wow!" I've had some family members who went through it and I kind of had an idea of what some of those figures would be. But it is still just mind boggling for the average American to hear that. But what's even more mind boggling is that the diet industry is a four trillion dollar a year business. The business that is trying to keep us thin makes more money than all of the other health issues that come up with people who have bad health. Those are numbers that I find astonishing.
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