Pounds and Push-Ups with Sam Poueu of The Biggest Loser

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by Troy Rogers

After walking into The Biggest Loser ranch at 372 pounds, Sam Poueu had his healthy work cut out for him when he began his journey on The Biggest Loser Couples. Although Sam Poueu initially joined his cousin Koli on a Biggest Loser quest to change their lives, Sam soon began to understand why he needed to be at The Bigger Loser ranch and why it was so important to use The Biggest Loser Couples to step into manhood.

In one of the season's most stunning transformations after The Biggest Loser makeover week, Sam shocked Biggest Loser fans with a new look and lighter frame to begin a new life post Biggest Loser. Although Sam had to leave Koli behind at The Biggest Loser ranch, he created a new life and future from his own mind and actions.

The following morning after Sam was voted off of The Biggest Loser Couples, we snagged some Biggest Loser transformation time with Sam to learn more about his journey, how he looks at The Biggest Loser now, and how both he and Koli were inspired by ranch mate, O'Neal Hampton.

THE DEADBOLT: How do you think the experience would've been different without Koli at your side?

SAM POUEU: You know what? Honestly, I wouldn't have been there then. I had never seen the show before. I had never watched The Biggest Loser before. And just knowing about The Biggest Loser, I thought it was about a bunch of overweight people that cried all of the time. So that was something that I truly skipped and I wasn't aware of the impact the show has on not only just America, but worldwide.

It was Koli that got me to go to the open casting with him. We went down to the open casting in San Jose together. He approached me about this, like a Wednesday, and I had just weighed in a few days before that. I was like 392 pounds and that's more than I was when I weighed in first for the show. I'm like, "You've got to be kidding me. I need to get this under grips here." So he met me at the gym and he was like, "Hey, you know what we're doing on Saturday?" And I was like, "What are we doing, man?" He was like, "Oh, we're going down to San Jose and we're trying out for The Biggest Loser." I'm like, "What? Okay."

For me, it's family first. I've said it all along but it's ride or die, and we'll always ride for each other. So I was like, "Alright, no problem. Let's do it." We go down there and we had a great time and a few things led to another and the next thing you know we're on the ranch.

Koli was inspired by Filipe's makeover in season seven. It really touched him and he wanted that moment. He tells me that he wants to do that for sure and I want to be a part of that with him. I wouldn't have been able to do it without him, that's for sure.

THE DEADBOLT: When did it hit you that this journey was more than just losing weight?

SAM: Oh, I'd say week three. Definitely by week four. I mean, I'm a family guy, you know? I don't have a family of my own, but I treasure my family so much and they've spoiled me with love since my upbringing. To be apart from them by that time, by week four we had been apart for over a month. There's no cell phones, no internet, there's no TV, so we have no communication with our families. We're out there on an island and I'm missing the hell out of them. There's no lying about that. And when the opportunity came in the week four challenge to win a phone call home, it was everything.

That week I had learned so much about myself, because it was about making this transformation. My transformation was about growing up from a boy to a man. I was immature prior to The Biggest Loser and just figuring that out about myself and taking responsibility for my life, and accountability and owning up to the mistakes that I've made in my past and finally putting my life in perspective, that's what it was all about for sure.

THE DEADBOLT: How much did O'Neal inspire you?

SAM: [laughs] "Unc". See, people don't really realize the connection that we have with each other. During finals week [early in the process], we're all sequestered. We really don't know each other but we're all in these interviews together. O'Neal is being asked, I remember by one of the producers, his question was, "O'Neal, you seem to have knee problems and issues like that. I wonder if you're even going to be able to handle this show?" And O'Neal stands up and he's like, "Hold on. I bet you I can do more push-ups than anyone in this room." [laughs] And I remember I'm like, "The hell you can."

So me and my whopping 372 pounds, me and O'Neal have a push-up competition right in front of all of the producers, a stand off right there in front of everybody, and it was just absolute mayhem. And from that moment, I remember me and Koli taking away from that day that he was such a genuinely good man that you rarely see these days anymore.

He reminded us so much of our own uncles, so that's why we called him "Unc" from day one. Having that natural bond from day one, he's just an inspiring individual. To see the love he has for his daughter, there's no doubt about it that we would love to have - When we finally have kids, I know for Koli and I, that's the kind of love that we will be keeping under our roof.