In last week’s back-to-back episodes of The Biggest Loser: Temptation Nation, the red team struggled to bond with each other and their trainer, Dolvett Quince. Even after winning a food court trivia challenge and getting to choose a player from the opposing team to sit out at the weigh-in, the red team crumbled and Whitney Clay was sent home.
“I think everyone deals with a different type of training method,” Whitney said when CelebSecrets4U spoke to her about the tension between Dolvett and his team. “You know, some people receive the type of training method that Dolvett was giving and some people don’t. I think the majority of our team was resistant to the method. I’d say that Dolvett’s was more of a kind of hand-off method, like this is what you’re going to do, I want you to do it, just do it, versus the other team where, you know, their trainer, she would explain things more to them. There was more of a loving environment, I guess you could say.”
However, Whitney doesn’t entirely blame Dolvett for her team losing the weigh-in and getting sent home.
“And there was tension in our team because we hadn’t really jelled at that point. You know, there were – I think it was like half the team that was kind of like, “This is what we need. This is working for me.” And the other half of the team is like, “Look, this still isn’t working for me. So, you know, it was – in the very beginning, it was like how it’s divided. And you could obviously tell in the weigh-in that we were struggling. Instead of being able to focus on ourselves and our goal of weight loss and getting healthy, we were kind of more focused on what was going on with our team and our trainer.”
The red team eventually confronted Dolvett and they worked to try and resolve the issues that had divided them. In the end, the red team was able to pull it together and Hope Wright from the black team was sent home.
Both women have learned a lot about themselves since they left the ranch and they shared with us what their experience on The Biggest Loser taught them and how they handled going back home.
The Biggest Loser airs Monday, January 18, 2016 at 9pm ET on NBC.
CS4U: Can you tell us what do you feel your experience being on the Biggest Loser has taught you?
Whitney Clay: “My experience on The Biggest Loser has taught me that it’s okay to step out of your comfort zone. And good things happen outside of your comfort zone. So that’s one of the biggest things that The Biggest Loser has taught me.”
Hope Wright: “I guess like my thing about The Biggest Loser is just learning to love myself and understand that regardless if my husband loves me, if I don’t love myself enough to want to change, then there’s lots of things that happen, you know, that you have no control of. I’m very much a control freak. And, like, making it into – like giving it over to Jen and saying, “Here, here it is and then, now, tell me what to do with it.” I mean, I think that was like my biggest thing which is just being able to release some of that control to someone else.
CS4U: And your experience on The Biggest Loser is definitely inspiring to all viewers. So congratulations on that. And if you could bring out some advice to viewers and people in general who want to live a healthier lifestyle, what would you like to say?
Whitney Clay: “The advice I would give anyone that was trying to live a healthier lifestyle is I would say one step at a time. You know, you don’t want it to be overwhelming. And even during the show, granted it was a little faster than, you know, it happened than a real-world situation, we still were taking some steps. We had a nutritionist that would teach us things and steps. We had a trainer that would teach us things and steps. And I think in a real-world scenario, you need to take things one step at a time. And as long as you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, don’t get frustrated. Just keep moving forward.”
Hope Wright: “My advice is, like, everybody is thinking, “I’m going to start Monday.” Well, starting Monday doesn’t help a lot of people because you always put that, “Oh, I’m just going to start Monday,” “Oh, I’m just going to start Monday.” I mean, I was the same way for years.
Well honestly, it got to the point where I never would do it, you know. It was more like, “Well, I’ll just start, you know, I’ll start next week. I mean, we’ll start next week or whatever.” But it got to the point where looking back now, like my health is better than it has been in years. I’m off my medication. You know, everything looks amazing. And it’s like, “Why didn’t I decide to do this, like, ten years ago?” Or why didn’t I stay healthy after I got out of college?”
I mean, it’s just looking back, you know, you have that 20-20 vision and you always think, “Well, you know, I’m going to start Monday.” Well, a lot of people always start like that. But it’s my biggest thing is around our health now, we say 21 days. 21 days to create a habit. Twenty-one days. So if I can do something for 21 days, it’s going to create a habit. It’s going to create a getting up at 4:30 every morning and being at the gym by 5:00.”
CS4U: Could each of you talk about what the greatest challenge for you has been since being home and continuing on?
Whitney Clay: “I think the biggest challenge for me was definitely in the beginning, it was the nutrition side of things. You know, I was like, “Oh, well, I can just have a little bit of this or I can just have a little bit of that and not realizing some of the things we went at the ranch, some of these things can be trigger foods. So if I just have a little bit of something bad – right now I’m not in the maintenance (stage) of my weight loss.
So that could definitely make me snowball and, you know, it could make anyone snowball. And I had to realize that the hard way, unfortunately. But, you know, I got it together and we have a big support system with the show. So, you know, I’ve talked to people. I’m like, “I don’t know what to do. I made a bad food choice and it’s kind of led into a bad week.” And then I pulled it together and that now I know you can’t have cake yet. You’re not there yet. When you get there, then you can have a piece of cake. But right now, you’re not there.
And more recently, I would say finding the time for exercise is a little more difficult with me working. I work ten-hour day, so I’m like, “All right, I have to go in the morning and I have to go in the evening. But in between that, I have a ten-hour workday.” But I’m worth it. It’s an hour or two that I’ll have to go in the morning and if I miss the hour, then I just add the hour at the end of the day. It’s not the end of the world. And you know the day I still have a few hours, I want to unwind; I still have a few hours left in the evening to do dinner and most of the time, I meal prep. So that’s done.
It’s about time management, too. That’s probably one of the – a bigger thing that I have learned since being home, is time management when it comes to meal prep, when it comes to exercise, when it comes to all of those things. It’s definitely been a huge factor in success.
Hope Wright: “I guess my biggest thing coming home was not having Colby. We don’t do a lot of things apart. And it was hard. I have an amazing support system behind me. I mean my mom, my sisters, my brothers, I mean, everybody. Our church was like amazing. But it got to a point where probably about two weeks in, when I was at home, like, I was sitting on the – I was on the bucket working out. And I thought, “You know, I can’t do this for Colby and I can’t do this for my mom, and I can’t do this for my sisters.” Like, I actually have to do this for Hope. And so really understanding at that point that I have to do this for myself and for no one else, it was like turning a leaf for me, like I had a whole new mindset about it.
I mean, as soon as that happened, I was at the gym at 5 o’clock. I had workouts from 5:30. I was there until 1:00 and tried to eat lunch. Go back. And so to me, it was just like understanding that I was worth making the sacrifice for. It was kind of hard looking at it. But now I’m like I am worth it. I am worth the sacrifice that I’m making for quite some time. It’s just understanding that I needed to change not for just Colby or for family or for friends, like I need to change for Hope. And I think that was a big thing for me is making up my mind to do it for myself.”
