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Reality TV Interview

Abby Rike ('The Biggest Loser')

Abby Rike ('The Biggest Loser')


Abby Rike will go down in history as one of the most inspiring Biggest Loser contestants of all time. The 35-year-old from Texas brought her fellow contestants (and millions of viewers) to tears as she recounted how she lost her entire family in a devastating car accident in 2006. This week saw the high school teacher volunteer to leave the ranch after the Black Team lost their second consecutive weigh-in. We caught up with her to find out about her experiences on the show.

Why exactly did you volunteer yourself to go home?
"It had been an incredibly emotional week. At the end Amanda was just on the cusp, something was going on with Daniel, and then Shay, I mean quite frankly I would take a bullet for her. I went on the show to get a life back and I felt like I was getting it. It was never about the prize money, the prize for me was life and at that moment I felt like I was really, really blessed and it was just what was needed to be done."

Shay said you were like the mom she never had. What sort of relationship do you have with her now?
"I just feel like I'm a better person because I know her. She is a treasure of a human being on this earth. I think I have a motherly nature to me because I am a mother and always will be a mother, but at the same time, she was an equal friend and confidant. There just aren't enough nice words to say about her, she's a blessing in my life."

How was Allen as a partner?
"He was great, he was never frustrated or ugly about the fact that I had a stress fracture and I always greatly appreciated that. There was never any pressure about, 'Oh Abby, what are we going to do?' He was always, 'Abby, take care of yourself, I don't want you to have a lifetime injury', and things like that."

How did you feel about being on Jillian's team and split from Allen when Tracey made those decisions?
"I had a sneaking suspicion that she would not be selecting Jillian as her trainer - I knew that's what was going to happen. I felt like in a lot of ways I was supposed to be on Jillian's team and after the interaction that she and I had, I would have picked her anyway. It was one of those things that I don't know the spirit in which it was done to split us, but it worked out the way it was supposed to."

Is Tracey really like how she seems on TV?
"I think it's one of those things that it's a television show and they record what you say and how you act and then they put it on TV - so it just is what it is."

How prepared were you for the strategizing, gameplay and emotional elements of the show?
"That didn't factor into my real realm. My goal was to feel better and lose weight. I mean honestly, I could have cared less about that. As far as the emotional part, I think that was just a surprising blessing that I truly do love and care about so many of these people."

What has been your weight loss to date?
"It's around 82lbs-ish. I've been around different places and different scales say different things but right around in that ball park."

How did your friends and family react to seeing you on the show? Did they know a lot of those things that you were going through?
"I think they probably knew, but it wasn't something that you really talked about because you couldn't put your finger on it. I've always just really had a love and a passion for life and that had certainly waned. What do you say, what do you do whenever someone that you love so much is hurting so badly? It has been a really healing journey for my immediate family."

You said that the "light was back" in your eyes. How much do you attribute that to being on the ranch and how much was it that you were just ready?
"I think it is just such a balance. The Biggest Loser served as a great catalyst or a kick-start for finding that light again. I think that it was just the greatest venue for showing the world that I wasn't just falling apart and that I was still here and still a part of life."

You talked about rejoining life. Do you feel like you have done that now?
"I was trying the whole time. I never quit I never gave up. It's just my heart wasn't in it. Like there just wasn't enough of me left to really be in it. I felt for the longest time that things were very unimportant, it was hard to find things that really mattered. And now things matter again, and I think that is where I've rejoined life. I just stay present in the moment, I enjoy where I am, I count my blessings and I take joy from the small things that make up the whole of our lives."

The Biggest Loser continues next Tuesday on NBC.

> Click here for our recap of the latest episode of The Biggest Loser

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