We,like the other five hundred ladies were not there to enjoy a gourmet meal but to hear the life changing story of a special lady. Her name is Julie Hadden and she was on the Biggest Loser Season Four. As a faithful watcher of the show I remembered both her and the season that she made. She gave all of the inside scoop on the process to becoming a contestant and the open auditions in her hometown of Jacksonville, FLorida. From the time she began the process until the day she was a finalist and picked to be on the reality show, it took one full year.
She shared that during that year she did not even try to lose a pound because that was what she was trying to get on the show for, and she did not want to hurt her chances. She told us that once they made the final cut they had one hour to call whoever they needed to, spouses, employers, family, etc and then they would have no further contact until they left the Biggest Loser Ranch. She immediately called her husband and told him that she had made it and that she did not know when she would see him but hopefully it would be a long time.
Her first day on the ranch she met the host of the show, Allie McSweeney, the soap star, and she said she was star struck. She then saw Bob Harper and she said what first came to her mind, "Your much more handsome in person than on TV." She said that there were 18 contestants and they had a challenge the first day. The first two people to complete the race would be able to choose the teams. It was the hottest part of the day, 105 degrees. In this hot sun they expected these fat people to run! She said at the end of the race the first two people picked the teams. The only catch was each team could only have SIX people on them. She waited for the last person to be picked and to her horror she and five of the other unlucky ones were not picked! She said they all looked like the worst of the bunch, and they felt like losers!
The unlucky six were sent to the last chance diner and told to wait for the shuttle van to take them back to the hotel. But before they could get to where they were going a maniac dressed in all black leather came soaring up on a black motorcycle. She said they were in shock and did not fully understand what was going on. Didn't this crazy person see that they were filming a show here? The two hour show you see on TV is actually take after take. Six and eight hours of doing the same scenes over and over, and these six fat, no obese people were hot, tired and disgusted that they had made it this far but were being sent home after not even losing ONE pound!
The motorcycle maniac swerved around and came to an abrupt halt right in front of them. In almost slow motion, the person stood up and swung their leg over the motorcycle, took their helmet off and swung that beautiful dark brown mane over to one side, and smiled a wicked smile. "Hello My Black Team!". Yes, it was the drill sergeant Jillian. She explained that her plans had changed and instead of taking the season off the show for season four she decided to work off-campus with her Black Team. None of the other players or trainers knew of their existence or that Jillian was back in black, with a vengeance.
I hope I wet your appetite with my story because to the best of my ability this is what was shared in the first five or ten minutes. There is no way I could ever do justice to her testimony / story, but you can now read it for yourself. Julie Hadden has written a book about her journey called Fat Chance and it is available at Lifeway Christian bookstores. Check it out, I know I want to pick up a copy myself.
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