The Biggest Loser's Wicked Witch Is Dead! (But Maybe She Wasn't So Rotten After All?)

Melissa swears that she wasn't playing the game when she gained a pound

By Jennifer Godwin Feb 10, 2010 9:22 PMTags
The Biggest Loser, Hosts, Melissa MorganNBC Photo: Trae Patton

OK, so it seemed like The Biggest Loser's Red Team queen Melissa Morgan was a shrewd little shrew who was going to manipulate her way to the end of the game. But last night's shocking 1-pound gain put her under the red line and eliminated her from the game for good, so maybe, just maybe, she wasn't the playah that we all thought she was?

We just talked to Melissa, who swears she's just misunderstood, saying, "Week two and week three were absolutely not game play. That was as real as real can be—I'm just hoping that the plus 1 [pound] from last night validates what I've been saying through the entire season, which is, 'I'm not playing the game, I'm really struggling with my weight here.' "

So did Melissa ever make nice with Bob and Jillian, and how is she losing the weight at home? Here's the latest from the controversial Biggest Loser contestant:

Things have not been smoothed over between Melissa and Jillian. As Melissa says, "We didn't see eye-to-eye on things. I didn't have the chance to speak with Jillian after the weigh-in that aired last night, so I don't know what her position is at this point. I would hope that that validates for her that I wasn't playing the game early on." However, her relationship with Bob and the rest of the contestants is better, says Melissa: "Bob apologized when he and I spoke...[But] the relationships I had with the people in the house were good relationships...with the exception of the Green Team. Obviously everyone knows the drama with the Green Team. I didn't feel like there were any serious issues [with anybody else] when I left."

Melissa says that her split with the trainers was hurtful to her: "Bob and Jillian were on a pedestal, and my heart was broken that they didn't trust that I was telling the truth." Now, she says, she sees things differently and she feels wiser for it: "I realized that Bob and Jillian never should have been placed on a pedestal. Like a lot of other people, I thought that you have to have Bob and Jillian to make a change in your life, and while I still adore them and think they do wonderful, wonderful things, I think the more important thing is to put yourself on the pedestal. You need to be thinking positive thoughts about yourself and what you can do for yourself, because at the end of the day, you're the only person that matters."

So why did Melissa have such a struggle keeping the pounds off, especially when she was such a fierce competitor? According to Melissa, "I lost 19 pounds in week one—that is a huge number for someone my size—and so the second week, I just chalked up to maybe there were some fluctuations in water, or did I have too much sodium that week? I really didn't freak out too bad. But when I got into week three, with only 1 pound, I started really freaking out at that point. I literally left the scale and said I've got to talk to Dr. Huizenga, because I've got to figure out what's going on. The night before the week-three weigh-in, I did start my menstrual cycle and Dr. Huizenga told me that would make a difference—that could be anywhere from six to eight pounds of water retention—but he also told me that I was the only woman in the house who had gained any muscle at all. So everyone knows that muscle is heavier than fat, so I think those things played a factor in that two-week net-zero loss."

As for her success losing weight at home, Melissa offers these tips and suggestions to fellow "losers":

"I have taken soda out. We were huge into soda, but I have taken it out, because there's just so much yuck in soda."

"I've gotten rid of so much of the processed food. I've tried to bring in clean food: fruits and vegetables and nuts."

"There is another way that I measure how I'm doing, and that is by taking body measurements—I measure my waist, my hips, my thighs, my arms, my chest. And if I can see a difference in that, I know that I am making a difference, regardless of what the scale tells me, because the scale is not the be-all, end-all in being healthy. For me, the key is being healthy, not being 125 pounds."

So do you still think Melissa is Machiavellian, or was she just too smart and competitive for her own good? And who are your Biggest Loser faves this season? We're rooting for Stephanie, Darus and the gorgeous Gray Team—what about you? Hit the comments!

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Follow Kristin Dos Santos on Twitter, @kristinalert.