On last month’s season 5 finale of
The Biggest Loser, the Kruger brothers were big threats to take home the two prizes awarded by the show. Already eliminated,
Jay had hoped to become
The Biggest Loser at home while his brother,
Mark, was a member of the final four contestants vying for the grand prize. Mark’s bad luck started when America did not choose him to be in the final three and compete for $250,000. Then, he lost by just one pound to Bernie Salazar for
The Biggest Loser at home. Though the brothers didn’t take home any cash, they got a lot more out of the experience than they ever dreamed of. The two recently reflected on the journey they’ve made in the last year.
Mark and Jay were approached by a casting agent while at a ballgame. "When they came up to us outside of Fenway Park, I didn't even think I needed to be on that show or was big enough to be on the show ... until I went home that night and looked in the mirror and said, 'Oh my God, I really have let things go way beyond where they needed to be.' I wasn't even thinking about working out,” Mark said.
After giving it some thought, the brothers decided to head to the show. The decision ended up being very difficult for them, as they had to leave their wives behind to take care of things. "They had to maintain the households, watch two kids, cart them around with virtually no help, doing it basically on their own, and the only support system they had was each other,” Mark said of his wife and sister-in-law.
The brothers gained a reputation for shedding a lot of tears while on
The Biggest Loser. Even a month after the show has ended, they still can’t seem to escape a good joke or two about it. "One day we came out and we had these magnetic strips on our vehicles that said, 'Watch out for falling teardrops,' and 'Warning, may cry at any moment’," said Jay.
One thing that Mark has noticed the most since leaving the show is the change in his appetite. "I can't get enough (vegetables) now. I can't eat enough broccoli. I love broccoli," he said. Jay looks back and said that he never joined the show to become a celebrity. He is currently raising awareness about Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome, a disease that his daughter was born with.
- Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Source: SouthCoastToday.com
(Image courtesy of NBC)