The Biggest Loser winner Michael Ventrella chatted in an NBC conference call sharing his entire experience with us! Michael talks about his journey on the ranch, his bond with Ashley and what he plans to do with the quarter million dollar prize!
Did you ever think you'd make it this far? Were there any struggles that you had to overcome?
Michael: I thought there was going to be a lot of different things that might interfere with my journey. Being at 526 you have no hope for a future. You have no hope. I knew that I was going to give it my all and I knew that I would be relentless at my efforts of healthy but I surpassed my wildest dreams.
On this season, Stephanie and Sam found love in each other, are you dating anyone right now?
Michael: My love life is nonexistent. The only thing that I’m learning to love is myself and that’s the only thing I have time for right now because I haven’t done that ever. I never learned how to respect myself, respect my body and take care of me. So before I learn to love somebody else I need to learn how to love myself. I’m still not done with my journey, the finale for my weight loss is yet to come.
What are you planning to do with your $250,000 grand prize?
Michael: Get out of debt, at least try to. We’ll see what happens. So as I’m losing weight I’m getting things sorted out and I’m really cleaning up my life in every angle.
You and Ashley seem to have grown really close through out the competition, what's it like to compete with someone you're so close to?
Michael: Ashley and I’s relationship is just phenomenal. She’s like my twin, not evil twin, but my twin. We encourage each other and push each other to our limits and see what we’re possibly capable of and we’re always comforting each other because deep down to the root of things we started off this whole journey feeling the same things, going through the same things.
You two seem to be flirting a lot, is there something more we could expect from you two?
Michael: We flirt, we joke around, like we like getting a rise out of people when they say, “Are you guys dating?” And we look at each other and just like giggle. So but I mean if it ever went past that I think it would ruin it. We both talked about it. I mean there’s obviously - we’re obviously attracted to one another, you know, physically, characteristically, personality, mind, you know, soul, spirit, but it’s just one of those things where, you know, if it just went past that it just wouldn’t work.
Is there something that you've always wanted to do that you couldn't do before when you were heavier?
Michael: Yeah. I’d love to go to a theme park with all my cousins and ride a roller coaster and be a kid for the first time in my life. I am thinner now and have a smaller waist at 31 than I did when I was like 13 or 14. So I never got to experience what being a kid really was and I want to do that. And I love kids. I love to be around them. I like to be playful and I love my family.
Your sister Rosangela was featured on the show a couple of times. We notice that she looks up to you a lot, has she ever thought about auditioning for next season?
Michael: I know that she did audition after - while I was away. I don’t really know, because I haven’t had the time to sit down and talk to her, what came out of it. With my sister the progression, like as far as how she’s going to tackle the weight loss, is a lot different than me because I knew I was already on the first or second step. I knew that there was a problem that I had to take care of. Now my sister, she just is in the middle of Step 1 where she’s assessing that, you know, “Yeah, I’m not happy like this. And I’m not healthy. I don’t feel good about myself. I’m starting to feel all the effects of what being a heavy person, you know, feels, you know, feeling exile and feeling unwanted, feeling unhappy and feeling depressed and all those things.” I have yet to feel that she is ready to totally encompass everything that you need to do it because let’s face it folks, it’s not a magical pill overnight, it’s not a special, you know, DVD or piece of machinery. It’s hard work.
Congrats to Michael for his successful weight-loss and winning the title of The Biggest Loser!
Check out the runner-up's before and after looks:
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