Fed: Oldest contestant Bob wins Loser, shedding a record 87.6kg

AAP General News (Australia)
04-27-2009
Fed: Oldest contestant Bob wins Loser, shedding a record 87.6kg

EDS: Strictly Embargoed until 2230 (AEST) Monday, April 27, 2009

By Katherine Field, National Entertainment Writer

SYDNEY, April 27 AAP - The oldest-ever contestant on Australia's version of The Biggest
Loser, Bob Herdsman, has shed a record breaking 87.6kg to win the latest series and $200,000
in prize money.

Entering the television reality series competition weighing 167.8kg, the 57-year-old
shed more than half his body weight, and is now just 80.2kg.

It's the most weight a competitor has dropped in four years of the series.

But it looks like the major prize money will stay in the family, as Herdsman just pipped
his 27-year-old daughter-in-law Tiffany Herdsman who weighed in at 47.62 per cent less
than her starting weight of 113.6kg, losing 54.1kg.

She now weighs 59.5kg, and won $30,000.

Queenslanders Sharif Deen came third, with Sammy Fisher fourth.

A woman has never won The Biggest Loser.

Herdsman, from Stratham in Western Australia, said winning meant that his wife could
now rest easy.

"She thinks she's got her boy back that she married," Herdsman told AAP on Monday.

"I was a slim guy when she married me. I think she thinks I'm back at last.

"She doesn't have to be frightened every night, worried that I'm going to die in the night."

He said he was "ashamed" of himself before he entered the Network Ten competition and
would work hard to keep the weight off.

Herdsman says he'd now like to help others by mentoring obese people.

"I really hope that I can because I know what it's like to be obese," he said.

"I know the pain. I know the anguish."

Herdsman put down his win to pure hard work knowing he was the oldest in the "couples
competition".

"I'm ashamed of the way I allowed myself to become," he said.

"I was really only trying to rectify something that I should never have allowed in
the first place."

Despite concerns from some doctors that dramatic weight loss was unhealthy, Herdsman
said he felt great.

"I'm very very fit and healthy," he said.

"I've been on blood pressure and cholesterol medication for many years.

"I'm off all those now.

"My blood pressure is that of an athlete."

He added that he didn't think cosmetic surgery was necessary, as he didn't have much
overhanging skin.

As for being recognised - Herdsman said it had been crazy, but he wasn't expecting
the same reaction in his home town.

"It's bigger in Sydney. In our town, you have to have a special antenna to get channel
Ten," Herdsman said.

"So if they watch it they have to watch it on the WIN channel about 11'oclock at night.

"But here, in Sydney, oh my goodness, it's huge.

"People mob us and all kinds of things, it's crazy."

Herdsman says he plans to put some of the prize money into his retirement.

"And maybe a nice little holiday somewhere," he said.

AAP kaf/ht/cdh

KEYWORD: LOSER EMBARGOED (PIX AVAIL, FACTBOX)

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