The Biggest Loser Asia is a reality television series that began broadcasting on the Hallmark Channel in Asia on November 24, 2009. The show is a spin-off of the American programme The Biggest Loser, in which overweight and obese contestants attempt to lose weight for a large sum of money. David Gurnani emerged as the champion of the first season, winning US$100,000 and Renault sponsored by TC Euro Cars. The first season was recorded at the A Famosa Resort in Malacca, Malaysia during late 2009. It is hosted by Malaysian television personality, Sarimah Ibrahim. The trainers are Kristy Curtis, who is the Group Exercise Manager from Fitness First Australia and Dave Nuku, who is the Fitness First Asia's Regional Fitness Manager will train the red and blue team, respectively.

Contestants After the audition, 30 contestants were brought to the filming location. From there, 16 contestants were chosen by the trainers after an elimination challenge. The other 14 who were not chosen were sent home.

Contestant1 Team2 Starting Weight Status Total votes Desmond Charles, 31Red Team 123 kg Quit Week 1 0 Delfin Bacho (Del), 38Red Team 143 kg Removed Week 2 0 Nurai'Sha Binti Hassan (Aisha), 35Red Team 109 kg Eliminated Week 2 4/7 Leonore Lorelei Veronica Hipe Llamas III (Goddess), 33Blue Team 81 kg Eliminated Week 3 4/8 Garry Holden, 41Red Team 120 kg Eliminated Week 4 3/6 Damietha Mataram, 28Blue Team 97 kg Eliminated Week 5 4/6 Rashmi Jaiswal, 32Red Team 117 kg Eliminated Week 6 3/5 Nadia Yusof, 32Red Team 133 kg Eliminated Week 7 3/4 Mohammad Hafiz Bin Amat, 25Blue Team 167 kg Eliminated Week 8 3/6 Christine White, 27Red Team 128 kg Eliminated Week 9 3/6 Kevin Yue, 27Red Team 215 kg Eliminated Week 10 3/5 Suthat Charnvises (Tony), 36Blue Team 136 kg Eliminated Week 11 3/4 Marilyn Tay, 30Blue Team158 kg Eliminated Week 12 04 Martha Lai, 19Blue Team 127 kg 3rd Runner-Up Aaron Mokhtar, 30Blue Team 159 kg 2nd Runner-Up Carlo Miguel3, 32Red Team 132 kg Runner Up David Gurnani, 25Blue Team 157 kg The Biggest Loser 1. The contestants' name on the weigh-in screen may different

2. Starting in week 9, the teams were then dissolved and the contestants will compete as individuals in the Black Team

3. Carlo filled in Del's vacated spot after he was removed in Episode 2

4. The yellow line determined the elimination. Marilyn was in the 4th place, but Martha's immunity meant Marilyn would be below the yellow line and was eliminated

At home contestants Contestant Starting Weight Shen Ow, 26 95 kg Zul Mohammad "Big Zul", 32 200 kg Amanpreet Kaur, 19 142 kg Austine Casenas, 35 134 kg (2nd Place) Ruby Rodriguez-Aquino, 43 96 kg (4th Place) Perfecto Arturo Dillera, 32 158 kg (3rd Place) Nurasjikin Binti Azman, 25 116 kg Herukh Jethwani, 26 139 kg Jonathan Pravin, 19 138 kg Amreek Singh, 33 128 kg Simran Kaur Hari Singh, 23 154 kg Zenny Salihuddin, 19 104 kg (Winner) Alicia Wing (Allie), 46 124 kg

At the finale, it was revealed that the contestants were secretly having their own competition, each having their own Fitness First trainers. The top four were announced. Ruby lost 20 kg (20.83%), P.A. (his nickname) lost 36 kg (22.78%), Austine lost 37 kg (27.61%) and Zenny lost 33 kg (31.73%). She won $10,000, $2,000 courtesy of PayPal and a lifetime membership in Fitness First. Her trainer, Fidie, won a trip to Gold Coast, Australia with $1000 allowance.

Weigh-ins The weights are measured in Kilograms.

ContestantAgeStartingweightWeekFinaleWeightlostPercentageof Weight LostPercentageof Fat LostTotal1234567891011DAVID25157144140135129125122122114112106102748353%45%98CARLO321321271221201161141101071041029390834937% 27%64AARON30159149146141137135131129122119115113996038% 25%63MARTHA191271191171131111091091061011019897874031% 18%49MARILYN301581491451411371361341301251221191163TONY3613612612612112012211211210610399KEVIN27215203200194191188184181177174CHRISTINE27128119117113111109105103102HAFIZ25167153149145141138134132NADIA32133126124119117115111RASHMI32117111108106105103DAMIETTA28979390X288GARRY41120113110106LEONORE33817573AISHA35109102DEL381431361DESMOND31123 Teams Member of Kristy's team Member of Dave's team

Game Week's Biggest Loser Immunity (Challenge) Week's Biggest Loser & Immunity (Challenge) Last person eliminated before the finale

Notes 1. Since Carlo, who took Del's spot, didn't go through the entire week, Del's weight loss was added to the Red Team's total. 2. Mietta was not weighed since she was taken to the hospital for a blood test due to a fever. 3. Marilyn was immediately eliminated for having the lowest percentage in the Elimination Weigh-In. She came in 4th place, but was pushed below the line by Martha, who had immunity

Weight Loss History

ContestantWeekFinale1234567891011David -13-4-5-6-4-3-0-8-2-6-4 -28Carlo -5-5-2-4-2-4-3-3-2-9-3 -7Aaron -10-3-5-4-2-4-2-7-3-4-2 -14Martha -8-2-4-2-2-0-3-5-0-3-1 -10Marilyn -9-4-4-4-1-2-4-5-3-3-3Tony -10-0-5-1+2-10-0-6-3-4Kevin -12-3-6-3-3-4-3-4-3Christine -9-2-4-2-2-4-2-1Hafiz -14-4-4-4-3-4-2Nadia -7-2-5-2-2-4Rashmi -6-3-2-1-2Damietta -4-3X-2Garry -7-3-4Goddess -6-2Aisha -7Del -7Desmond

Notes Bold means that he/she was the biggest loser of the week.

Elimination voting history

NameWeek 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6Week 7Week 8Week 9Week 10Week 11Week 12EliminatedAishaGoddessGarryDamiettaRashmiNadiaHafizChristineKevinTonyMarilynDavidXGoddessXDamiettaXXHafizChristineKevinMarthaXCarlo?XRashmiXRashmiNadiaXSarimah3MarthaTonyXAaronXGoddessXDamiettaXXHafiz?KevinTonyXMarthaXGoddessXDamiettaXX?ChristineXXXMarilynX?XDamiettaXXHafizChristineKevinTonyEliminated Week 124TonyXTonyXX1XX???XEliminated Week 11KevinAishaXNadiaXRashmiNadiaXXXEliminated Week 10ChristineRashmiXGarryXRashmiNadiaXXEliminated Week 9HafizX?X?XXI ♥ Christine2Eliminated Week 8NadiaAishaXGarryXChristineKevinEliminated Week 7RashmiAishaXGarryXChristineEliminated Week 6DamiettaXGoddessX?Eliminated Week 5GarryAishaXRashmiEliminated Week 4GoddessXDamiettaEliminated Week 3AishaRashmiEliminated Week 2 Immunity Below yellow line, unable to vote Not in elimination, unable to vote Vote not revealed Eliminated Last person eliminated before finale Valid vote cast

Notes 1. Tony could not attend the elimination at Week 5 as he was in the Prince Court Medical Hospital due to kidney stones.

2. Hafiz did not want to write anyone of the Blue Team's name. Instead, he wrote his affections for Christine on the card.

3. Carlo could not bear to vote for either of his countrymen, so instead, he ended up voting for the host to make Biggest Loser history.

4. Marilyn was automatically eliminated for falling below the yellow line in the Elimination Weigh-In.

Episode Summaries

Episode 101: "The Relentless Pursuit" The episode shows the auditions held at the Fitness First outlets in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Episode 102: "Bring It On!" The chosen 30 were taken to the a field in A Famosa Resort in Malacca, Malaysia, where they were greeted by the host, who, later, told them to pair up and face an on-the-spot elimination challenge. They would perform three different forms of exercises and the trainers will choose 8 people each to join their team. The Red Team consists of Del, Aisha, Garry, Christine, Desmond, Rashmi, Nadia and Kevin, while The Blue Team consists of Leonore (a.k.a. Goddess), David, Marilyn, Tony, Damietha, Aaron, Martha and Hafiz, a paramedic who lost his job to get there. The rest were sent home.

That night the team checked out the villa. The next day they were given a small talk on nutrition and then taken to their first exercise, where The Reds were facing a hard time with the notably tough exercise, while Damietha fell into a pothole and twisted her ankle in the simpler workout, which resulted in her taken to the hospital. After training, the humorous Desmond went to Kristy and said that he was homesick, felt pressure from being looked up to and the exercise was too hard. Kristy told him to think long and hard with his decision. That night, he phoned "baby" to consult. She said that she missed him and should return home. He was still unsure what to do. The next day, Damietha return from the hospital, with a crutch.

The team were introduced to their gym were taken to their first ever weigh-in to find out their starting weights. Desmond was last to weigh and announced that he has decided to pull out of the show, stating that his heart is not there. He left the room, leaving a sad Red Team behind.

Episode 103: "Red Alert!" The Red Team became even more demoralized because Del, who initially injured his arm during a Typhoon before the show having to leave for a surgery, as he had to have surgery for his then dislocated elbow. Kristy surprised them the next day by bringing back Carlo, who was originally one of the 14 who were not selected. In his first workout, he was shown to be strong.

In the first challenge, a team member will race up a flight of stairs to a water slide at A Famosa Water World. He/She would then raise up a flag, signalling the next one to go. The last member will race up and go down the slide. The winning team will spend the day at the park. Damietha sat out due to her recovering ankle. The Blue Team had a lead which grew stronger and they finished before the last Red, Carlo, even took his turn.

Kevin, during a workout, had a headache and then suffered hypoglycemia in bed. He was sent to the ambulance and returned normal the next day.

At the weigh-in, Goddess, the smallest Blue sat out. Since Carlo did not have as much time of training, Del's weight loss was added to the Red Team's. They led the entire weigh-in, until David, second to last, lost 13 kg. Hafiz lost 14 kg, giving his team victory, 68 to 60 and the title of the week's Biggest Loser. After rumours, deals and discussions, Rashmi received 2 votes for being the weakest while Aisha received 4 votes as her members thought she was strong enough to continue her journey at home. She said to us that she wanted to be at 50 kg.

Episode 104: "The Plateau Effect"

Kristy is still proud of her team. She reminded them that there will eventually be a plateau in the Blue Team's weight loss and to keep focus. Meanwhile, The Blue Team played a convincing prank on Dave, telling him they lost the weigh-in, its fake details and voted out Hafiz, who later surprised him by sneaking in through a door behind him. He was happy and they were then reminded not to be confident with their victory.

One night, Carlo made a Skype call to her wife and discovered that she was pregnant with their first child. He told everyone and they were happy for him. Later, they suggested names for the baby.

The challenge had 3 team members taking turns running across a paintball field while an opposing team member shoots paintballs at him/her. Marilyn and Mietta sat out. The Blue Team won with five hits to one, earning themselves a night bowling at the A Famosa's Cowboy Town, while The Red Team were punished to reluctantly clean the villa, both sides.

The weigh-in had The Blue Team sitting out their two smallest members, Mietta and Goddess. All the numbers appeared lower than last week. Tony eventually needed 2 kilos for a second win. He lost nothing and The Red Team won 18–17.

While discussing about the elimination, the team agreed that the voting will be done by integrity. It ended up 4 votes to Goddess, 1 for Mietta, and a vote from Tony to himself, which Sarimah said to be a Biggest Loser first. Goddess than had and intense, emotional blow-up, stating that she was the outcast, the vote were based on popularity and accused the team deliberately alienated her. They argued until Sarimah stopped her at a point. In her parting words, she said if they lose, they'll know one of the reasons why: it's because they voted out the wrong girl.

Episode 105: "Two Face"