'The Biggest Loser' SeasonWinning Trainer Praises Show: 'I Had a Great Time' Shaunee FlowersAugust 20, 2025 at 11:23 PM Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images 'The Biggest Loser' SeasonWinning Trainer Praises Show: 'I Had a Great Time' originally appeared on Parade.
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Shaunee FlowersAugust 20, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
'The Biggest Loser' Season-Winning Trainer Praises Show: 'I Had a Great Time' originally appeared on Parade.
The new Netflix docuseries Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser has sparked many conversations about the controversial weight loss competition, but it turns out not all experiences on the show were bad.
Season 18 of The Biggest Loser Was the First and Last Rebooted Season
Season 18 was the first to air on the USA Network and was considered a reboot after years off-air. Airing in 2020, The Biggest Loser hadn't been on TV since 2016, when Season 17 aired on NBC.
After a string of controversies, including criticism of the extreme weight loss methods on the show, the temptation challenges, and a lack of mental health support both on and after the show, production aimed to change everything about The Biggest Loser and help a new crop of contestants lose weight in a much healthier way.
Former trainer Bob Harper took over as host, and there were only two teams. Steve Cook led the Blue Team, and Erica Lugo led the Red Team.
What set Season 18 apart from previous seasons was the change in focus from weight loss to overall wellness. Rather than doing whatever it took to drop weight fast, The Biggest Loser taught these contestants about nutrition and mental health.
Lugo explained in a video shared on TikTok that the daily calorie intake for contestants was increased to healthier amounts that still encouraged weight loss. Despite the massive changes to the show, Season 18 was the only one included in the reboot and The Biggest Loser was canceled.
Erica Lugo Shares Her Experience as a Trainer on The Biggest Loser
Erica Lugo became famous after losing 160 pounds and documenting her weight loss on Instagram. Due to her social media fame, she was asked to work as a trainer on the rebooted Season 18 of The Biggest Loser.
While she was skeptical at first, Lugo explained, "I had a great time" on The Biggest Loser as she led her team to victory. Her Red Team member, Jim DiBattista, lost 144 pounds to win that final season.
During her two-part conversation about her time as a trainer on The Biggest Loser, she spoke in-depth about the experience, explaining that she and Cook insisted on training their teams "the right way."
Lugo took aim at the temptation challenges, where contestants were put in front of trays of junk food or forced to eat the most calories to win a prize, saying that she would never go for something like that. In Season 18, those kinds of challenges were not included.
In Part 2, Lugo explained that during Season 18, production was unhappy with Lugo and Cook because the contestants weren't losing weight fast enough due to the changes made in the format to highlight healthier weight loss.
She spoke about how she and Cook refused to push their teams harder and encourage them to lose more weight because they were "doing it the right way" and would not be encouraging them to take the focus off their health in order to win.
Erica Lugo is Still Helping Women Lose Weight
Part of the reason Erica Lugo praises her one season of The Biggest Loser is because she says without it, she wouldn't have some of the opportunities that she does now—one of those being her even bigger social media platform.
Related: Alison Sweeney Calls Jillian Michaels Confrontation On 'The Biggest Loser' 'Terrifying'
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A post shared by Hormonal Health Coach for Women 30+ (@ericafitlove)
Lugo has 688,000 Instagram followers with whom she shares information and advice on how women can overcome hormonal weight gain. Another 78,000 follow her on TikTok.
Since her time on The Biggest Loser, Lugo has also appeared in segments on the Today showand Access Hollywood.
Related: Alison Sweeney Opens Up About 'Horrible' Challenge On 'The Biggest Loser'
'The Biggest Loser' Season-Winning Trainer Praises Show: 'I Had a Great Time' first appeared on Parade on Aug 20, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
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