Personally, I thought this was the best season ever, even if I wasn't happy about who won.
Dan and David are friends, not cousins, David was NEVER into losing the weight. He wanted to go home and when he did, he continued smoking and eating whatever he wanted. Dan on the other hand I am SO proud of. He is really showing an effort and though he has a way to go, he looked SO MUCH better already.
Jerry....OMG!
He spent TWO weeks on the ranch, looked like he was going to die the first day and then ended up losing an insane amount! I think most people were expecting Nicole to be the runaway winner, or maybe Kristen. Nicole looked incredible, Kristen looked fantastic, even with her Pink haircut, but Jerry...you go! LOL!
Dane and Blaine...Dane really surprised me. He looked really good! I don't think I was expecting that big of a change in him.
Nicole looked FIERCE! Did you see those arms?! Damien looked good too.
Cathy looked good but I have to say her success was overshadowed by Kristen! She was working it out there!
However, the person I was MOST impressed by, the person that has been the biggest inspiration to me has been Ron. I know he isn't everyone's cup of tea but when I saw the scale hit
233!!!! I cried! From 430 to 233! He lost I have to say, with a few exceptions, everyone looked really good. He lost 40 pounds at home, which is incredible. He was only a couple pounds shy of winning the "at home" prize too. With all his health problems, a trip to the hospital during the show, multiple times he had to stop or do less because of his knee or shoulder...yet he NEVER gave up. That man made me cry more this season then I care to admit!
Not to leave out Mike. Mike was just as big of an inspiration and you can tell that he is going to pass what he learned on. To be that determined at 18 just blows my mind! I am Facebook friends with him and he has heart! He is going to be an incredible surgeon w/the kind of empathy he possess. He was only 4 pounds away from winning it all too. He lost more weight then he weighs now. That's incredible.
As for Tara and Helen....
Tara is one hard worker, that girl does NOT like to lose. I will admit to having less sympathy for her then anyone else. Its not that I didn't like her, but she was a model for crying out loud. She only got heavy in the last two years. I am not taking anything away from her amazing success or her drive to win but I personally have more empathy for someone that has had to overcome a lifetime of weight problems. She had many years of being thin...something many of the contestants never had.
Helen. As a mother, I do not understand her. To me, she was incredibly selfish letting Shannon go home. When I saw Shannon at the finale, I really hoped Helen would lose. Shannon looked amazing, but she still has a way to go and if she would have been allowed to stay at the ranch, she may have had more success. I don't care if she held her breath and cried saying she wanted to go home... (which she didn't...watch the unedited version of the episode where she goes home. That girl did not really want to go.) As a mother, I would have sent myself home. Cathy did it, Ron was willing to do it, only Helen put herself before her daughter and that angered me. I get that mom's have to do things for themselves and that Shannon isn't a baby anymore, but this wasn't about giving up a day off to babysit when you don't really want to or something like that, this is your child's HEALTH; her quality of life...to me, Helen staying was unforgivable. Forgive me fans of Helen, but that is how I feel. Her weight loss was incredible and she worked hard for it, but I can not be happy for her.
Finally, (and I am sure if you made it this far, your glad
) Aubrey.
Seeing Aubrey hurt the most. I realized that I am Aubrey. I have 4 kids instead of 5, but I remember watching her at home update and she had gained 9 pounds. She said by the finale she would be "x" amount of pounds...the finale came, she wasn't. She said she would continue...she hasn't figured out how to not let life get in her way yet and I get it. I am sure she has great days, and bad ones...a few in a row. Ups and downs on the scale, personal promises made, lots of time broken. I could almost feel her disappointment, sadness and maybe even a bit of embarrassment that she wasn't further along in her weight loss. It was all over her face. I know that look. Seeing Aubrey makes me want to keep going, not just for me, but for her and all the "Aubreys" out there.