Biggest Loser: Deni Hill’s Injury in Mongolia

TV viewers may remember Deni Hill, the at-home winner of Season 11’s “The Biggest Loser.” For the past year, she has been in Mongolia with her husband Dell, serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).

A few weeks ago, Deni (or “Sister Hill,” as she’s referred to during her mission) reported on her Facebook page that she “tripped and fell, broke my arm. I need pins to fix it.”

She added, “Two of my worst fears realized, falling and surgery in Mongolia. My trust is in The Lord, I know I’ll be OK.”

The photo showed Deni holding an X-ray. Another photo showed some very painful-looking purple bruises on her left arm, and a comment that the X-rays were being sent to doctors in Salt Lake. So apparently, Sister Hill decided to get a second opinion before going under the knife in Mongolia.

Then Dell’s post said, “Your prayers were heard. The Dr. said that she will need physical therapy and NO SURGERY. The arm is back where it is supposed to be and we will go back to our home in Erdenet tomorrow. She is in pain but we are sooooo blessed.”

Several later photos showed Deni with her arm in a sling and wrapped with bandages.  It looks painful, but it sounds like she’s on the road to recovery.  She also wrote, “Thank you all for your love and prayers. It is my left arm, thank goodness!…. This is a new adventure. (Just wish it was a painless one!) Love you all!!!”

I got to know Deni when she was a member of the Skills Fitness gym in Centerville. At the time, she had just been eliminated from the Biggest Loser campus. We had fun in Body Jam class while she worked to lose the highest percentage of weight in time for the season finale.  She was successful, losing from 256 to 131 pounds, and winning $100,000.

Since then, she’s given motivational speeches about her “Biggest Loser” experience, and has run in local 5Ks, 10Ks, and so on. (In 2011, she walked with me in the Deseret News 5K, and didn’t even break a sweat!)  She has been involved with local weight loss programs, including one called Beyond Weight Loss.  She also attended some of the other “Biggest Loser” finales.

Often when you watch a reality series, you want to know what happens to those people after the show ends.  They’re not actors playing a role, they are real people with real lives, and they go back to the real world  — or Mongolia, if  you’re Deni Hill.