Biggest Loser: Who Will Win?

We’ll find out who this season’s “Biggest Loser” is during this  Thursday night’s two-hour finale. Predicting a winner from the Final Three is like picking the Academy Awards. You can give an educated guess, but you never know for sure.

Sonya Jones, age 40, has been the most consistent from week to week, and she’s also lost the highest percentage of weight loss so far (42.4%). From Facebook comments, fans also seem to really like her gracious, easy-going personality.

Sonya started at 283, and as of last week’s episode, weighed 163.  So it will be hard for her to lose an incredible amount of weight at home, unless she pulls a “Rachel Frederickson” and gets down to skin and bone.

Rob Guiry, 26, of Springfield, Mass., started with the most weight to lose, at 483. He’s now lost 37.5% of his weight, the lowest percentage of the

three finalists. In last week’s episode, he was down to 315. So he has weight to spare;  is he pushed hard, he could conceivably drop another 100 pounds, depending on how much time the contestants are at home.

But, does he have the determination to push hard on his own? Both his weight loss and his emotions have been a roller coaster. He lost 33 pounds the first week, but other weeks lost only one or two pounds.  Some viewers have been turned off by his emotional outbursts. But there’s also a kind side to him. When he won a phone call home, he gave it to Lori Harrigan-Mack, knowing that she was missing her family so much.

During an interview with Lori, she said, “I have a special place for Rob in my heart,” and noted that viewers don’t see everything that goes on. She also pointed out that previously, Rob used food instead of dealing with his emotions. Now, he’s learning to handle them differently.

“Rob, I truly believe, is working through how he was

handling it before …. He’s not afraid to show everybody how he feels, and if that’s what he needs to do to work through this process, then I’m happy for him,” Lori said. “So my heart goes out to him because I know that he’ll eventually get there.”

Toma Dobrosavljevich has flown under the radar during most of the season. Bob Harper praised his willingness to work hard and do whatever trainers asked of him in the gym. He’s had some really good weeks, but he’s also narrowly missed elimination. In Week 11, he actually gained a pound. But the group voted to send home Scott Mitchell, who lost no weight that week. (I suspect those who voted for Scott saw him as the bigger threat.)  During the Makeover Week, Toma lost only 1 pound and would have been eliminated if not for the last-

minute “surprise” that nobody was going to be sent home that week.

Starting at 336, Toma has lost almost 41% of his weight. At 199, he is practically down to an ideal weight already. So it’s not like he can drop a whole lot more. (Although last season’s Rachel Frederickson has taught us to never say never!)

The at-home prize is another big question. Matt, Mike, Woody, Rhondalee or Scott are strong possibilities.  But again, if you start out with a higher percentage of body weight, the odds of losing more are in your favor.

Another big question is, who will keep off the weight that they’ve lost? And who seems inclined to gain it back?

I’m interested in hearing more opinions on this!