The winner of this season of The Biggest Loser was literally the BIGGEST loser. Mike Ventrella shattered the show’s previous weight loss records, dropping 264 pounds and 50.19 percent of his body fat. Read on as the chatty Chicagoan talks about his relationship with fellow Biggest Loser Ashley, his love for his mother, and his commitment to end childhood obesity and actually make those high school PE classes worthwhile.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First of all, congratulations! Have you been able to wrap your head around it yet?
MIKE VENTRELLA: I just got off the phone with my buddy who said that I left a bunch of stuff at the hotel in California and I’m obviously in New York! I’m like, “Oh my god I’m like forgetting everything!” Like seriously, Emily, I’m still in competitive mode. Being on the plane for six hours coming from California to New York, I’m, like, frantic in my seat looking around for a spin bike.
Going into the finale did you think that you could win? What were you feeling?
I was feeling that I had a 50-50 chance. Ashley and I both agreed that if Koli got voted in that he would beat both of us and so we collaborated forces and honored Daris’ wish of being in the top three. And you know I had all our supporters help Daris out and, that way, me and Ashley felt like we only had each other to compete against. It might seem odd to everybody else, but as competitive as Ashley and I were towards one other and understanding that, we were so compassionate because we’re friends. And that’s what it’s about, pushing the other person to reach their goal and to help them succeed because Ashley and I are feeling the same thing, you know? The finale for Biggest Loser was last night but the finale for our weight loss is quite awhile away. [For] me even more than her. I mean she looks great, but I still have a way to go so it’s kind of hard for me to swallow and be like “Yay!” because I know I still have a lot of hard work ahead of me. READ FULL STORY »
Rob Lowe is Brad Pitting it out with a grizzly beard and hobo hat for his three-episode stint as “Eddie Nero” on Showtime’s Californication. Mandi Bierly and I are a bit hypnotized but mostly horrified. “I want him looking his best on a show about sex,” she says, whereas I am digging the scruff but wish it didn’t extend more than an inch below the natural slope of his chinny chin chin. We both agree that if Rob Lowe looked like this in his real life as Rob Lowe, instead of in his fictional life as a TV character, our minds would explode. “The scruffiest he should look is in About Last Night,” Mandi says, “wearing sweat pants playing baseball in the park.” Wow, she’s so cool. [
Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, who blatantly foreshadowed her 
