Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BOUNTIFUL -- A Bountiful woman won a $100,000 at-home prize on NBC TV's show "The Biggest Loser" Tuesday night.
Deni Hill beat out 17 other contestants who also had been eliminated from the show earlier in the season and were competing for the at-home prize.
Hill shed 125 pounds, nearly 49 percent of her body weight, during the experience. We caught up with her before she headed to Los Angeles for the show's finale.
When we last saw Deni on "Biggest Loser" in February, she had dropped about 60 pounds. Now, "My goal is 128 pounds. That would be half. Right at this moment, I am at 133," she told us.
Meeting that goal has taken a lot of hard work and determination. "With the support of my husband I quit my job and made this my ultimate job," she said.
Deni works out every day with a trainer at a gym, and later in the day at a recreation center. She's even taken up Zumba and Bikram yoga.
"It's just been really amazing to see what I can do and what this 59-year-old, almost 60-year-old body can do," she said.
"I"ve always heard, ‘You have to change your lifestyle. You have to change your lifestyle.' Actually, doing it for seven months, I think I've really got it now," she commented.
Deni competed on the show with her daughter, Sarah Nitta. Deni actually gained weight to get herself voted off and keep her daughter on the show.
"For me, it's about stopping the cycle of overeating, and that's what this is all about. It's about being a mom and taking care of her kids," she said.
Eventually Sarah went home from the show, too.
"She's done really, really well," Deni said. "You'll be surprised at how many of us have hit the 100 mark and gone past it."
Each season, the "Biggest Loser" inspires millions. But Deni says she and the competitors on the show aren't the real champions.
"I'm really excited about the people who do it at home on their own. They are my heroes. They watch (the show) and they say, 'If they can do it, I can do it.' And they do it," Deni told us.
Justin Pope from Logan also participated in "Biggest Loser." His final weigh-in on Tuesday's show proved he lost 173 pounds, more than 47 percent of his body weight. Pope went from 365 pounds to 192 pounds.
"Nobody's weak, everybody's strong and everybody's going to see us loud and proud," he said.
Justin's teammate, former Olympian Rulon Gardner, did not attend the finale.
Olivia Ward was named the "biggest loser" on the national scale.
Written with contributions from Tonya Papanikolas.
