At last night’s Finale, Olivia Ward was crowned the Biggest Loser. While her weight loss journey is certainly incredible, it’s not what fans of the show wanted to talk about. What they really wanted to know is where the hell was Rulon Gardner and why wasn’t he at the Finale?!
Luckily for you, The Ashley attended the Finale (and the after party, which was completely full of past contestants) and the scoop from some of the show’s former contestants and production people! It’s amazing what people will tell you once they get some drinks in them!
Just FYI: this should be filed under ‘rumor,’ because, of course, the shows producers didn’t confirm it but The Ashley talked to multiple good sources that said this is basically the way things went down.
Anyway, according to a former contestant who’s still very much in the ‘Biggest Loser’ loop, the reason Rulon wasn’t at the Finale last night because the show’s producers didn’t want him there!
The reason? He didn’t leave the show voluntarily, said this insider (who The Ashley can’t name because she promised, sorry). Apparently Rulon was actually asked to leave the show because he broke many of the show’s rules, despite being warned several times by producers that he would be kicked off if he didn’t follow the rules!
The insider said the rumor is that Rulon was caught multiple times with a cell phone (a big no-no on the Ranch), and may have even snuck his wife into the Ranch late at night (which is no easy fete, according to past contestants!)
This was not the only reason he was asked to leave, but the source said this is the basic gist of what happened. Also, due to the fact that wasn’t actually “voted off” the show, he wasn’t eligible for the at-home prize of $100,000.
Also surprising? Rulon and his partner Justin are no longer friends! They had some sort of fall-out during/after the show and are not really on speaking terms, from what the source told The Ashley.
This may explain why there was no mention whatsoever of Rulon on the Finale show last night. ‘The Biggest Loser’ is not a show that likes to get tabloid-y or promote scandal (although The Ashley finds it surprising that they wouldn’t have wanted to take advantage of this scandal for ratings! It’s great TV!)
Again, file this under ‘rumor,’ but it sounds pretty legit to The Ashley.
More ‘Biggest Loser’ Finale gossip and news, coming soon!
Update 5/26/11: A rep from NBC has finally commented on the Rulon situation. Here’s their explaination for why Rulon was absent from the Finale:
“Since Rulon left the show for personal reasons, he wasn’t eligible for the at-home prize among eliminated players. So, it wasn’t necessary for him to weigh in along with the other Season 11 contestants. And the producers did reach out to him about participating in the finale, but they unfortunately did not hear back from Rulon, but we wish him the best.”
The Ashley still stands by her story, but believe what you want!
11 Responses
I totally take Rulon’s side for leaving the show. At the car pulling challenge he totally won, and they gave the victory and $5,000.00 to Tara, who had no business to even participate in the challenge. But they had their commercial reasons, and so they used Rulon as an olympic champion to “show” haw Tara “beats” him. And then, when he beats her, they fraudulently gave the victory to Tara anyway!!! What crooks! I lost my respect and trust to Biggest Loser. Rulon, we are with you! You are the true champion
Great site. I am veiwing it on my iphone and it looks good. Some very interesting comments. Keep up the great posts.
I do not know about Justin, but Rulon cheated on his wife with a flight attendant, when producers confiscated his cell phone there were dirty text messages and she was the one he snuck around with…he had a scale on the ranch also, contestants protested for producers to do something before that weigh in- which is why he actually was asked to leave the show. He is a snake. Justin is actually a great guy, but I do not know anything about him once he went home, he was FOR SURE not sleeping with anyone on the ranch- only a couple people hooking up and it wasn’t him!
@unknown– thanks for the scoop…this sounds fairly close to the story I heard at the after party…didn’t know about the flight attendant though! Thanks for that!
Any ideas of who the people who hook up on campus are? I’ve just been like who might that be…
Heres a Phone interview that a newspaper did with Rulon which was just posted yesterday (5/26/11)
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2011-05-26-rulon-gardner-biggest-loser-reality_N.htm
anymore gossip then just that?? like who looked big again…..*cough*amanda arlauskas*cough
I live close to both of them, and the rumor around the neighborhood is that Justin actually took money from their business (they own a gym together) while Rulon was still on the show and Justin was already home. Also, it is rumored that Justin cheated on his wife with one of the contestants.
Seriously, “Kay” how dare you put out such info when you cannot back it up with proof. You are talking about a man’s reputation! I didn’t really like either Justin or Rulon when the season started but I came to respect Justin.
Was Kay supposed to post a video of the fling, or Justin dancing around and rolling in Rulon’s money? She doesn’t have to provide proof, she need only say what she heard. We’ll probably never know the truth one way or another.
Interesting. I can’t say that I missed him…