Ruben Studdard turned out not to be the biggest loser.
The "American Idol" alum was eliminated Tuesday night on "The Biggest Loser" after he failed to lose the necessary 11 pounds to keep him on the weight-loss competition. He lost only five, bringing his weight to 423 pounds. He started the show weighing in at 462.
"I worked really, really hard this week," he said while still standing on the scale. "I swam extra. I walked extra."
Studdard, who was the second person to be eliminated from Season 15, said it was "disappointing" to let his team down. And he felt "sadness" over leaving. Ruben's Trainer, Dolvett Quince, was surprised, holding his head in his hands in shock.
"Everything I asked you to do, you did it," Quince said to the soul singer.
The 35-year-old seemed upbeat, writing in a blog for Parade,
"I gave all I had this week, but it just wasn't enough to keep me on the ranch," he said. "I'm glad that I had the courage to come to the ranch and show the world that you're never too far away to turn and go right. I may not be the Biggest Loser, but I am a champion!"
During his elimination speech, Studdard, who is often referred to as "The Velvet Teddy Bear", admitted "The Biggest Loser" experience was his most difficult to date.
"This experience is one of the toughest things I've been through," he said. "I've been through two-a-day football practices; I've been through the 'American Idol' experience; I've been through a lot of mentally and physically challenging experiences in my life. And this, you know, ranks right up there at the top. My goal coming to 'The Biggest Loser' ranch was to leave here a changed person. I think I reached that goal."
Studdard shot to instant stardom after he edged out Clay Aiken to win the second season of "American Idol" in 2003. He's long struggled with obesity and even tried pairing an intense workout regimen with a strict 1,200-calorie-a-day diet in 2006.
"I was losing weight, but I was exhausted. It was making me sick," Studdard told People magazine. "I'm a big man. There was no way to do those workouts on that amount of food, so everything was contradicting itself."
He became a vegetarian that same year and shed 70 of his 455 pounds. Studdard married Surata Zuri McCants in 2008 and remained healthy throughout his marriage, but when the couple divorced in 2012, he put the weight back on.
Though his time on "The Biggest Loser" is over, Studdard vowed to continue to try and lose the weight.
"America, my voice may be soulful, but the next time you see me, my body will be sexy," he said.
"The Biggest Loser" airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST on NBC.
