Photo by Trae Patton
THE BIGGEST LOSER -- Season 9 -- Pictured: Sherry Johnston -- NBC Photo: Trae Patton
PASADENA, Calif. — Ask trainer Jillian Michaels about Knoxville’s “Biggest Loser” pair, Sherry and Ashley Johnston, and she uncharacteristically lights up.
“I adore them,” she said recently with a smile.
Fans of the show might say she loves to torture them. The tough-as-nails Michaels has done her fair share of screaming at the two in an effort to motivate them to try harder.
But when Michaels sits back and gets perspective on the two, she has nothing but sweet things to say about them.
“They are resilient. They have determination,” she said. “They have compassion, wisdom and empathy.
“They embody everything you want in people who will take America through a journey of self-transformation.”
Michaels said she’s seen recent pictures of Sherry, 52, and is proud of her progress since leaving “The Biggest Loser” ranch months ago. “Mama’s lookin’ good,” she said.
Michaels says the ranch didn’t just change the Johnstons physically. It also helped them emotionally.
“They had a wonderful conversation in which Ashley talked about things she had repressed, and it was overwhelming,” Michaels recalled.
“And Sherri responded so beautifully. Sherri said, ‘I didn’t know you felt that way. I have feelings like this of my own.’ They created an opportunity to have more conversations — the kind of conversations many mothers and daughters in America are yearning to have.”
Michaels described the two as “great and encouraging women.” “I just adore them,” she says. “I can’t say that enough.”
In last week’s installment of “The Biggest Loser,” Ashley Johnston changed the game at her weigh-in.
By not falling into the bottom two, she forced father-and-daughter team of O’Neal and SunShine Hampton into the bottom two. O’Neal spoke up and volunteered to be voted off instead of his daughter.
His fellow contestants complied.
Johnston was also lifted up by being the first contestant to complete a 5K race, an accomplishment she would never have done when she first joined NBC’s “Biggest Loser.”
Later, Johnston joined an alliance with Mike Ventrella and Daris George to help boost their odds of winning the game.
© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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