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The Biggest Loser's Leigh and Lara call it quits

Monday, May 9, 2011
Leigh and Lara call it quits

They lost a total of almost 100kg on TV and their love was growing by the day... or so we all thought.

With a truly incredible transformation and their whole lives ahead of them, Leigh Westren and Lara Whalan were dubbed the “hot couple” on this year’s The Biggest Loser. Openly talking about their plans to marry, the pair won the hearts of viewers everywhere.

The happy couple were expected to make their engagement official in last week’s finale – Lara referred to Leigh’s parents as the “in-laws” throughout the series and confided in friends that she wanted to start a family with the man of her dreams – but the announcement never came. In a shocking twist, speculation is now rife that Lara, 25, called it quits on her relationship with Leigh, 23, within days of The Biggest Loser: Families finale.

What happened? She has told friends she believed Leigh may have “spent the night with another woman” since leaving the show, revelling in being “hot” for the first time in his life. Lara has also apparently kicked her DJ boyfriend out of the home they shared with her parents in the northern Sydney suburb of Turramurra.

When contacted by Woman’s Day, Leigh denied cheating or splitting with Lara, and maintains he hasn’t moved out of her house. But his mother, Sharlene Westren, confirmed the couple are now living separately. Leigh and Lara, who are believed to have sold their engagement story for a substantial fee, had previously spruiked their relationship on the back of The Biggest Loser.

“[Leigh] has to save for an engagement ring. We have to save for a wedding,” Lara recently told reporters. “If we get any help from the magazines, we will consider all offers.”
Lara is said to be devastated by the break-up but thought she had no option but to end their three-year romance.“Lara is absolutely heartbroken,” says a close friend. “All she has ever wanted is to marry Leigh and start a family and now she just doesn’t know what to do.”

Your say: Do you think The Biggest Loser promotes unhealthy weight loss?



Related video: Biggest loser make-overs

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User comments
I feel Lara and Leigh both dont know yet what it is they really want, fame usually changes one or both persons in some way, when they were fat together was it real love being in love or just loving what they enjoyed doing together which was eating and feel comforted by food.? Now have they discovered things about each other that arent the same as before in reality because how they were living wasnt in the here and now they were just in a habit of eating and being in each others company to do that. Whatever will be for them will be and they will follow their destiny to where it takes them as individuals or together to how it is meant to be for them. I dont agree with some of the methods of training where it degrades a person when they are doing their best with all that weight they carry they arent fit like their trainers yet, and although they need pushing at times to bring out the best in themselves i think there are kinder methods of doing that that dont humiliate a person so much.
As someone who has lost 50kgs, the old fashion way of diet and exercise, I find biggest loser to be de-motivating and unrealistic. The average person struggles to commit more than an hour, 3-4 times a week to exercise and changing your eating patterns requires alot of strength and determination. So did you know that the reason the contestants lose so much weight so quickly is because they only 'eat' one meal and the rest of their meals are shakes and weight loss bars?!? They consume approximately 1100 cals a day, the average women on a 'weight loss diet' should consume 1500 cals a day and exercise 3-4 times a week. This has worked well for me and two years later I am maintaining a healthy weight loss and eating well. So excuse me, but biggest loser is a joke! They teach these people a quick fix method, where they work incedibly hard and install an un-realistic diet that cant be maintained. Inspiring for some, sure! Healthy weight loss...definitely not!
no surprises here really! it seems that alot of the talk is of Leigh straying, however i would not be surprised if it was the other way around. not only i, but several friends picked up on the relationship that lara and shannon were developing during the show!!!! more than likely nothing happened but there were certainly chemistry between the two..... just a thought!!!!!
I am sorry to hear they have broken up they were my favourites on the show and seemed so supportive of each other. I thought they made a great couple. I don't know if the show promotes unhealthy weight loss but i think it is unrealistic to lose that much weight in such a short time in the real world and to be able to spend the hours a day exercising in the real world that they do on the show. But the show sets them up the right direction with healthier eating and exercise.
The cracks were definitely starting to show in the relationship during the series. As their weightloss mounted you could see the competition mount between this couple. People change when they lose massive amounts of weight. Their self esteem grows and they no longer will put up with what they have in the past. A large percentage of relationships end after this kind of massive life change.
I can say i'm not surprised that something happened, but it's still really sad, they were my faves since day one. I am still kinda wondering if it's true or not, i mean i've gone on forums and they all reckon it's true. Also have to watch ACA tonight some BL love scandal..... might have something to do with this???
If the producers really cared about the contestants, then nobody would be booted off the show, and each week ALL the contestants were given the same opportunities to learn and change their addictive ways. At the end of the series the winner would be the one that lost the greatest percentage of weight for their body size, not the actual kilo's.
Definitely unhealthy way to lose weight. Should lose it slowly and sustainably, not through excessive exericise and dieting. This show makes me totally and utterly sick. It's the worst thing to happen to the fitness industry ever. Now everyone thinks they should go to unrealistic lengths to lose weight rather than just sensibly moving more and eating moderately. I wish it was shown up as the stupid entertainment garbage it is, not held up as a weight loss phenomenon. If it was really about helping people, they wouldn't play games with their minds, or make morbidly obese people run 10km with no lead-up training and things like that. It's just ridiculous, stupid and abhorrent. Take it off air.
Whilst i have no doubt that Leigh could have cheated. My bets are on Lara cheating, or just plainly thinking, 'Hey, I have a great body now, im young, I have never been able to have the same experiences as my friends, I so dont need to be tied down right now' You could see that when she competed to come back (even at the weigh-in to come back) she did NOT want to be around Leigh. And the looks that they were all xchanging at the Finalé. . . Something had definately gone down!
Of course they were going to split. The both look amazing & don't need to feel stuck to each other anymore. Weather he really spent the night with another woman, who knows, Lara may have just needed any excuse. All the best to them anyway.

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