BY JOY FANG

ONE could say that the success of the contestants on The Biggest Loser Asia - and whether they get to win S$138,330 - depend on their trainers.

The show - which features 30 contestants from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines - started its run last Tuesday on the Hallmark Channel.

The contestants are split into two teams to compete against each other in a series of challenges where they are judged on how much weight - as well as the percentage of their total weight loss - they lose over 13 weeks.

But it might be up to New Zealander Dave Nuku, 30, and Australian Kristy Curtis, 31, who will each helm one team, to really get them going.

Nuku once worked as a personal trainer in New Zealand, training the cast and crew of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, before taking on the job as a regional fitness manager at Fitness First. Curtis was a national aerobic champion and now runs her own personal-training business.

my paper caught up with Nuku and Curtis recently to speak to them about the Asian version of the show.

Asians are normally perceived as petite, so why are these people overweight?

Nuku: You've got incredible food in Asia. It's readily available and it's dead cheap. That is a recipe for obesity. People (in Asia) tend to eat out a lot and eat together a lot. Many of the contestants have big meals with their families, and it's quite common each day.

How are the Singaporeans faring on the show?

Nuku: The Singaporean contestants on my team - who you'll see on tonight's show - have actually turned out to be some of the strongest in the whole competition.

One of them has already set a record for the total amount of weight loss in a single week in the history of Biggest Loser worldwide.

When I'm dealing with Singaporean contestants, we have a lot more technical discussions around their exercise regime, which I think is great. It shows a passion for knowledge.

Curtis: I found that Singaporean contestants are quite brash, quite bold, quite out there. I found them, compared to the other Asian contestants, to be the more expressive of the group. They're the ones to watch.

Will there be as much drama in Loser Asia as in the US version?

Nuku: We're breaking new ground here in Asia with the level of drama on the show.

We've had multiple hospital visits from the contestants, we've had hypoglycaemic shock, kidney issues, busted knees, busted ankles, emotional breakdowns, even mental collapse.

We've almost had fights between contestants. It's all because the nature of the show is so intense.

The contestants have also (been under some amount of strain), living out all their insecurities and vulnerabilities with the glare of the spotlight and cameras on them.

Curtis: There's drama every day, there's so much emotion, somebody's in tears every single day.

It's kind of like a freight train and we're just hanging on (laughs).

joyfang@sph.com.sg

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