American Idol’s Ruben Studdard Coming Back to TV

Do you remember that loveable big bear from the second season of American Idol? Of course you do! How could you forget his award winning smile and that smooth R&B voice. Well, the Velvet Teddy Bear is coming back to television. He’ll be participating in the upcoming season of The Biggest Loser.

The 15th season of the show is set to premiere in early October, and Mr. Studdard just might have a good chance of winning.

Of course, Ruben was the winner of the second season of American Idol and has since went on to have a pretty decent career. He has been nominated for a Grammy, so I would say that he has made it. He might not have had the same success as some of the other past winners, but he wasn’t a flop like that one dude with the salt and pepper hair. Taylor Hicks? What was America thinking with that?

Anyway, big ol’ Ruben has obviously struggled with his weight for a long time now. In fact, Ruben at his heaviest was 455 pounds! Just 45 pounds shy of the 500 mark. He really started to gain the weight the year after he won American Idol. It was reported that he put on over 100 pounds the following year.

Could it have been stress eating? Celebration eating? Who knows, but he packed on the pounds quickly. Three years later, he lost a lot of weight by going vegetarian and entering a weight loss program at Duke University. He then met his future wife that same year and she helped to make sure he kept the pounds off. Ruben wanted to look good for his new lady.

The pair ended up getting married in 2008, but their marriage didn’t last long. They got divorced in 2011 and that is when Ruben started to put the weight on again and this time it was due to stress.

During an interview on The Wendy Williams Show in early 2012, Ruben explained that he gained the weight back due to the stress of his divorce and the fact that he owed the IRS $100,000. Apparently, he still has the weight on him and now he is reaching out to The Biggest Loser for help.

Good for him! I’m looking forward to seeing him on the show. I just hope that the other contestants don’t target him and send him home thinking that he has the money to lose the weight by himself. It’s not money that helps you lose weight. Anybody can lose weight, they just have to commit to do it. They have to be held accountable and sometimes they have to that extra motivation.

Obviously Ruben needs that extra motivation.