Arizona special education teacher John Rhode is half the man he was one year ago — literally!
The 41-year-old went from a starting weight of 445 lbs. to 220 lbs. to become season 12's Biggest Loser champ, pocketing a cool $250,000 for his efforts on Tuesday's finale of the NBC hit.
"I loooove my new body. I feel great," an elated Rhode told Us Weekly after his big win. "I've got a whole new attitude, a whole new optimism. I put myself to the limit and now I know that I can do anything!"
Beating out former NFL player runner-up Antone Davis and third-place finisher Ramon Medeiros, Rhode was trained by Dolvett Quince as part of Loser's red team this season.
Quince was initially skeptical about Rhode's ability to make a lifestyle change when he visited the father of two shortly before the finale to find that Rhode had deferred most household duties to his wife and not returned to work in order to spend all his time at the gym.
But at Tuesday's finale, the newbie trainer had changed his tune.
"I'm very excited for John," Quince told Us. "I pray and hope that he keeps the weight off and it's just not about this finale [result, and] that he realizes that there's never a finale…that [maintenance] is what it's all about."
Rhode wasn't the only winner on Tuesday's show.
TV producer Jennifer Rumple, 39, snagged $100,000 as this season's at-home prize winner after losing 145 lbs. and shedding an astonishing 43.94% of her body weight.
Tell Us: Did John deserve to win The Biggest Loser?
