American Idol season 2 winner Ruben Studdard has signed on to compete in the upcoming season of NBC’s The Biggest Loser. “The Velvet Teddy Bear” is ready to finally shed some pounds for good, a task he has previously attempted with limited success.
Studdard initially tried to lose weight after winning the second season of American Idol. The singer was on a strict workout schedule with trainer Gunnar Peterson which allowed him to eat only 1,200 calories per day.
“I was losing weight, but I was exhausted. It was making me sick,” the 35-year-old told PEOPLE in 2006. “I’m a big man. There was no way to do those workouts on that amount of food, so everything was contradicting itself.”
While Studdard only lost 12 lbs with Peterson, he ended up switching to vegetarianism and lost another 70 lbs.
“I’ve never had an issue with my weight,” Studdard claims. “[But] my family has a history of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart-related issues – things I didn’t have to deal with yet because I’m young. But I don’t want to be worried at 40, and if I don’t fix things now, I will be.”
Studdard is the first celebrity to join the cast of The Biggest Loser, which returns to television this Fall on NBC.
