Former member of Michelle Bridges’ powerhouse Reds, Lisa’s Biggest Loser Singles experience has been a catalogue of personal triumphs, with a healthy helping of romance to boot.

Being one of the softer personalities on the Red Team, Lisa accumulated far less controversy than her Over 30s Female counterparts, which better enabled her, she says, to focus on the task at hand.

“I honestly didn’t realise the extent of the drama Margie caused, although I did have to pull her back at times because she doesn’t know when to stop,” Lisa explains. “I was just happy to sit in the background, let Margs take the limelight and the brunt of whatever was happening and concentrate on losing weight.”

Although the Reds’ fiery personalities were occasionally combustible when mixed with other contestants, Lisa credits their strong bond amongst each other with helping her progress through the competition. The announcement of the game moving to Singles was therefore met with understandable trepidation.

“It was a little scary, in that I no longer had that back-up,” Lisa admits. “It was difficult because I didn’t loss the weight like Lydia and Margie did – it was always a struggle to get good numbers – so I knew it would be difficult when we got to Singles. But I won two Contests in a row, stepped up and started to shine, even if that’s ultimately what got me Eliminated.”

The fortnight prior to her Elimination certainly saw Lisa start to establish herself as a contender, exhibiting a newfound confidence she says emerged during the Battle of the Ages week. “When we became Old Dogs and Young Pups, and Lydia took a step back and I took the leadership role, I found myself thinking ‘I can do this.’ That was when it sort of clicked for me.”

Lisa’s self-belief was boosted further by her burgeoning relationship with Simon. “What sort of brought us together is that we’re both parents, and Simon was really easy to talk to,” she shares. “At the end of the day I loved talking to him about some of the things I’d achieved, and asking what he’d achieved. We started to develop that friendship and things just took off from there.”

Promising Simon she would continue giving the game her all following his Elimination, Lisa did exactly that, despite her efforts ultimately not being enough to save her. “I knew it was going to be difficult,” she begins, recalling going into the Elimination Room against Alex. “I really thought the fact that Alex was number two on the leader board meant I had some sort of chance. But Alex had been manipulating Kasey for a while and a few people behind the scenes, and I also didn’t realise the extent to which I’d become apparently a threat.”

Putting the disappointment of Elimination behind her, Lisa has her sights set on a happy and healthy future, and the person she hopes to share it with. “Simon and I are going to continue to see each other, see how the long distance thing goes and maybe at the end of the year make a decision on who’s going to move,” Lisa divulges of their plans. “One thing we would love to do is take the kids on holiday and see how our families go together. I actually went to South Australia and met his family, so things are going really well at the moment.”