The FINALE – where to begin? First of all, I gotta admit I was pretty nervous to do a LIVE two hour finale. My first real experience hosting live tv. But, as soon as we started talking about the contestants, Jim, Phil, Nicole, B, Amy… seeing their successes, everything else just faded away. It was so thrilling to be up on that stage with everyone – and hearing their families cheering from the audience. And weren’t their transformations just unbelievable?! I was blown away by everyone – how great they looked and how confident and proud they seemed – as well they should! They all clearly learned so much from Bob, Kim and Jillian, and they took it home and have transformed their lives.

Kae looked fabulous and adorable in her sleek little black dress. Amy totally rocked in her fab short hair cut and sassy dress. I could go on and on about everyone and how great they looked – how hot did Phil, Neil, B… how hot were all the boys! Jerry, ripping his shirt off?? That was definitely unexpected! Lol. But man, he worked his butt off, and he deserved a moment to show off. I’m so glad I got the chance to ask Neil about those 17lbs. seriously – how do you tell your family about that? “see, mom, dad… what happened was…” But, Neil is a really great guy, and everyone in the house – even the black team – loves him. That’s when you have to remember it’s a game, too… Honestly, if I didn’t’ have a million things to concentrate on I would have been crying with everyone with pride over all 18 of them.

Okay, so I gotta say, that Trampoline challenge was SO tough. I tried it after we were done, and when they started raising those bags up higher and higher?? It was impossible to get a rhythm going. I was so impressed with how Hollie seemed so comfortable up there – here cheerleading background obviously gave her the edge! And once again, Neil didn’t win the challenge. I mean, he is so jinxed! But that one round, when Bill knocked him out? It was neck and neck the entire time. I was calling out their numbers, so they would know how close they were… that one of them was going to have to step it up to beat the other. And in the end, it was all about the timing of when that bell sounded. A second earlier and it could have been Bill knocked out. Seriously, it was that close. But ultimately, the Black Team girls had that challenge locked up. They were smoking past the guys up there.