Biggest Loser Champ Ali Vincent Dishes on Dropping Pounds

Even after Ali Vincent and her mother, Bette-Sue Burkland, were kicked off, the plucky 234-pound hairstylist vowed to become The Biggest Loser champion. A second-chance opportunity gave the 33-year-old from Mesa, Arizona, just the leverage she needed to get back in the game and shed 112 pounds. In pink rhinestone-heeled pumps and a little black dress, the new 122-pound Vincent took home the $250,000 prize and became the first woman to beat the big boys. Minutes after being showered in confetti on the Sony soundstage where Judy Garland once clicked her glittery red heels, Vincent talks about her own fairytale ending — and new beginnings.

TVGuide.com: Down 112 pounds? You've lost nearly half your 234-pound self!
Ali Vincent: I actually pulled it off! I wanted it so bad. I forgot what it was like to truly go for something.

TVGuide.com: What's next?
Ali: I want to live life to the fullest, and that includes everything.

TVGuide.com: Will you go back to work?
Ali: I hope I [still] have clients. I'm a hairstylist, and I put my clients with other people [so I could do the show]. We'll see.

TVGuide.com: What about a return to synchronized swimming?
Ali: Synchronized swimming is a young athlete's game. I'm gonna be doing triathlons, Ironman competitions and some master's swimming, too. I feel I can have everything!

TVGuide.com: Even a cheese crisp?
Ali: I can. I just have to know that [snacking] comes with consequences, and I either gain some or I spend some more time in the gym.

TVGuide.com: So you're confident you can maintain this weight?
Ali: For me, it's all about health and fitness and showing beauty through strength. I will continue to set goals to have something to work for because I realized that I need to always be going for something.

TVGuide.com: Thanks to your second chance on the show, you were able to lose a lot more weight than your mom. Do you think she would have lost more had you stayed home with her?
Ali: I'm not worried that she didn't get to her goal weight by the season finale. We're on the journey. This is a lifetime change. This isn't just a diet that we're going to get through and then everything goes. This is our lifestyle now.

TVGuide.com: Before your final weigh-in, a couple of guys behind me in the audience said, "Look at her face. She knows she's got this." Did you come in here knowing you'd won?
Ali: Absolutely not, especially up against Roger. Roger's a big boy. From the beginning, everybody knew that if Roger was in the finals then he would take it. All season we were trying to get him below the line so that we could vote him off. America put him up against me. But thank you, America, for making me push myself harder than I ever pushed myself in my life. I mean, this is priceless.

TVGuide.com: Did you spend a fortune on those pink-heeled pumps?
Ali: My sister did that. I bought the patent-leather heels and she put the stones on there for me. I had a vision. I'd been planning it, to the detail, of what tonight's outfit was going to be. My outfit was homemade and borrowed.

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