Former Survivor contestant Odette Blacklock says the show has changed her
FORMER Survivor contestant Odette Blacklock has urged potential hopefuls for the next series of the reality show to think again if the only reason for signing up is to lose weight or to become famous.
Confidential
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FORMER Survivor contestant Odette Blacklock has urged potential hopefuls for the next series of the reality show to think again if the only reason for signing up is to lose weight or to become famous.
The Sydney podiatrist, who lasted 35 days living off basic food rations on a Samoan island in the last season of the gruelling competition, said it changed her body in a way she didn’t expect.
“It changed my metabolism,” she explained to The Sunday Telegraph’s Confidential.
“I feel like I store fat more easily than I had previously and I don’t see that as a positive so I wouldn’t recommend to anyone starving for 35 days.”
With production on the next series of the show due to start in the coming weeks, Blacklock continued: “If you’re going on the show to become famous or to lose weight, you’ve got to look at yourself if that is what you are wanting to do in life. Starving yourself is definitely a way to lose weight, just not a good way. It is a poor way to lose weight.
“The first question I get about Survivor is how much weight I lost. To me, that wasn’t the point. It wasn’t The Biggest Loser. It is a strategy game about being able to take care of yourself and being independent in such an extreme environment.”
Blacklock recently sold her podiatry clinic and now works as a trainer and head coach at the new Virgin Active gym in Barangaroo, where she created a world first running program called Outdoor Calibration.
“Running got me to where I am today. When I had nothing, all I had was a pair of sneakers,” she said. “I got my health together, got my education happening and built the person I am today. As soon as I got off that island I decided I wanted to help other people.”