Sad end for Biggest Loser couple Michelle Bridges and Steve ‘Commando’ Willis

Michelle Bridges and Steve “Commando” Willis’ relationship always made headlines – and their sudden split is just as surprising.

The shocking news this week that fitness guru Michelle Bridges had been arrested for drink-driving came with a surprising detail: She had also split from her long-term partner, fellow Biggest Loser star Steve “Commando” Willis.

It was a sad end for a celebrity couple who, in the 13 years since they first met, have become reality stars, controversy magnets, tabloid fixtures and parents to a young son.

‘WHO IS THIS GUY?’

Michelle Bridges and The Commando in the early days of The Biggest Loser. Picture: David Craddock

The pair got their TV start together when they were both drafted in to join the second season of Ten’s hit weight-loss reality show The Biggest Loser in 2007. Bridges was a no-nonsense personal trainer with almost two decades of fitness experience, there to serve up tough love while putting contestants through their paces. Ex-army commando Willis was a formidable character: a beefy caricature of masculinity in his uniform of dark sunglasses, camo pants, and a black singlet.

Biggest Loser stars Michelle Bridges, Shannan Ponton, Tiffiny Hall and Steve Willis.

“When I first met him, he was pretty much straight out of the army, virtually. So he was very intense back then. And I remember thinking, ‘Who is this guy?’ Bridges later said.

Both were married to other people when they started working together in 2007. But by the time they both left the show in 2015, Bridges was about to have Willis’ baby.

ROMANCE BLOSSOMS

The couple on a New York holiday in 2014.

In a 2016 episode ofAustralian Story focused on Bridges’ rise to fame, the pair discussed their by-then-romantic relationship – and addressed tabloid speculation it had started when they were both still with their ex-partners.

“For a long time, making season after season of The Biggest Loser, we were just friends. It was more of a communication connection that I think drew us together in that sense rather than anything physical. The thing about Michelle that got my attention was her willingness to listen. And you could sit for minutes, hours and just talk. And she would be just like a sounding board,” Willis told the program.

Bridges said she and Willis “came together at a time when we were both kind of raw and thinking, ‘Wow, what is happening with our relationships?’”

But the pair insisted their relationship started only after Bridges ended her nine-year marriage to businessman Bill Moore and Willis ended his marriage to wife Froso.

Bridges and Willis had a son together, Axel, born in December 2015, shortly after they’d both left the reality series that made them household names in Australia.

“Axel coming into this world has definitely brought out another side of Michelle. I don’t know if at this point she’s changing her priorities, but she’s definitely asking more questions of herself,” Willis told Australian Story the following year.

TABLOID FIXTURES

The couple frequently appeared in the tabloids. Picture: New Idea

The couple on a 2014 red carpet. Picture: Getty

The photogenic couple frequently walked red carpets and did media appearances together, promoting their various fitness ventures. But they had a trickier relationship with Australia’s tabloid press, Willis blasting New Idea magazine in 2018 over a cover story claiming he’d “walked out” on Bridges.

Willis, who was a contestant on Australian Survivor at the time, described New Idea’s article as “mean, hurtful, upsetting, mischievous and destructive”.

“Michelle knows what happens on these shows,” New Idea quoted an anonymous source as saying regarding Willis’ Survivor stint.

“She knows that contestants have hooked up before, and she made sure he knew what she won’t accept and where she draws the line.”

Sharing the mag’s cover on Instagram, Willis claimed New Idea’s article was designed to create disharmony within his family.

“This post has come with great consideration. After much reflection I have decided to post in response to an article that is mean, hurtful, upsetting, mischievous and destructive,” he wrote.

“It saddens and hurts me greatly that @newideamagazine and those who are behind such an article knowingly and intentionally go out of their way to tear down, bully and create disharmony within my family and loved ones but within the very fabric of Australian society.”

SHOCK SPLIT

Bridges and Willis on holiday. Picture: Instagram

News of the couple’s split over the festive season came via the most embarrassing of circumstances: amid reports she’d been charged with drink-driving on Australia Day morning, the couple’s son Axel in the back seat.

An “absolutely devastated and embarrassed” Bridges said “emotional turmoil … impacted my decision-making” prior to allegedly blowing .086.

The Daily Telegraphpublished a statement from Bridges saying recent weeks had been “a very difficult time … dealing with the break-up of my long-term relationship”.

The couple’s last photo together was posted to Bridges’ Instagram account on December 22 last year:

Bridges was spotted in public yesterday for the first time since her arrest, cutting a low-key figure in dark sunglasses and a baseball cap.

Willis has so far not publicly commented on his now-ex-partner’s arrest – but on the day the news broke earlier this week, he posted a “Note to Self” to his Instagram Story titled “Good Karma”:

Willis posted this to his Instagram Story the day news of Bridges' arrest broke.