Algonquin man talks as much as he can about 'Biggest Loser'

Last week, I interviewed Julio Gomez, a 40-year-old man who is a contestant on "The Biggest Loser," and wondered how he is handling some of the mean-spirited comments and scrutiny that often comes with appearing on reality television.

In case you missed it, Gomez, a senior lender at Midwest Custom Mortgage in Elgin, started the show weighing in at 407 pounds.

The person who loses the biggest percentage of his or her body weight on the show wins a check for $250,000 - 16 contestants work with a pair of trainers to learn about exercising and healthy eating.

By the end of the first episode in which Gomez barely survived an elimination, he had lost 13 pounds.

"It's been a little surreal," Gomez said of his time on the show. "It's even crazier knowing what's behind the scenes and seeing how it unfolds on the screen."

Gomez, one of 250,000 people who tried to get on the show, says he resisted applying for several years because there have been so many people vying for the same opportunity.

But he changed his mind once he saw a commercial for its open casting call, soon after he promised his two daughters that he would spend his 40s trying to get healthy.

He is the only person on the show from Illinois.

I don't know how much he lost throughout the course on the program, because that's one of those questions Gomez can't answer for legal reasons - during the interview, a show representative listened in on the line to make sure I didn't ask and that he didn't say anything that would give the whole show away.

For the same reason, we also couldn't take a recent photo of Gomez working out at Fitness 19 in Algonquin and had to instead use pictures of him from the show, which started filming in May.

Anyway, there have been some not very nice comments posted here and elsewhere about Gomez's desire to slim down.

But he's letting it all roll off his back.

"It's something that you have to accept and it's certainly part of it," he said. "You've got to take it all with a grain of salt," he said, adding that people won't see the whole story on the show.

If you missed the first episode that drew 9.9 million viewers, www.nbc.com posts them a week after they air - the two-hour show is on at 7 p.m. on NBC.

As well, Fitness 19 holds viewing parties every Tuesday for people to track his progress on the show.

• Lenore Adkins covers Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, McHenry County College, Pingree Grove, Cary and Fox River Grove. To reach her, call (847) 608-2725 or send an e-mail to ladkins@dailyherald.com