Phoebe van Staaden is a South African detective inspector who was a contestant on the first season of the e.tv reality competition The Biggest Loser South Africa, from 7 January to 14 April, 2008.
She was the fifth contestant to be eliminated from the show.
Show Statistics
Age
44
Weight at the start of the show
118kg
The Biggest Loser Team
Blue
Weight at the end of the show
73.5kg
Total weight lost
44.4kg
Total body percentage lost
37.66%
AFTER
Biggest Loser Profile
Phoebe is a detective inspector in the South African Police Services; currently investigating bank crime related to fraud cases and is attached to the commercial branch in Pietermaritzberg.
She is married with two children. “I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl two years ago when I was 38 and I am still battling to shed the extra weight I gained during the pregnancy,” she says.
“I used to play netball in my younger years and I did a lot of cycling, but now I have no stamina and willpower.”
One of her most embarrassing moments was when her husband jokingly referred to her as a boere tannie.
“It hurts when you know that colleagues and friends whisper behind your back. I also want to feel proud when walking in public with my family,” she says.
“I want to be able to fit into skinny clothes and jump over walls when I do police street survival evaluation.”
Her favourite food is anything sweet, specifically lemon meringue pie, honey, horlicks… in fact, all desserts. “And definitely crumbed calamari with slap chips,” she says.
When it comes to the voting process, she will not hesitate voting against people who are not team players, those who do not want to exercise and those who sneak into the kitchen at night.
If she should be voted off? “It is part of the game, but it would really upset me. If they could tell me why, then I can learn from it and go forward.