“The Biggest Loser” contestant Arthur Wornum is no stranger to pep talks. He got his fair share from trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels at the California ranch during filming of Season 11 of the hit NBC TV show.
On Saturday, Wornum took time to do his own rallying for the dozens of people who came to Washougal’s Captain William Clark Park for a walk along the waterfront with the Portland celebrity.
It’s simple, Wornum said: Get moving.
“It starts one step at a time,” he said. “We have to start moving as a country. If I get at least one person to start moving, I’ve hit my goal.”
Wornum, 34, has already gained a lot of ground in his weight loss journey. Before being sent home from “The Biggest Loser” ranch — as television viewers saw last week — Wornum lost 117 pounds, going from just over 500 pounds to about 390 pounds.
At one point, he was 646 pounds, making him the largest contestant to ever be on the show.
He said he still wants to lose 100 more pounds and is confident he’ll win the at-home prize of $100,000, bestowed to the eliminated contestant who sheds the most fat at home.
The prize will be announced at the show finale this spring.
“I’m going to win it,” Wornum, holding a Starbucks coffee, told the crowd surrounding him at the Washougal park, eliciting hollers and cheers.
Saturday’s walk, organized by the Washougal nonprofit organization Fat 2 Fit, was Wornum’s first public appearance since his elimination. While the event was called “Walk With Jesse” for Wornum’s father — another eliminated contestant — Jesse Wornum could not be at Saturday’s walk.
Still, son Arthur Wornum, a stay-at-home dad and day care provider, received an enthusiastic response.
Many Wornum fans, who heard about the walk on a Facebook fan page, came from all over the Vancouver-Portland metro area. Several times along the walk on the Columbia River, Wornum was stopped and asked to pose for a picture, or was peppered with questions about what it’s like being on a major network reality TV show.
He took it all in stride, hugging strangers along the way and stopping with them if they needed to catch their breath.
Wornum understands where they’ve been. Before “The Biggest Loser,” he got winded easily. Now, he said, he can exercise four hours a day, which includes a 5.5-mile walk to his gym in Portland.
He sees his “Biggest Loser” experience as a way to pay it forward. “I want to get America moving,” he said. “It starts with you.”
Drawing inspiration from this message was 26-year-old Michelle Honeman, who drove from Forest Grove, Ore., to meet Wornum and walk with him. A “Biggest Loser” fan, Honeman tried out last week at the open casting calls in Portland. She got a call back from a producer and is submitting a video application for consideration.
Weighing 425 pounds at one time, Honeman has lost 70 pounds. She said she still has a long way to go. But after seeing all the weight Wornum lost, she knows she can do it, too.
“It pumped me up,” she said. “I looked at him and said, ‘If he can do this, so can I.’”
Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.
