By Cortney Casey
C & G Staff Writer

Many Warren Mott High School students had a late school night May 5 — but for good reason.

Students, staff and community members packed Mott’s auditorium that evening to watch the penultimate episode of “The Biggest Loser,” featuring commentary from a special guest: Sterling Heights resident Helen Phillips, one of Season 7’s finalists.

Standing beside a cardboard cutout of herself at her 257-pound starting weight, Phillips looked absolutely svelte as she fielded questions and joked about missing her favorite stores while living on the show’s California compound, where she adhered to a strict diet and worked out vigorously.

“We couldn’t leave the ranch,” she said. “We couldn’t even go to Target to buy shampoo.”

Phillips — an active Mott Booster Club member whose son, Alex Vidosh, is a junior at the school — returned to Sterling Heights for 30 days between the filming of episodes airing April 28 and May 5.

She was back in town again awaiting the May 12 live finale, where remaining contestants compete for the $250,000 grand prize.

“I just appreciate all your support,” she told the crowd. “I want to bring that ‘Biggest Loser’ crown back here to Warren Mott where it belongs.”

During her stints back in Michigan, Phillips trained with a team from Mott led by Shaun Tahrebandi, an assistant football coach and the head strength and conditioning coach.

Tahrebandi said he worked with Phillips anywhere from one to six hours a day, incorporating high-intensity strength training, full-body exercises and cardiovascular activity.

“I put her through the wringer,” he said. “She was so disciplined. I’ve never seen somebody with so much perseverance to make it through.”

Wrestling coaches Gary Skop and William “Buddy” Butcher also lent a hand in developing a healthy diet — heavy on vegetables and good proteins — for Phillips to follow at home.

Tahrebandi, who planned to join Phillips and her family in Los Angeles for the finale, said he was “honored” to play a role in her progress.

“I tell her everyday … I’m inspired by her,” he said. “She’s a role model for everybody because of all her hard work and dedication.”

With a classmate’s mother on the show and Mott personnel involved in her transformation, the entire school got swept up in “Biggest Loser” mania, said junior Nathan Mosher.

Vidosh said he’s approached regularly in the hallways by students he doesn’t even know who want to comment on the series.

He’s been watching this season at home, and his mother, when she was in town, would become animated as she saw the edited version of her story, calling fellow contestants to dish about the episodes. 

“She freaks out, she screams,” he said.

“She gets so into it,” agreed junior Katie Augustyn, Vidosh’s girlfriend, who said she’s known Phillips so long that watching her on the show is “surreal.”

Vidosh and Augustyn said they hoped Phillips’ accomplishments would encourage others struggling with weight issues.

Phillips said she fell into a comfortable routine at the “Biggest Loser” ranch: workout clothes here, healthy food there, gym yards away, fitness the sole focus.

It was scary at first, she said, to resume the role of a mother and wife with everyday responsibilities while continuing to work toward her weight loss goals.

“I’m the one that changed,” she said. “That was an adjustment. It was really hard.”

Spectators at Mott burst into applause as Phillips, at the conclusion of the May 5 episode, dropped 7 pounds, easily securing her place in the finale alongside New Yorker Tara Costa.

The results pushed fellow Michiganders, Mike and Ron Morelli of South Lyon, below the “yellow line.” Viewers now have a chance to vote via phone and Internet on which member of the father/son team will face Phillips and Costa in the last episode.

Phillips, who wore hot pink heels to the Mott party in a nod to her “Biggest Loser” team color, said she had a tiny dress — also pink — in mind for the finale.

“Go figure for that color, right?” she laughed.

Tahrebandi, Butcher and Skop gently extracted Phillips from throngs of well-wishers at the event’s conclusion, citing her need for sleep. She had a workout scheduled for 4:30 a.m. the next morning, just prior to her flight back to Los Angeles.

Before she left, she posed for one final picture with a few familiar faces: her daughter and teammate, Center Line resident Shanon Thomas, and contestants from “The Biggest Loser” Season 6, Shellay and Amy Cremen, a mother/daughter team from Royal Oak, and Coleen Skeabeck of Cleveland.

Eliminated from the show’s ranks earlier in the season, Thomas also was preparing to return to California, as jettisoned contestants still have a chance to win $100,000, based on their final weigh-in results.

Understanding how difficult it is to transition back to “reality” after residing on the ranch, Amy Cremen said she and her mother sought out Phillips and Thomas months ago to offer support.

Despite the dramatic physical transformation, the accompanying psychological shift takes time, said Cremen.

“It’s a struggle every day,” she said. “Your mind is still back in your fat body.”

The three-hour live finale begins at 8 p.m. May 12 on NBC.

For more information on “The Biggest Loser,” visit www.nbc.com/biggestloser.

You can reach Staff Writer Cortney Casey at ccasey@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1046.