Whatever Happened To Bob Harper After The Biggest Loser

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The following article mentions mental health issues.

After "The Biggest Loser" premiered on NBC in 2004, personal trainer Bob Harper quickly became an icon of reality television. The show was geared toward getting people with obesity to lose as much weight as possible, as quickly as possible, so it has come under intense and understandable scrutiny in the two decades since it hit the airwaves. Still, whereas Harper's "Biggest Loser" co-star Jillian Michaels frequently screamed at the people she was supposed to be trying to help, Harper was relatively more restrained. He certainly had his moments on the show, but overall Harper had a lighter touch, so he managed to retain a fanbase long after people tuned out.

In the years since "The Biggest Loser" went off the air, Harper has been through the wringer. He suffered a severe health setback that had him reconsidering his entire life, and ever since, he has been trying to find his place in the entertainment landscape. He's written books, worked with charities, competed on other reality shows, and more; read on to learn what happened to Bob Harper after "The Biggest Loser" ended.

"The Biggest Loser" pumped out seasons very quickly; though it started in 2004, by 2014 the show was already on Season 15. That would prove to be a pivotal one for the reality competition series. When winner Rachel Frederickson stepped out on the finale stage and revealed she'd lost nearly 60% of her body weight, the camera cut to Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels. The trainers looked taken aback by how much weight Frederickson lost, and social media erupted with concerned posts. Harper shared a statement from himself and Michaels, writing on X, "We're not comfortable commenting on Rachel's journey because we weren't her trainers." On "The Rachael Ray Show" (via E! News), however, he confessed, "I was stunned."

Michaels would ultimately exit the show after that season, and by the time Season 17 rolled around, Harper was also no longer a trainer. Host Alison Sweeney left "The Biggest Loser" too, so Harper filled in as the show's host. He used his influence to get the show to focus more on mental health, telling Chew and Chat, "I wanted to sit with the group and give them a voice. I feel it's very cathartic and liberating to get those demons out in the open, it makes the demons not as powerful." The revamp would prove to be short-lived; after Season 17, "The Biggest Loser" left NBC for good.

In February 2017, Bob Harper took to Instagram to address some speculation about his health that had cropped up online. He shared a photo of himself in a hospital bed, a bracelet on his tattooed arms, as he cuddled up with his dog Karl. "Well I guess you all heard what happened," he wrote. "Two weeks ago yesterday I had a heart attack. I am feeling better. Just taking it easy." Harper thanked everyone who had been sending him supportive messages based on the rumors in the press, and he concluded, "THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I'm lucky to have such good friends and family to take care of me right now."

A few months later, Harper went on "Today" and opened up even further about what happened. He explained that he went into cardiac arrest while he was at the gym. "My heart stopped. Not to be dramatic, but I was dead," he said. "I was on that ground dead." Thankfully, there were doctors working out at the same time, and they managed to revive him. "I had what they call a 'widow-maker,'" Harper said. "It was a 6% survival rate."

In the wake of his nearly fatal heart attack, Bob Harper reconsidered just about everything he thought he knew about his life. "Think about it. I was the workout guy," Harper told People. "I was the one you came to to want to workout and ask for health advice." He had always assumed that his fastidious workout routine meant he would be safe from things like heart attacks, but that very much was not the case, and now Harper needed to figure out what that meant for his life's work.

After experiencing this life-altering event, Harper struggled with depression. In a book excerpt shared with People, he wrote about the long months of cardiac rehab that followed his heart attack, and how that stressful experience led him to distrust his own heart. "I've cried a lot over my broken heart since that February day," he wrote. "Now that it's recovered I am trying to trust it again ... When I was in the hospital, I couldn't wait to get out, but when I was back home, I longed for professional supervision. It was terrifying."

Thankfully, Bob Harper did not need to recover from his heart attack all on his own. In addition to friends and loved ones, Harper also leaned on his dogs to provide emotional support. Walking your dog is great for your brain health, it turns out, and having the unconditional love of a pet can certainly help you through rough patches.

At the time, Harper had one dog, named after Karl Lagerfeld. Evidently, the pooch was just what the doctor ordered. "Friends brought Karl to the hospital, and I feel like it was the best medicine Bob got," a friend named Kate Angelo told USA Today. "All the color came back to his cheeks — just pure joy. Karl brought him step-by-step back to his old self."

A few months into his recovery, he added a second dog to the family; this one, he named after Vivienne Westwood. "At first, [Karl] wasn't having any part of her," Harper told the outlet, "but now they're really attached to each other." Both, it seems, were also really attached to their owner, and caring for the dogs helped ease his depression. Harper bragged, "She loves everyone."

After Bob Harper had a heart attack, he became a spokesperson for Brilinta, one of the medications that had helped him reduce the chance of another incident. The medication is produced by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, and through that partnership, Harper found a whole community of heart attack survivors who can lean on and learn from one another.

Along with AstraZeneca, he founded Survivors Have Heart, a charity meant to connect heart survivors with one another for support. Through that partnership, Harper shared six tips for survivors: Ask For Help, Be An Active Survivor, Clean Up Your Eating Habits, Listen To Your Body, Breathe, and Listen To Your Healthcare Team. He wrote, "I want to share my commitment to living in the now. If you have suffered a recent heart attack, talk to your doctor today about treatment strategies that are right for you."

In 2018, little more than a year after his heart attack, Bob Harper published "The Super Carb Diet," a combination self-help diet book and memoir, co-written with podcaster Danny Pellegrino. "I decided right after it was made public that I experienced a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest that I wanted to be as upfront and open and honest about my recovery [as possible]," Harper told E! News. "I wanted to inspire people as much I could."

"I've been in the health and fitness industry for almost 30 years now, but I had to pivot my life and redefine the way that I ate and worked out," he told EatingWell, speaking with them about the diet he'd developed, which was sort of the opposite of the keto diet. Instead, Harper suggested intentionally celebrating carbs, which can be necessary to a well-rounded diet. "I went from eating a more high-protein, high-fat diet to being more balanced," he said. "I don't eat very much red meat anymore. I live on mostly fish, sometimes chicken, and lots of vegetables."

Harper also recommended following a more Mediterranean-influenced diet, which involves centering mealtime as a mindfulness practice and not just food. "I'm in my 50s and I don't need to do the things I used to do when I was much younger," he said. "I find joy in simple pleasures more than ever."

Bob Harper came out as gay on a 2013 episode of "The Biggest Loser," but he hasn't otherwise shared much about his personal life with his fans ... with a few notable exceptions. He and his boyfriend Anton Gutierrez appeared together on an episode of Oprah Winfrey's show "Where Are They Now," opening up to the longtime talk show host about how they work as partners in the kitchen. "He is a great sous-chef. He does everything that I tell him to do," Harper said (via People), while Gutierrez joked, "He just likes to boss me around in the kitchen."

In 2019, Harper seemed to reveal a surprise summer wedding on Instagram. He shared a snap of his hand resting on Gutierrez's hand, and both men appeared to be wearing wedding rings. "Well this happened yesterday," he wrote, noting that the rings were by Cartier and Via Carota. He hashtagged the post, "#loveislove."

Still, it's unclear whether Gutierrez and Harper actually got married, or if indeed they are still together. In 2021, Harper appeared on longtime friend Rachael Ray's show (via Facebook), and she interrogated him about his love life. When the celeb chef asked if a wedding date was on the horizon, he quipped, "Rachael cares because she will be officiating the wedding." Any updates beyond that, Harper seems to have kept private.

Though "The Biggest Loser" stopped airing on NBC in 2016, the brand still carries a heck of a lot of name recognition. In early 2020 — before the COVID-19 pandemic hit — "The Biggest Loser" was retooled and rebooted as a brand-new show on the USA network. Bob Harper returned to the show that made him famous, this time serving as an advisor of sorts instead of the demanding personal trainer he'd been on the original show.

Before Harper signed on, he told Variety that he spoke with producers about some format changes he felt were necessary. Harper had never liked the original show's "temptation" challenges, where people with obesity were goaded into eating massive amounts of food on camera. Those were gone on the reboot, thankfully. Harper also served as a sort of therapist, guiding group discussions about mental health. "There were lessons to be learned," he reflected, "and I'm dealing with life and death here, so I'm going to do whatever it takes to help you in any way, as positively as I can [and] also as realistically as I can."

The revamped "Biggest Loser" was not the hit everyone was likely hoping for. To date, it only aired that one season in 2020, and the brand has once again gone dormant.

After his heart attack and the stress of the pandemic, Bob Harper decided to make some major life changes. He traded the hills of Los Angeles for the skyscrapers of New York City, listing his Hollywood Hills mansion for a cool $7.4 million in late 2021. Instead, he bought an apartment in Soho, and he needed to call on an old friend to make that happen.

On an episode of "The Rachael Ray Show," the longtime Food Network host told her audience that she'd helped Harper out in convincing the building to sell him his new pad. "Bob actually asked me to write a letter of recommendation for him," Ray said. "Who would take me seriously?! ... I was like, 'You take my friend or else!'"

Harper is very happy with how things turned out. He gave "The Rachael Ray Show" a tour in 2022, bragging about how much natural light the new place had. "I saw that there were windows not on one, not two, but three sides," he said. "I was like, 'Oh yeah, this is the place for me.'"

In addition to working as a fitness expert, Bob Harper is also a photographer. When he appeared on "The Rachael Ray Show" in 2021, his longtime friend bragged about his shutterbug skills. "Bob is the most incredible photographer, sincerely," she said. "One of the most talented artists." He presented her with a photo he'd taken of the Brooklyn bridge, and she gushed, "Look at that. It's gorgeous, Bob." The appearance would prove to be one of his final times on the show; click here for a look at the truth behind "The Rachael Ray Show's" final days.

That same year, Harper partnered with his charity Survivors Have Heart to display some of his portraits in Flatiron Plaza in New York City. He'd traveled around the country taking pictures of heart attack survivors, and the photography exhibit was meant to show people that you can have a fulfilling life after your heart attack. He told amNY, "This special photoshoot was a chance to tell their heart attack story and how this program helped them move forward in life ... You can actually not only survive but thrive."

In 2025, Bob Harper returned to reality television. This time, rather than hosting, Harper was a competitor himself. The reality TV veteran was on Season 3 of "The Traitors," the hit Peacock show where people backstab, lie, cheat, and more in an effort to win a prize by fooling their fellow competitors. Harper was a "Faithful," meaning he wasn't one of the ones tasked with lying about his identity; instead, he had to try to figure out who was pulling one over on the group.

There's a lot the cameras don't show you on "The Traitors," but the show's cameras did indeed capture Harper's emotional breakdown. After a challenge that involved carrying heavy stone statues up a big hill, Harper became emotional as he told host Alan Cumming that his teammates had helped him out. "That day really f***** me up," he told People. 

Though he was eliminated from the show, his time on "The Traitors" wound up being a blessing. Harper had proven to himself that he could handle more strenuous forms of exercise again. "For years all I've done is yoga," Harper said, believing yoga to be the only exercise his heart could handle. "Since 'The Traitors' ... I have definitely changed the way I work out and I'm doing a lot more challenging things," he revealed, "which feels really good."

In August 2025, Bob Harper appeared on Netflix's "Fit For TV: The Reality of 'The Biggest Loser.'" The docuseries took a good, hard look at the reality show's impact on discourses around obesity, health, mental health, and more. Much of the show's criticism focused on Harper's former co-star Jillian Michaels, but Harper's own actions didn't escape critique, either. He often excused his involvement in the show, at one point arguing, "We're all obsessed with our looks." He expanded on that while speaking to The Guardian, claiming, "Yes, I want to be as healthy as I possibly can ... [but looks are] a huge part of it ... I want to look good when I go to the beach."

On the show, Harper also revealed that Michaels never reached out to him after his heart attack. He told The Guardian, "We weren't besties, but we were partners on a television show for a very long time." Michaels hit back online several days after the documentary premiered, sharing screenshots on Instagram that she said explained why she ignored his health issues. In a screenshot showing a text from 2014, Michaels appears to have told Harper, "I really think it's s***** of you to not even respond to my texts." In the caption, she said it was the second-to-last text she ever sent him. She wrote, "Take from it what you will."

The same weekend that "Fit For TV: The Reality of 'The Biggest Loser'" hit Netflix, Bob Harper had other things on his mind. After all, that weekend he celebrated a major milestone birthday, as he revealed on Instagram. "I just turned 60!!! WTF!!" he wrote alongside a black-and-white photo of himself in a suit. "This past weekend I was surrounded by nothing but LOVE and friendship. I'm so lucky. Thanks for all birthday wishes, y'all!"

Speaking with The Guardian ahead of his birthday party, he revealed that at least one former "Biggest Loser" contestant would be in attendance. He'd remained very close with Season 11 winner Olivia Ward, he said. In fact, they'd remained so close that Ward had named her son Harper. "I was really touched by that," he said, adding, "[She] looks better than ever, and her sister Hannah, she looks great too." When the reporter pressed him about whether by "great" he meant "thin," Harper didn't push back too much. "Well, fat is bad," he said. "Let's not kid anybody." Though he did acknowledge that all sorts of body types can be "healthy," it seems old reality show habits die hard.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.