'Biggest Loser's' Francelina + Jeff: 'We have something special'

‘Biggest Loser’s’ Francelina + Jeff: ‘We have something special’

By Rene Lynch

Feb. 19, 2013 12 AM PT

Fans of “The Biggest Loser’s” Francelina, fear not. If you were thinking “Why does Francelina have to go home? Why can’t it be Gina? know this: Francelina says she’s happy -- in a bittersweet sort of way -- that it was her time to go.

“I knew I had gathered the tools in there that I needed to survive in the real world,” Francelina Morillo, 25, of Albany, N.Y., said Tuesday morning during a media conference call. “I was ready to face the real world.”

She said she couldn’t say the same about the rest of the remaining competitors, including Jeff -- her newfound love.

Francelina stopped short of predicting the future, but said that she and Jeff formed a close, intimate bond on the ranch due to shared heartbreak: They both lost their fathers at a young age and turned to food for comfort.

“It’s like looking in the mirror when I look at him,” she said.

“I think we have something special. I found a bond with him that I hadn’t had with anyone else,” she said. With past relationships, “I always felt there was something missing. I found out on the ranch that it was me.”

She said she never felt that she could really, truly be herself until Jeff.

Awwww!

Francelina said she is focused on two immediate goals: The finale, and then medical school.

“I’m working super-hard,” she said. “I am a beast in the gym.” She said she uses the stair mill for two hours a day, runs and also works out with a trainer. Daily.

As for medical school, she sounded downright giddy: “I have all of the confidence in the world to make it.”

Other highlights from the conversation:

--She wasn’t upset at losing only 2 pounds this week. “I wasn’t as disappointed because I knew I had given it my all.”

--She was honored when she learned that she was a motivating force to her fellow competitors. She said they would take a look at her, and her size, and think: “If she’s running, I should be running.”

--She said she is now a positive and outgoing person who only allows similar-minded people in her life. “That’s who I am, and that’s who I radiate from now on.”

--For those of you fed up with Gina, Francelina offers this caution: “Not everybody responds to negative reinforcement. Different training styles work for different people ... personalities are going to clash.” Francelina joked that viewers also need to remember: The ranch is packed with a group of “super-stressed” people who “all wanna eat and can’t eat.”

--She said life at the ranch forced her to recognize that what she thought was a healthy habit was actually an unhealthy habit. She said she’d binge on healthy foods such as apples and oatmeal and then wonder why she couldn’t lose weight.

“I’ve come a long way. I am a meat eater,” she said.

Note to Francelina: You look gorgeous, and we look forward to seeing “less” of you at the finale. Just promise us one thing: Don’t ever lose that mane of spectacular hair!

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