Jillian Michaels shocked face was plastered all over the media last month when The Biggest Loser winner Rachel Frederickson appeared at the show’s finale displaying a much leaner body than the one she had when she first left the show.

Jillian Michaels On Rachel Frederickson

Michaels, who didn’t personally oversee Frederickson’s weight-loss, hadn’t expected to see the contestant so thin. "I was stunned," Michaels told HuffPost Live, adding that fellow trainer Bob Harper didn’t know the extent of Frederickson’s slimdown either. "I thought she had lost too much weight."

In an effort to avoid situations like Frederickson’s, The Biggest Loser employs a variety of “checks and balances.” After contestants leave the ranch to utilize the eating and exercise habits they’ve been taught, they are routinely contacted to make sure everything is going well. Michaels believes that the system failed this time around. "In my opinion,” she said. “This had fallen through those checks and balances."

Michaels worries that Frederickson, once an over eater, has found another way to use food – or its lack ­– to assert control. "Anybody who gains too much weight or loses too much weight… these are manifestations of the same issue," Michaels said. "It simply means that somebody is utilizing their relationship with food to manage emotions that are painful, hard, difficult to face or control."

Frederickson, whose weight-loss has been discussed by a number of former contestants – including season 5 winner Ali Vincent – has admitted that she may have gone too far with her diet and exercise in the effort to win the show. "Maybe I was a little too enthusiastic in my training to get to the finale," she told People.

– Chelsea Regan

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