THE BIGGEST WINNER

As the newest trainer of the Blue Team on The Biggest Loser, STEVE COOK is helping to change lives. Ten years ago, Muscle & Fitness changed his.

- Nate Millado

STEVE COOK IS TERRIBLE AT KEEPING SECRETS.

He shares just about every aspect of his life with his 2.5 million Instagram followers. His boulder-shoulder workouts. Challenges and Q&As with his girlfriend, fellow fitfluencer Morgan Rose Moroney. What he eats in a day. His globe-trotting adventures. His adorable French bulldog, Hobbes (who himself boasts 38K IG followers). Which is why Cook was so relieved when, last September, he was finally able to reveal his biggest secret—that he was the new trainer of USA Network’s The Biggest Loser reboot. “I felt really weird not sharing things [for weeks],” he told his 1.26 million YouTube subscribers. “I had to be in total silence.”

The popular reality competition series—which awarded $250K to the contestant who lost the highest percentage of weight— ran for 17 seasons on NBC. Cook was still in high school when it originally premiered in 2004. “I remember watching it and just being taken aback by how intense the trainers were, especially Jillian [Michaels], and how much weight people were able to lose in a relatively short time,” Cook recalls. “I kept thinking, ‘This is crazy; I would never yell and scream like that to my clients.’ But at the same time, there were some amazing results.”

Now the sneaker is on the other foot, and the 6'1", 215-pound Cook is taking a holistic approach to motivating his Blue Team. The teams, with Erica Lugo as the Red Team coach, also have access to nutritionists, on-site docs, and therapists to round out their transformations. “I always say, ‘It’s not just what you’re eating, but what’s eating you,’ ”