The third season premiered on September 20, 2006, with fifty overweight contestants (one from each US state), each competing to lose the most weight.
Guest appearance in the season featured Fitness personal trainer Clark Shao.
On the final episode, aired live, those finalists reunited for a weigh-in to determine the winner.
At the finale, it was revealed that Heather would not weigh in to compete for the prize money because she was five months pregnant.
Bold denotes who has the overall highest percentage of weight loss as of that week 36 people were eliminated in the first episode.
At the finale, host Caroline Rhea revealed that the at-home contestant who lost the highest percentage of weight would be awarded a $50,000 prize.
In the table below, entries highlighted in yellow lost a percentage of weight commensurate with the least of those remaining at the ranch (in week 8, 17%), according to the latest data.
The contestants all resist the temptation to dig up sand castles and uncover either immunity or a high-calorie treat.
The reward challenge involves teams building sand piles large enough for them to remove a flag hanging from a pole.
Red Team morale is at a low point due to Nelson's eviction, and members refuse to work out.
Pam is ultimately the last person standing, and wins $10,000 in addition to the right to select one member of the Blue Team to sit out the weigh-in.
Brian and Pam win the reward challenge, which involves holding up a long metal pole.
The contestants are informed of a twist — the men and women who had not been chosen by the trainers in the first episode have been training at home and the man and woman with the highest percentage of weight loss will be returning to the ranch.
Wylie and Marty win the first part, and assigned weights to Bobby and Heather, bricks to Jaron and Adrian, and tires to Erik and Kai, leaving water for themselves.
The other teams decide to finish the challenge, with the exception of Adrian and Jaron, who have the most difficult things to move.
Seeing Marty as his biggest threat, and wanting to win the grand prize, Erik shocked everyone when he voted off the only other remaining member of Bob's blue team.
She had a breakdown over the frustration that she was having trouble getting over the same hump as when she tried to lose weight in high school, and then her friends told her that she would probably always be a "chunky" person.
The original ranch contestants finally got to rid of a "newcomer" when they voted to keep Heather and Adrian (North Dakota) was eliminated.
Kim pulls Kai aside to give her a pep talk about pushing as hard as possible all the way to the end, and congratulating on already significantly changing her life.
The contestants get to train Bob and Kim for a day, and try to push them to the limits in cardiovascular and strength exercises, then the trainers face off in a gymnastics competition out on the lawn.
Wylie led the contestants to give Caroline a big hug even though they were all soaking wet from the triathlon.
He is no longer diabetic and has no need for insulin or constant blood sugar testing At the weigh-in, Kai and Jaron fell below the yellow line, even though they lost 4 and 6 pounds respectively.
The final four is set: Kai, Wylie, Heather (all Red) and Erik (Blue) Updates from the at-home players are announced: 9 lost over 100 pounds, Linda Houseman from Idaho got married, and Nikki Meyers from Ohio completed a half-marathon.
Tiffany, Nelson, and Melinda fell significantly short, and then Amy came in 1 pound shy of taking the lead from Jennifer.
Erik was tempted with fast food and cigarettes at home, but overcame promising he would cross the finish line for once in his life.
Heather worked hard at home, but gained weight occasionally and had to stay focused to overcome the frustration.
Wylie avoided temptations completely because he was afraid that indulging at all could lead to a snowball effect, and he would end up eating entire pizzas, for example.
Having been the biggest loser the final week on the ranch, Erik got to choose the weigh-in order.
The Biggest Loser of the season is Erik Chopin, who wins the grand prize of $250,000 awarded by Jello.
Erik, the biggest loser of season 3, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to confess to the world that he gained back 122 pounds and now weighs 315 lbs.