‘We are all broken-hearted’: Biggest Loser star’s sad life update

Former The Biggest Loser star Ajay Rochester has shared an update with fans – revealing she’s been left reeling from two pieces of shock news.

Ajay – who hosted four seasons of The Biggest Loser before leaving in 2009 and quitting Australia for LA in 2010 – took to Facebook to share the news that her son’s father had died.

“RIP Peter McQuade. It’s always sad to see someone pass, especially at an age that feels far too young… though I suppose there’s never really a ‘right’ time,” the star wrote on social media.

“I just want to say thank you to a man who gave me one of the greatest gifts of my life – my beautiful son, Kai. For that, I will always honour both him and the life he lived.”

Ajay went on to say that the man she “met and fell in love with” was funny, creative, brave and thoughtful.

“An incredibly talented musician and artist, his creativity seemed to overflow into everything he did,” she wrote. “He brought so much joy and laughter to the people around him.

“While I haven’t known him personally in recent years, that doesn’t take away from the connection we will always share through our son — and the joy that continues to bring into my life every single day.

“For that, I am forever grateful. I hope he rests in peace, and that those who knew and loved him hold onto the memory of the light he brought when he shone his brightest.”

Ajay’s adult son, Kai, was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome as a baby and was raised largely by his single mother.

In 2023, he followed his mum to the US, hoping to gain work in the TV industry although he has most recently been working as a private security guard.

Ajay, meanwhile, has suffered another blow – as she revealed she had lost her job working on a US reality TV competition, a role that had been a lifeline for her after a difficult time.

The 57-year-old had been earning a steady income working on the show The Great Christmas Light Fight, until it was revealed the network that ran the show – ABC – had not picked it up for the coming festive season.

“Very very very sad day. End of an era. End of 4-6 months of guaranteed work,” Ajay shared in an emotional Facebook post. “End of something that means the world to us. Hollywood is dying and it is so, so sad. We are all broken-hearted.”

Divulging more in an interview with the Daily Mail, Ajay told of the impact of the loss.

“It’s definitely scary being 57 and losing guaranteed work,” she said.

“That show was one of the utmost honours of my career. We won a bunch of awards and sadly, after many years of not being available for work during summer and winter, aka Christmas … I will now be available.”

It’s not the first time Ajay has faced an uncertain path.

During a candid chat with campmates on the 2019 season of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! on which she appeared, Ajay admitted she left The Biggest Loser “destitute with no one wanting to hire me”.

“And I had $7.11 to my name. I was literally homeless – like, literally homeless,” she shared, adding that for a period of time she and Kai housesat the homes of friends as they had nowhere else to go.

“When I first came here [to LA] I was a mess,” she previously admitted to Woman’s Day.