Ajay Rochester found national fame when she landed a hosting gig on The Biggest Loser back in 2005.
The star had previously worked as an actress and author of the books The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Losing Weight and Getting Fit 2005, Blubberguts, 2004, and Confessions of a Reformed Dieter, 2001, which made her a perfect candidate to join the show.
Now, 13 years later, she is set to appear on Seven News Spotlight: The Fame Game, and as we welcome her back to our screens, here is what she has gotten up to since leaving the show.
Ajay with her fellow The Fame Game cast.
(Image: Instagram)After appearing on a hit program, she put her pen back to paper and wrote 5-Minute Diet Book, 2010 and Food You Love, 2011 and in 2019 she returned to reality TV for I’m A Celeb… Get Me Out of Here.
Ajay also headed to the United States to raise her son Kai, who has Asperger’s syndrome.
In an exclusive chat with New Idea, she spoke about supporting him and how proud she is for all he has achieved – including landing a job with a salary higher than her own.
“Raising a child with Asperger’s [syndrome], you learn to have different benchmarks to other kids – you really can’t compare milestones.
“I can’t tell you what it means to hear him say that,” she said. “I’ve been proud of him every day of his life, but for him to admit that of himself after doing something well outside his comfort zone – it’s huge.”
“Raising a child with Asperger’s [syndrome], you learn to have different benchmarks to other kids.”
(Image: Instagram)“Kai is now working as a video editing assistant for a major US network, and he loves it. He is so talented,” shared the 53-year-old.
“He’s earning big bucks and is able to live an independent life, all because someone gave him a shot… he earns more money than me!”
Now that her son is 21, she has moved back to Australia after the pandemic and elections in the United States left her unsettled.
However, it hasn’t been smooth sailing back down under.
In 2021, Ajay went to the emergency room for an electrocardiogram when she experienced unnerving fluttering in her heart, which made her blood pressure rise.
She let her fans know about her scare on Instagram by captioning a picture taken in the hospital, “I’m fine. My EKG was normal, but it was enough of a scare to make me wake up and get serious. So here’s to MY year of health!”
However, if there is anything to learn from Ajay’s story, she is resilient, which was reaffirmed when she was forced to live in a van during the Lismore floods and spent her time helping other victims.
She penned a lengthy message from her van updating her fans about her situation.
She wrote, “Have limited internet access so sorry about the dump but there’s minimal electricity and internet and am just so busy during the days.
Ajay shared this picture from her day helping flood victims.
(Image: Instagram)“Anyway am sure this is not how van life is supposed to look like but am grateful to @gogetcarshare for a great van to get me and the supplies there and for a warm and dry place to sleep- keep in mind there’s no motels, no hotels, no pubs, no air bnbs.
“This place has been wiped out so we do what we can. If you want to volunteer , bring a tent or a van and park in the Lismore Showgrounds as there’s a little tent city of volunteers there. It takes a village!”
A few days later she shared a snap of her working on her laptop while surrounded by tents trying to help people apply for disaster payments.
“Helped people apply for disaster payments in Koori Mail,” she wrote. “First pic is me a week ago at KooriMail helping people apply for disaster payments. The second pic is it flooded again! It’s unbelievable. What will happen to Lismore? There are no words!”
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