'The Biggest Loser' Crowns Danni Allen Winner

You lose some, you win some.

After a season of battling it out with the scale – and each other – Danni Allen, Jeff Nichols and Jackson Carter were the three left vying for the big prize Monday night on NBC’s The Biggest Loser.

So who was named the winner? Danni Allen took home the title in the live finale by losing the biggest percentage of her body weight – 46.9 percent – outlasting Jeff Nichols and Jackson Carter to pick up the $250,000 grand prize.

“At the end of the day, look at me!” she said, beaming, right before the final weigh-in.

Allen, an advertising account coordinator from Wheeling, Ill., lost 121 lbs. in all, going from 258 to 137 lbs. Her percentage loss just beat out Jeff Nichols, who lost 46.65 percent in going from 388 to 207 lbs.

As host Alison Sweeney pronounced her the winner, Allen embraced her trainer, Jillian Michaels – who had returned for the show’s 14th season after two seasons off – as confetti rained down on the set.

Jackson Carter, the first openly gay contestant, finished third, going from 328 to 190 lbs. for 42.07 percent body-weight loss. Early in Monday’s finale, Jackson was revealed to have won the public vote over sales executive Joe Ostaszewski to join the final three.

Allen wasn’t the only winner Monday. Gina McDonald, an attorney from Hoover, Ala., won $100,000 by losing a bigger percentage than any of the other eliminated contestants this season. McDonald went from 245 lbs. to 132 lbs. for a loss of 113 lbs. – or 46.12 percent of her body weight.

McDonald narrowly beat out Lisa Rambo, a high school special-education assistant, who lost 43.9 percent of her body weight (going from 246 to 138 lbs.), and Ostaszewski, who lost 40.38 percent (going from 364 to 217 lbs.).

The finale also featured appearances by all three teen contestants – the first time the show has tackled the issue of childhood obesity.

Lindsay Bravo, an 8th grader who lost 47 lbs., performed a routine with the cheerleaders from her Fillmore, Calif., high school. Noah “Biingo” Gray of New Windsor, Md., another 8th grader, lost 43 lbs., and was surprised by the coach of an area baseball team, who revealed he had made the team. And Sanjana “Sunny” Chandrasekar, an 11th grader from Rochester, N.Y., lost 51 lbs. and four dress sizes, and showed up in her sparkling pink prom dress.

“My life is complete. I’m so happy,” Chandrasekar said. “All it takes is a step in the right direction and some perseverance … It’s the best feeling you can ever have.”