‘The Biggest Loser’ preview: Is Ruben Studdard coming back to the ranch?

Oh, those tricky producers for “The Biggest Loser.” They already let Ruben Studdard do a round of press following his elimination like he was done with the show, and he did a great job of playing along like he was an award-winning actor in addition to being a former “American Idol” superstar.

But, the promo for next week (first posted by Mjsbigblog) makes it pretty darn clear that Ruben is coming back. What’s the reason for this? While we’re sure that the show will come up with something, we think of it as something more of the producers really wanting to get something more out of a guy who was their big star going into this season. Not everyone’s watching the show for Ruben, but he is the face that so many knew going in. The only other time there has been a “star” on the show like this was Rulon Gardner, and he exited the show under what were at the time some pretty mysterious circumstances. (He since tried to get a career going again in wrestling.)

Do we think that Ruben really has any hope of winning the show this year? It’s going to be hard for him to do so, given that he did come on with that celebrity status and that could make him a target at any point that there is voting (especially now that he has been given a second chance). But, we’re happy to see him back since so much of this season has been a sob-fest, and we need some other characters in there to help mix things up a little bit. Ruben certainly does that, and we’re still pulling for the best for him. There are still quite a few weeks left in this season, and he therefore has some opportunities to shed some more weight and make an enormous splash come the end of the season.

If you want to check out some more scoop on “The Biggest Loser” this season, we suggest heading on over to the link here.

Photo: NBC