Sonya Jones

Sonya Jones captured the hearts of viewers with her upbeat attitude and dedication to succeed on Season 16 of NBC's reality TV show The Biggest Loser. Jones was that season's only female finalist-with the closest margin of loss in Biggest Loser history (.01% of her body weight). Knowing that, as a physical education teacher, she should be the model of health and fitness, Jones felt like a hypocrite as she neared 300 pounds in 2014. Six months later, she stepped onto the scale (and into the...See more

Sonya Jones captured the hearts of viewers with her upbeat attitude and dedication to succeed on Season 16 of NBC's reality TV show The Biggest Loser. Jones was that season's only female finalist-with the closest margin of loss in Biggest Loser history (.01% of her body weight). Knowing that, as a physical education teacher, she should be the model of health and fitness, Jones felt like a hypocrite as she neared 300 pounds in 2014. Six months later, she stepped onto the scale (and into the hearts of millions of Americans)-dropping a whopping 144 pounds to lose 50.88% of her total body weight on national television. Prior to her Biggest Loser journey, Jones earned a degree in Physical Education from Greenville University (in Greenville, Illinois-where she was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018) along with graduate degrees in Educational Leadership and Administration from the University of Illinois at Springfield.. A former semi-professional athlete (two-time Collegiate All-American in fastpitch softball), Jones spent nearly two decades in education before taking her current position as an Outreach Representative for HSHS Medical Group in central Illinois. She is a certified (and widely-sought) speaker with the John Maxwell Team. When not engaged in public speaking all over the country-she enjoys playing softball, spending quality time with friends and family, and pursuing her most recent interest: rescuing pit bulls. See less