| Ajay Rochester | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leigh Towler 17 April 1969 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation | Television presenter of The Biggest Loser, author, actress, comedian, speaker |
| Known for | The Biggest Loser |
| Children | Kai Rochester |
Ajay Rochester (born Leigh Towler on 17 April 1969 in Sydney) is an Australian actress and author. She was the host of the Australian version of reality weight-loss television series The Biggest Loser which she hosted from 2006-2009.
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Rochester was adopted as a child, and was emotionally and physically abused by her adoptive mother. She located her birth mother in 1992 after years of searching, although her mother died of carbon monoxide poisoning a year later.[1]
Rochester has a son Kai, he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome at the age of five.[1] She was engaged to British-born telecommunications manager Martin Gleave, but called off the wedding and ended the relationship in August 2007.[2]
Rochester suffered from obesity, which she attributed to the death of her birth mother and her estrangement from her adoptive mother. She resolved to lose weight following the birth of her child, and shed over 50 kilograms since giving birth.[1]
Since then, she has been involved in several weight loss projects, most notably hosting The Biggest Loser on Network Ten. She founded a website, "The Healthy Body Club", and authored the books Confessions of a Reformed Dieter, Blubberguts and The Lazy Girl's Guide to Losing Weight and Getting Fit.[3] Rochester Is Currently on a television show called "Excess Baggage" For channel nine. Rochester after she left the biggest loser has put on weight and joined "Excess Baggage" To assist in the removal of this Weight loss. In the T.V Advert she said: "I used to starve myself to keep my job" -(The Biggest Loser Australia) Fans of Rochester Call It "Ironic" that Ajay has been on a weight loss show and has received no help for her weight loss. The New Series starts in January 2012.
Rochester appeared on the reality television series Celebrity Dog School with her Pomeranian, "Bootsie".[4]
Rochester was also the co-host of 'Mum's The Word' on the SBSTV series.[5]
Rochester is the ambassador for the Eating Disorders Foundation. She has worked with The Make A Wish Foundation and is an advocate for breast cancer research lending her time to multiple breast cancer charities including the Field of Women and BCNA. Rochester is also the face and ambassador for Triathlonpink.com and walked the Great Wall of China to raise funds to build the Olivia Newton John Wellness Centre.[6]
In the late 1990s, Rochester also co-wrote and produced several short films while she was working the comedy circuits in Australia. Her 1998 Film BruiZer won the best short at the Scenefest Short Film Festival and was the runner up at the Brisbane Schlock-fest Film festival.[7] She also had a weekly comedy segment on AM Adelaide on Channel 7.
Rochester started her career as an actress in the film To Make A Killing. Her next film was The Crossing, which starred Russell Crowe.[8]
Rochester's first book 'Confessions of Reformed Dieter' is now in its third print run.[9] She then wrote a children's book: "Blubberguts".[10] In 2005, Rochester's book 'Lazy Girl's Guide to Losing Weight and Getting Fit' was published by Random House and made the Sydney Morning Herald top five best seller list.[11] Her first book 'Confessions of a Reformed Dieter' was nominated for an Audie award for most inspirational talking book - bestowed annually in the USA for outstanding audiobooks but was beaten by Dr Phil's 'The Ultimate Weight Solution'. 'Confessions' was also published in Thailand, UK, Canada and is about to be released by Random House UK as an E book available on iTunes and Kindle. Her most recent books were published by New Holland publishing and are "The 5 Minute Diet book' and a recipe book called 'Food you love'. Ajay is now living and working in the USA and working on her latest books to be published there and is currently represented by literary agent Jennifer Unter from The Unter Agency in New York. Her next book, which she says will be her final weight loss book is titled Been There Done Fat (tm) and the other work in progress is a book on her son's autism called "Coming to the rescue".
In June 2008, Rochester was due to appear in a Sydney court to face nine charges of receiving a financial advantage from a Commonwealth entity and fourteen charges of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage, namely claiming a single parent payment between December 2001 and December 2005, for which (it was alleged) that she was not entitled. On 8 July she pled not guilty,[12] based on a technicality. The matter was stood down until 9 September 2008. She later pled "technical" guilty to what was reduced to 14 counts of being overpaid. Her lawyer told Downing Centre Local Court that she had paid back all of the overpayment, which averaged out to be an overpayment of $70 per week over 5 years of payments to which she was entitled.[13] Ajay was later exonerated on all charges, given a section 21 b with no conviction recorded. It was proven during the case that Ajay had been the one to inform Centerlink of what amounted to an overpayment of $70 per week and Justice O'Shae questioned the validity of the case even making it to court, commenting often on the prevalence of the media summing up with a comment that Rochester had no doubt suffered enough through "trial by media".
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