Who Won Reality TV.

Former Biggest Loser contestant helps local PA teen

“I was always the fat kid,” Adam said.

At age 16, Adam tipped the scales at 308 pounds. A future in the opera seemed a natural fit.

“I had thought, since I was bigger, I’d be more accepted because of my idols like Luciano Pavorotti — he’s very big,” Bonanni said.

But Bonanni said a devastating realization came with these words from a vocal coach: “You have a lot of potential, but the days of the fat opera singers are over.”

At first Adam didn’t want to face the music, but later it became clear that, to land a starring role at the New York Metropolitan Opera, he had to lose weight.

He looked to the one person who knew all about shedding the pounds.

“He said, ‘I’m over being fat Miss Minner, I’m over it,’” said teacher Kelly Minner.

The former contestant and finalist on the second season of NBC’s hit reality show “The Biggest Loser” was one of Adam’s teachers at the Lehigh Valley Performing Arts School in Bethlehem.

Today, she’s 102 pounds lighter and taught Adam everything she learned from the show.

“He started to eat lunch with me, and we’d talk about nutrition,” Minner said.

She convinced Adam to trade the cheeseburgers, French fries and soda for high-fiber, low-carb foods. She also got him exercising.

“Not easy at all,” Adam said.

Minner said, “In the first couple of weeks, he lost like 40 pounds.”

Since January, Adam lost 110 pounds, going from size-44-inch waist pants to a svelte 34.

Not only does he look better; he’s performing better.

“I have much more stamina … There’s a certain energy people say they’ve seen, not only as a performer but, as a person, they’ve never seen before,” Adam said.

“He just a happier person,” Minner said. “He’s just going to carry this with him and have a long, happy life.”

It could be as a leading man of the opera.