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The Biggest Loser trainer Bob Harper came perilously close to death when he suffered a heart attack in February 2017.
The shocking health scare was seemingly unimaginable for Harper, who spent 18 seasons training contestants on The Biggest Loser to make their physical and emotional health a priority.
Harper revealed during an April 2017 appearance on NBC’s Today that the last thing he remembered was exercising with friends before passing out and waking up two days later in a hospital bed.
“On February 12 of [2017] I was in the gym, the next thing I knew I woke up in a hospital two days later being told that I had a heart attack and that I immediately went into cardiac arrest. Talk about a life-changing experience,” he told Today.
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Doctors initially gave Harper only a “six percent” chance of survival. Thankfully, Harper made a miraculous recovery, though the physical impact of his heart attack was evident seven years later when he took part in physical challenges on The Traitors.
Keep scrolling for a rundown of Harper’s health journey since his heart attack:
‘Technically Died’
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in April 2017, host Andy Cohen was stunned to find out that Harper “technically died” before he was revived through CPR.
“There was a piece of paper from the doctor that said, ‘Cause of death: cardiac arrest.’ That’s a wake up call,” Harper pointed out.
‘Identity Crisis’
Harper credited his lifelong passion for fitness for saving his life, though that same passion made his recovery more challenging from an emotional standpoint.
“I’ve always been a person that was so driven and type A and I have my routine, which I love, and when all of that was taken away from me and my whole identity of fitness was taken away, I went through an identity crisis,” Bob admitted to Today in 2017. “I didn’t know who I was and it became a journey for me. I was going through this new life of mine and having to rediscover different sides of me. It was really hard. It was really emotional; I went through a lot of depression because of it.”
Surprising Support
Harper confirmed to Cohen during a 2017 WWHL episode that “almost everyone” from The Biggest Loser reached out to him following his heart attack.
The personal trainer even received some surprising support from shock jock Howard Stern in the early days of his recovery.

“Howard and [his wife] Beth, they reached out to me,” Harper said. “Then Howard sent me a video of naked men doing yoga. Beth was like, ‘You’re gonna give him another heart attack!’ I love him.”
‘Not Besties’
One person who never reached out to Harper in the wake of his heart attack, according to the trainer himself, was his Biggest Loser costar Jillian Michaels. Harper told The Guardian in 2025 that he and Harper were “never besties,” though her silence “spoke volumes” in his time of need.
“I would not expect Jillian Michaels to do anything other than what she wants to do,” he admitted.
Road to Recovery
Speaking exclusively to Us Weekly in January 2018, Harper addressed “redefining what my body is supposed to look like and feel like” as part of his recovery.
“The gym is where I go to relieve my stress. It’s my happy place. It’s my safe place. It’s my social place,” he admitted. “And I had my heart attack in that exact place, so after that I then had to kind of figure out who I was again, because in many ways, fitness really defined me. And that was taken away from me, so that was a very big identity crisis that I went through.”
‘So Thankful’
Harper marked the two-year anniversary of his heart attack in February 2019 with a powerful Instagram post, where he reflected on being “so thankful” to have survived.
“Two years ago today I had a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest,” he added. “My message to you is to appreciate where you are in your life. No matter how hard it can get, you have the power to change anything that you want as long as you never give up.”
Speaking to the Heart
Harper recalled one key part of his recovery — from an emotional point of view — was literally speaking to his heart as he exercised.
“There’s this one pose I do in the very beginning of hot yoga, where my arms are over my head and I can see my heart pounding. I can see it, every time. I look at it, and I just kinda go, ‘There he is,’” the host told Us in January 2020. “I make an acknowledgment, say, ‘Hey little buddy.’ I had a doctor once, right after my heart attack when I was going through so much emotional s***, who wanted me to talk to my heart.”
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During one introspective moment, Harper compared his 2017 cardiac arrest to breaking up with his most vital organ.
“I was like, ‘Why’d you give up on me?’ That’s what I said,” he explained. “Imagine if you’ve ever been dumped and he broke the f*** out of your heart and you’re taking him back. You have to build a relationship with him, to trust him again. It’s the exact same thing. I had to start building a relationship, to trust it to go into a gym.”
Physical Toll
Harper shared an especially vulnerable side of his recovery while competing on The Traitors in 2025. When one challenge required the contestants to drag heavy Easter Island replica statues up a hill, Harper needed help from his costars in order to complete the task.
“That day really f***ed me up,” he told People in January 2025. “And I’ll tell you, since my heart attack, I completely changed the way I work out. And for years all I’ve done is yoga.”

The former Celebrity Apprentice star confirmed that his grueling experience on The Traitors “definitely changed” the way he exercised once he got home.
“I’m doing a lot more challenging things [now], which feels really good,” he said. “But for the longest time, I didn’t trust my heart anymore.”