Former The Biggest Loser Australia host Ajay Rochester has lost her job and financial lifeline in Hollywood in a shock blow that has once again turned her life upside down.
After years of money woes, including a period of homelessness, Rochester had finally built a life in the United States with a steady income from working on reality TV show The Great Christmas Light Fight.
But the popular series, which had reached its 13th season, was abruptly cancelled this week, forcing the one-time star back into the job market once again.
‘It’s definitely scary being 57 and losing guaranteed work,’ she told Daily Mail.
‘That show was one of the utmost honours of my career. We won a bunch of awards and sadly, after many years of not being available for work during summer and winter, aka Christmas … I will now be available.’
Ajay also shared her despair in a Facebook post, adding: ‘Very very very sad day. End of an era. End of four to six months of guaranteed work. End of something that means the world to us’.
The Biggest Loser Australia host Ajay Rochester made it to the big time hosting the ratings winner for Network Ten. She then moved to the United States where she fell on tough times. Pictured with winner Adro Sarnelli in the 2006 season finale
After years of money woes, including a period of homelessness, Rochester finally built a life in the United States with a steady income, working on reality TV show The Great Christmas Light Fight – but even that has come to an end
The show was in its 13th season, but despite its popularity has not been renewed
She ended the post with a bleak assessment of the wider entertainment industry: ‘Hollywood is dying and it is so so sad. We are all broken hearted.’
Ajay worked in the show’s casting department and helped source families to appear on screen.
Her comment section quickly filled with concern, with fans vowing to campaign for its return.
‘We are devastated, truly hoping ABC change their minds. The show is an institution,’ one wrote.
‘Time to pivot before it is too late,’ added another.
Rochester has long been open about her personal struggles, beginning with her birth as part of Australia’s forced adoption era in the late 1960s, when children of unmarried women were routinely taken and placed with other families.
Rochester was raised by abusive adoptive parents and spent years searching for her birth mother.
In an extraordinary twist, she later discovered she had already met and worked for her birth mother, Kaylene, in a theatre restaurant she owned. The pair shared just one year together before Kaylene was found dead in 1993.
Ajay believes the circumstances surrounding her mother’s death were suspicious.
Rochester was known to work with the paparazzi to make money. Above and below, she’s seen getting taken out by waves in Cabo, Mexico, in 2014
At 30, Rochester welcomed her only son, Kai, who was later diagnosed with Aspergers, leaving her to navigate the challenges of raising him as a single mother while trying to provide stability.
Weeks before her rise to fame as host of Australia’s Biggest Loser in 2006, Rochester claims she was preparing paperwork for her new role and realised she had been overpaid by Centrelink.
During her appearance on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in 2019, she revealed that despite her efforts to repay what she owed she was then taken to court.
‘I got a letter a few months after, I think six months after I started The Biggest Loser, saying that Centrelink were going to take me to court for fraud,’ she said about the incident.
‘It was over seven years that I had accidentally received $70 extra, 14 times.’
Ajay said everybody – including her bosses at the time – treated her like a criminal.
‘It was four years of hell and torture,’ she said.
Rochester previously found herself homeless. Above, she’s seen living out of a van during the Lismore floods in NSW
With her reputation in tatters, she moved to the United States for a new opportunity, only to have her contract cancelled just three days after arriving.
Ajay was left homeless with her young son for months, house-sitting and at times relying on the kindness of strangers to get by.
During that time she was also well known in tabloid circles for participating in paparazzi photoshoots for money.
She once described that period of her life as follows: ‘Destroyed my career. I left Biggest Loser destitute, with no one wanting to hire me. And I had $7.11 to my name. I was literally homeless – like, literally homeless.
‘For about four months, Kai and I, we just house sat friends’ and neighbours’ houses, because we just had nowhere to go.
‘I was this close to being in a shelter. I swallowed my pride and emailed almost everyone I knew and begged for money. I had no other choice.’
