Jodie Christine Prenger (born 12 June 1979) is an English actress and singer, best known for winning the second series of The Biggest Loser in 2006 and the BBC talent show I'd Do Anything in 2008, the latter of which subsequently launched her career in theatre. In 2022, she began portraying the role of Glenda Shuttleworth in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.
Early life
Jodie Christine Prenger was born on 12 June 1979 to a Dutch father and an English mother of part-Irish descent. She has one brother, Marko Prenger. Prenger was educated at Elmslie Girls' School in Blackpool and Blackpool and the Fylde College before starting work in the area as an entertainer. She has performed extensively on the cabaret circuit in Northern England and particularly her hometown of Blackpool and Fylde coast where she has also worked as an agony aunt. In June 1998 she appeared in two different shows each night in two Blackpool theatres. First she had a solo spot in the Tiptoes Summer Spectacular at the resort's Opera House theatre before appearing 20 minutes later in one of the main roles in a Blackpool and the Fylde College production of the musical comedy Hot Mikado at the Grand Theatre.
Prenger's first appearance on television came in 1999 when she appeared on A Taste for Travel on Granada Television with her mother. In 2000, she took part in the Dale Winton show The Other Half on BBC One in which she had to pretend to be the wife of boxer Chris Eubank. Later that year, she played the role of the good witch Hurricane in a non-skating role in Halloween Spectacular on Ice at Alton Towers in Staffordshire. In 2001, she spent eight months as one of four main entertainers in a team of 19 aboard the cruise ship Disney Wonder.
Career
The Biggest Loser
Prenger won the second series of The Biggest Loser in 2006, making her the first female in the world to win the show, starting the show a size 22 and weighing . During the series, she lost over . Her final weight was and she slimmed down to a size 10 before settling at a size 14/16. Prenger won £25,000 for winning the series. In 2006, Jodie Prenger was also featured on Charlotte Coyle's Fat Beauty Contest on Channel 4, where Coyle searched for plus-sized models for a beauty pageant.
On 10 March 2009, Prenger appeared on The Paul O'Grady Show and spoke about her time on The Biggest Loser. On seeing a picture of herself after initially losing weight, she said that she believed she lost too much weight and became too thin at that time. She also commented that she believed all women should have curves.
I'd Do Anything
Prenger was the winner of I'd Do Anything on 31 May 2008, giving her the opportunity to play Nancy in a West End revival of the British musical Oliver! at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Prenger attended auditions for the show in Manchester in January 2008, and made it through to the final 42 at "Nancy School" from where she was eventually chosen as one of the twelve finalists to perform in the live shows each week.