Mark Evans is not the biggest loser.

“[‘The Biggest Loser’ casting staff] really liked me, but they were auditioning couples and asked if I had any other fat people in my life,” Evans said. “Yeah, I have plenty of fat people in my life, but they don’t want to be on TV.”

Evans

In February 2010, Evans got a call from Tijuana Entertainment — “The Biggest Loser’s” production company — offering him a place on an untitled new program about weight loss that would be filmed in South Carolina.

“The day they told me that my wife said she was pregnant,” Evans said. “But ‘Heavy,’ it was the right thing to do.”

Still though, did he have any reservation about allowing audiences into such a personal experience — one many would call intrusive?

“I didn’t want to come across as arrogant, but the health benefits really outweighed the trepidation,” Evans said.

Evans, who at the start weighed 650 pounds, spent six months — April 30 to October 24 — at Hilton Head Health a weight loss spa in Hilton Head, S.C. Today, Evans said he weighs about 360 pounds.

“The response I’ve had is pretty awesome,” Evans said. “But I can run [now] and the thing I’m most proud of is that I can play with my daughter who’s seven months old.”

Evans’ experience is of value not only to himself and his family, but also for those who have worked or met him through the University.

Tonia Dousay, vice president of the Instructional Technology Students Association, knows Evans through his work at MoWerks, whose other partners are University faculty and Gameworks, an indie game camp staffed by ITSA members.

“I was there at the Athens half marathon when he came home,” Dousay said. “I saw him on accident … and now with the show, just watching someone I know transform, and he’s continued to lose weight since he’s been back and most contestants on those shows don’t. It’s the little things that impress me.”

How so?

“One time we planned to meet originally at Copper Creek, which was always one of our places,” she said. “But about an hour and a half later I got a text saying that there’d be too many temptations.”

Dousay and the rest of ITSA are sponsoring an event today on campus headlined by Evans. Titled “Healthy Habits,” the event any donations will benefit Evans’ gaming camp, Dousay said.

“There’s a stigma of gamers and I’m a gamer,” Dousay said. “Eat pizza, drink soda all day — those are bad habits. At the camp, snacks are now healthy and changing now, for anyone, will only allow you to have more later.”

Plus Evans’ story, and his new habits, can only be helpful to a larger audience.

“I hope there are a lot of overweight people there,” said Evan, who is also the director of ITSA. “People who’ve yo-yo dieted and want to quit. All you need is a role model.”

Is he that role model?

“I know what it’s like to walk into a mall and scare a child because you are ginormous. I know what it’s like to go to a restaurant and here people say ‘Eat quickly before he’ll eat it all up,” Evans said. “Being fat is an experience, you can’t teach it, you just have to know.

What: Healthy Habits

When: Today from 3 to 5 p.m.

Where: Tate Theater (moved from Tate 142)

Price: $5 donation