Rocco Jweinat, who grew up in Newport, said an Instagram post from Khloe Kardashian changed his life. The post led him to appear on the E! television reality show "Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian." The second season of "Revenge Body" debuts Sunday, although Jweinat's episode does not air until Feb. 11.
The classic meaning of "revenge body" is when people get toned in order to show up someone who's done them wrong. But Jweinat said that wasn't what the show was about for him, despite a difficult relationship with a woman in Newport.
Jweinat, a 28-year-old graduate of Rogers High School in Newport, said he moved to Los Angles in late 2016. "I felt I couldn't control the people around me, so I got rid of everything and left," he said.
But L.A. was tough. "Everything I had in Rhode Island meant nothing. To go job hunting out here was so scary," he said. He was feeling down one night (or very early morning) and at 2 a.m. saw an Instagram post from Kardashian asking if people wanted to change their lives. He clicked on it, and the next thing you know he had applied online for "Revenge Body."
Jweinat, listed at 217 pounds on the show's website, said he was leading an unhealthy life in Newport — too much eating, smoking, drinking. He had lost two uncles to heart attacks in the space of a year, and his father, Rocky, was having health issues as well.
But once in the hands of Kardashian and the show's team of fitness and nutrition experts, his lifestyle changed. "I re-learned how to eat and how to live. ... I don't know where I'd be in LA now if I hadn't done 'Revenge Body,'" he said.
Thanks to strict contracts that prohibit reality-show contestants from revealing too much in advance, Jweinat couldn't say much about the specifics of his episode.
"You'll all have to tune in and see," he said. "There were things that happened that I never expected to happen. ... Let's just say Khloe really liked my dad."
Someday, he said, he would like to move back to Newport, but for the time being he believes Los Angeles is where he belongs. But when Jweinat visits Newport and has a "cheat meal," he knows exactly where he's going — to eat as much seafood as possible at The Mooring Seafood Kitchen & Bar, where his mother, Jennifer, works.
"Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian" airs at 10 p.m. Sunday on E!