LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Welcome to another super-sized episode of The Biggest Loser! Last week’s premiere was jam-packed: we met all of the new contestants, saw them divide into two teams, leaving 6 people, seemingly, on the outs; we then saw the return of Jillian, the Soul Taker, and the creation, from the un-chosen 6, of her super secret Black Team. Also, the Blue and Red Teams lost a combined 265 pounds at the first weigh-in…..actually, if you count Amber, they lost 553 pounds last week. Historically, the contestants don’t shed as much weight at the second weigh-in. Let’s see if it’s true for this season as well.
While the Blue and Red Teams are living in the relative comfort of the Biggest Loser Campus, the Black Team is still toiling away, sweaty, in the sand with Jillian. They’re still a week away from entering the game at the next weigh-in at the campus and Jillian knows they aren’t ready. Jillian vows they will be ready in a week. In order to check her team’s progress, Jillian rolls out a big scale so they can have their first weigh-in. In contrast to the Giant Scale of Doom and its digital glory, this scale is, well…..a bit low tech. Plus, they’re out there in the wilderness. It’s bigger than my bathroom scale, but not much.
Here are the results:
Isabeau: 290 (8 lbs)
Julie: 216 (2 lbs)
Hollie: 244 (11 lbs)
Jez: 329 (16 lbs)
Jim: 350 (11 lbs)
Bill: 313 (21 lbs)
Jillian doesn’t waste much time with congratulations. She just drags them off for some more abuse in the desert.
Back to Nature
Back on campus, Kim meets with her Red Team to assess the morale situation. Really though, no one seems all that upset that Amber is gone. Kim urges them to keep up the team morale. She then leads them all to the gym
Meanwhile (I say that a lot when recapping this show, don’t I?), the Blue Team is taking a little hike up the side of a mountain. Bob wants to make sure he’s doing all he can so that his team wins the first two weigh-ins. That’s something no other team has ever been able to do. Kae talks about being in the military and that is was about being proud of who you are. Since she arrived, those feelings have been coming out again and now she wants to be better than she was before. She vows she is done whining and being fat. On the hike, Neil’s knee is hurting a lot and Bob urges any of the team members to turn back if they start to have a lot of pain. He doesn’t want them to cause any long-term damage. Neil refuses to turn back and the entire Blue Team makes it to the top of the mountain. Bob beams – he is so proud of his team. They all survey the surrounding mountains. These are all the mountains they will be climbing before they go home, Bob jokes….only I really don’t think he’s joking.
The Black Team is partaking in a rustic workout as well. Jillian has them carrying logs around while running, doing squats and pretty much anything else she can think of. As she continues to abuse her team, Jillian tells us that most of them have never even worked out before. Now here they are working out four hours per day in the 96 degree heat. Ah….just like Club Med. Jillian says she wants her team to crush the competition when they go back into the competition. So, yeah, just like Club Med.
Paying More Bills
I thought we did the proper nutrition / product placement business last week, apparently it didn’t sink in. Kim finds her team in the kitchen and discovers that Bryan’s lunch consists of string cheese and Jell-O. He can’t fuel his body with that, Kim lectures. Man, Jell-O takes away the big prize money and all of a sudden, the smack-talking begins. There are some sponsors that haven’t fallen from grace and one of them is Jennie-O Turkey. Kim waxes rhapsodic about the joys of a life with Jennie-O Turkey products as they prepare tacos. Bryan doesn’t seem all that impressed, but deems it “do-able.”
After the cooking lesson, Kim leads her team out to the gym for a pre-challenge workout. She tells us that this is all about mind over matter and giving them a boost of confidence. Kim notices that Amy is barely making an effort on the stair climber: she’s practically bent in half, leaning on the machine and hardly moving….oh, but her mouth is moving what with all the whining.
With only 13 hours until the weigh-in, Jillian is still working her team like they’re on a chain gang. Actually, they’re probably wishing it was only a chain gang. She runs them through some exercises using resistance by pushing against each other. Then they use football pads that they kick and push against as well. Jillian is so violent. The torture continues as Jillian has her team to traveling squats across the sand. What level of Hell is that? Hollie starts to cry, saying she can’t do it. Jillian motivates her and she manages to finish her work out, which is to say that Jillian screams and yells at Hollie until she gathers enough energy to try and flee.
Yet Another Odd Challenge
Last week, the team challenge involved pulling a plane down a runway. This week, like last week, our team challenge is at night. The Red and Blue Teams meet Alison, who is wearing another cute outfit. She’s giving me nothing to mock here. Tonight, they all meet in front of a ten story office building. There are two stairwells – one for each team. One by one, the teams will run up the stairs, beginning at the seventh floor, and flip on a light switch, i.e. the first person will run up to the seventh floor, the second will go to the eighth, etc. The first team to light up all floors, will win. One member from the winning team will get immunity from elimination. Both Ryan, who says he’s having blood work done (that’s sufficiently vague), and Neil, who has a bum ankle, will be sitting out the challenge. Because the Red Team is down one player, Lezlye won’t be competing either. Lezlye isn’t all that disappointed: she didn’t want to do the challenge anyway.
First up in this little relay race are Kae and David, followed by Patty and Amy, and then Bryan and Nicole. With the first three pairs finished, the Blue Team is in the lead. The last leg of the race will be run by the team captains, Jerry and Phil. Phil vows that he won’t lose to an “old man” again. I immediately begin to cheer for Jerry. Although Jerry starts out with a lead, Phil quickly makes up the difference and begins to pull ahead. The guys run down the stairs and to the finish line and Phil ends up taking it in a very close race.
In order to determine which member of the Red Team will get immunity from elimination, they will take turns choosing which light switch to flip, from a row of switches on a table in front of them. The winning switch will light up floors one through six of the building. In the end, David chooses wisely and wins immunity. He says it’s great to know he’ll be staying around another week, but vows not to slack off this week.
How Many Motivational Speeches Can You Fit Into One Show?
The next morning, Bob runs (because he runs everywhere) to meet his team and get the bad news that they lost last night’s challenge. Jerry is still totally dejected over his loss to Phil. Bob tells him that Phil, after being beaten by Jerry in the foot race and on the scale, had something to prove. Jerry shouldn’t feel bad, Bob says. He then leads his team into the gym. He says he knows that he’s worked them harder than any other team and that, if they don’t win the second weigh-in, there is nothing else he could have done.
Kim tells us she’s worried about both Lezlye and Amy and their commitment level. She takes them aside and shows them a software program that keeps track of what they’re doing when she isn’t around. What we see is that they’re activity level is MUCH lower when Kim isn’t around. Amy gets defensive at the accusation that she isn’t working hard enough and says she’s working as hard as she can. We’ll see evidence to the contrary in just a bit.
Meanwhile, back on the chain gang, the Black Team is getting a Jillian-style pep talk. The weigh-in is only 3 hours away. While wearing a t-shirt that says “KILL,” Jillian says that they should all feel ready and empowered. They have blood in their mouths….probably because she worked them so hard their lungs are bleeding and now they’re coughing up blood. The entire Black Team just wants to prove that they’re worthy. Julie tries to make some big speech about wiping the floor with the Blue and Red Teams, but she can’t come up with the phrase “wiping the floor” and it just gets a little weird. I think she says something about wiping the scale with their shirts. It was all very confusing.
Where Bob Rolls Out the Tough Love
In the dining room, Neil is whining. It seems the diet is not to his liking and he can barely choke the food down. Bob gives Neil the proper nutrition speech, explaining that Neil is not going to lose weight if he isn’t eating. He promises that, once they get through this next weigh-in, he and Neil will sit down and work on finding things that Neil can eat. Starving is not the way to lose weight, Bob reminds his team.
It’s time for a last chance training session for the teams. Ryan says it was about the mental game, because they’re all tired now. Bob urges his team on, as everyone grunts and sweats…all except for Bob, which I actually would enjoy watching. You know, Bob’s a little less soft and smurfy this season: he means business. He’s particularly hard on Patty, who nearly has a breakdown in the middle of the work out. He says that this level of hard work is what it will take for a woman to win the show.
The Red Team is also in the midst of their last chance work out and it looks like Kim has a near-mutiny on her hands. Lezlye is refusing to run because (get this) she doesn’t like to run. Kim yells at her to suck it up – she’s tired of all the whining and so am I. Kim tells us that the guys are all solid, but the girls do nothing but whine. Amy and Lezlye roll their eyes and her and look like they’re hardly making any effort. Amy then decides she’s down working out and leaves the gym. She misses her family and goes off to cry. Tell you what, I’d eliminate her right there. Lezlye, who doesn’t really have much high ground to stand on here, says that Amy didn’t just walk out of the gym, she walked out on her team as well. David is just disappointed that Amy didn’t finish the work out with her team. They’re all missing their families, he says.
Where Smurfy Bob Returns
Following the last chance work outs, Bob finds Amy in the kitchen looking completely miserable. He asks her what’s going on and she explains that she’s having a hard time being away from her kids. Bob validates her feelings but says this is a big opportunity for her: if she gets fit, she’ll be around a lot longer for her kids. They hug and Amy says she feels much better.
I love Bob.
The Black Team doesn’t know from Smurfs. Their last chance work out seems to involve Jillian screaming at them as they roll around in the sand. She actually makes them carry her on their backs as they run up and down the beach. The Black Team still feels like they’re the underdogs. I think that might have a bit to do with the verbal abuse beating them down emotionally.
Back at the campus, Amy and Lezlye have a chat in the laundry room….because that’s where all the best scheming goes down. Amy says they need to figure out how to vote if they end up going to the elimination ceremony. Amy somehow decides that all the women, regardless of the team they started out on, will stick together in the end. For now, they need to figure out a way to get one of the guys to vote with them.
And Not the Good Kind of Surprise
Finally, we’re almost to this weigh-in we’ve been seeing clips of for the past month! The Black Team is ready. They’ve donned the oh so flattering spandex and sports bra numbers and made their way into the gym in secret. Alison greets them wearing yet another cute outfit. As everyone makes their way to the risers, they gawk at the pretty, shiny gym. There is no sand in sight. The team stands on the risers, defiant. Jillian looks tough in black and denim with knee-high black boots. She calls her team “a pack of warriors.”
The unsuspecting Blue and Red Teams head to the gym and then stand at the door waiting to enter. The doors finally open and, as the other teams take in the sight of the Black Team and Jillian, there are screams, including Bob’s “Aw, HELL NO!” He then runs across the gym to Jillian, who jumps into his arms and straddles him. I am jealous. Kim = buuuummmed. Like, to the max. Jillian and Kim act cordial, but you know Kim’s on the verge of whining “It’s not faaair!” After seeing the Black Team, Jerry says that sending those people home has been weighing on him. He still doesn’t want them to win, but at least he didn’t send them home by not picking them for his team.
Alison introduces the Black Team, saying they are now ready to rejoin the game and show everyone what they’ve been up to. Lezlye says there’s no way the Black Team has been working as hard as the Red Team. Is she completely delusional? Nevermind. Rhetorical question. Alison tells the Black Team they have their work cut out for them. Tonight, the team with the highest percentage of weight loss will win the weigh-in and the team with the lowest percentage will go to the elimination room. Well then, let’s get to the results.
Blue Team
Jerry: 256 (10 lbs / 41 lbs total)
Nicole: 265 (6 lbs / 14 lbs total)
Patty: 265 (2 lbs / 15 lbs total)
Ryan: 349 (10 lbs / 25 lbs total)
Kae: 200 (5 lbs / 25 lbs total)
Neil: 389 (10 lbs / 32 lbs total)
Blue Team totals: pounds lost: 43 / percentage of weight lost: 2.43
Red Team
Allison tells them that they must lose more than 38 pounds to beat the Blue Team. Kim feels confident about their chances. This will not last.
Bryan: 325 lbs (6 lbs / 21 lbs total)
Amy: 285 lbs (2 lbs / 12 lbs total)
Lezlye: 243 lbs (3 lbs / 12 lbs total)
David: 344 (4 lbs / 24 lbs total)
Phil: 372 (5 lbs / 31 lbs total)
Red Team totals: pounds lost: 20 / percentage of weight lost: 1.26
The Blue team is safe this week, but we still need to see how Black team does. Bob says he knows Jillian enough to know that she’s going to bring it.
Black Team
Allison tells the team that they must lose more than 22 pounds to beat the Red Team and more than 42 pounds to beat the Blue Team.
Hollie: 242 (2 lbs / 13 lbs total)
Isabeau: 285 (5 lbs / 13 lbs total)
Jez: 320 (9 lbs / 25 lbs total)
Julie: 213 (3 lbs / 5 lbs total)
Bill: 301 (12 lbs / 33 lbs total)
Jim: 334 (16 lbs / 27 lbs total)
Black Team totals: pounds lost: 47 / percentage of weight lost: 2.70
The Black team wins. That means that the Red Team is going to the elimination room again and that, while the Blue Team is safe, they didn’t win the weigh-in and that makes Bob sad. Therefore, it makes me sad. Bob says he was just getting used to Kim and now he has Jillian to deal with as well. Lezlye, mistress of the understatement, says that the Red Team lost by a lot.
Allison tells Bryan that, with a weight loss of 6 pounds, he is the biggest loser on the Red Team and is safe from elimination. She reminds David that, because he won immunity in the challenge, he is also safe from elimination.
The Lesser of Two Weevils
The next day, the Red Team gathers to discuss strategy. Let me amend that: the guys meet to discuss which of the girls they’re going to oust. Phil talks about how important attitude is. David is clearly feeling bad about having to vote someone else out and says that this game play is the toughest part of the show for him. Later, Amy and David talk. Amy wonders why David doesn’t see Phil as a threat. David says he sees everyone as a threat. Amy attempts to talk David into voting for Phil, but he says they need to keep the team strong. She then throws Lezlye under the bus, telling David she can lose more weight than Lezlye. You know what I love about this show? The close and trusting friendships the contestants form.
Amy tells us that she wants to stay so that she can be a role model for her girls. Lezlye says she wants to stay because she doesn’t want to go home and deal with the aftermath of Katrina. I feel bad for her, don’t get me wrong, but the first reason to stay on a weight loss show should be because you want to lose weight and get healthy and not because you don’t want to go back to your life. Maybe that makes me a cold-hearted bitch, but there it is. Phil says it’s hard to know that this might be his last day there. He really wants to stay and lose the weight.
It’s now time to see which of the contestants managed to manipulate their teammates successfully. This time, we’re not gender-segregated like at the last elimination ceremony. This week, Phil and Lezlye are color-coordinated in green at one end of the table, while Amy, David and Bryan sit at the other end. Allison welcomes everyone and tells them they should all be proud of themselves: they all lost weight this week. Allison asks Lezlye if game play affects how she goes through her days. Lezlye claims to be voting strictly based on strategy. Ali then asks Amy if she felt her team worked as hard as the Blue Team. Amy claims that they all put the effort in (all evidence to the contrary, of course) and is sure that they will come out on top. Seriously. That’s what she said.
Okay, enough of the self-delusion, let’s get on to the votes. Ali – who is wearing an odd, shiny green shirt that is still 100 times better than anything Caroline ever wore - quickly reminds everyone that both David and Bryan are safe this week.
Phil votes for Lezlye after a long and rambling speech about having a target on his back.
Lezlye says her decision is based on long-term strategy and, therefore, chose the person with the lowest amount of body fat: Phil, who at 372 likely has more body fat than at least Lezlye herself.
Amy says she voted for the person she believes will be successful at home. She claims it was a hard decision and casts her vote for Phil.
David says he doesn’t want anyone to go home and, frankly, this whole thing is just stressing him out. He manages to get over it long enough to vote for Lezlye.
Bryan is now the deciding vote. He claims it was a tough decision compared to last week, which I believe, since Amber all but dared them to send her home. Bryan says it’s hard to say you love someone after only 2 weeks, but they have all bonded. He casts his vote for Lezlye and, with that, she’s out. Lezlye takes the high road and says that they will have to go forward four strong. Alison marvels that they actually are friends. Unlike last week with Amber, they all get up and hug Lezlye goodbye.
In a follow-up with Lezlye, she tells us that the show was a great experience and she takes away from it who she really is. She claims to have learned a lot about herself. While she isn’t ready to leave, she’s also ready for the real world. Lezlye now weighs 200 pounds, which means she has lost 55 pounds total. She says that she now runs 3 miles every morning. Lezlye says she realizes that Katrina is in her past and she needs to move on and quit looking back.
Next Week: The contestants will be tempted with 400,000 calories of junk food. Someone will give in to temptation and one team will pay the price at the weigh-in. Plus, Bob’s heart will be broken. Therefore, my heart will be broken.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Critical;2581269; 
