LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Welcome back to another viewing marathon of The Biggest Loser! Once again, we’ve got a 2 hour episode. I don’t know about you, but an hour is about my limit. They just don’t show Bob enough to make me THAT excited about a 2 hour show. Last week, the Red Team struggled to keep it together after the first elimination and then got sent to elimination, where they got rid of Lezlye. I, for one, am happy they gave her the boot because I was already sick of typing her name after only two episodes. Also last week, Bob and his Blue Team worked their tails off in an effort to win the second weigh-in: no team has ever won the first two weigh-ins of the season. Unfortunately for Bob, Jillian and her super-secret Black Team emerged from the desert to kick ass and win the weigh-in. So far this season, the contestants have lost a total of 375 pounds.
So how are they going to fill these two hours? Look no further because the show actually starts out with the exact same video clip package we got in the premiere. Boy, NBC must be having issues with the budget. Couldn’t they at least make a new recap video? They also recap the first part of this season. Yes, the actually recapped two episodes of the show. There are lots of tears and slo-mo shots of large people in small clothing….running. There is also a lot of fat jiggling….in slo-motion. Honestly, that would be the best way to keep me on the straight and narrow: show me video of myself in cycling shorts and a sports bra running a la Baywatch. I’d eat nothing but veggies and steamed fish, all while walking on a treadmill.
For the Love of Pizza
The morning after the elimination, Alison meets the teams in the campus dorms. The Red Team is now down to 4 people and Bryan says they’re just going to work harder now. Both the Blue and Red Teams are feeling challenged by the presence of the Black Team. Ali tells them that, while they are all learning how to be fit, they are going to face pressures, distractions and temptations in the real world. Downstairs, she reveals, is either a dream come true, or a worst nightmare. There’s a lot of food down there: 400,000 calories of it, to be exact. This food represents the total weight lost, in calories, by Jerry, Phil and Bill combined.
So this is a little temptation challenge. Each of them will spend four minutes in the room and will be able to eat as much or as little of the food as they would like. The person who eats the most calories will get a 3 pound pass to use at the next weigh-in.
Bryan is first up and he says he feels conflicted as he surveys the tables piled high with food. Each platter of food has a sign posted indicating how many calories one serving of that food contains. Bryan looks longingly at everything, but he doesn’t eat. Kae actually mimes eating the food and then puts her nose right up on the food and inhales deeply. She doesn’t eat. Kae says she thought about why she was there and decided it wasn’t worth it to eat any of the junk food. Jez grabs a slice of pepperoni pizza and then jogs in place as he eats it. Phil says the 3 pound pass comes at a price and he refuses to eat anything. Julie says the pizza is like a long-lost friend and she wanted to give it a hug. She smells it a lot, but she doesn’t eat. She then eyes the cupcakes and decides to mess with her competitors. Julie takes a dab of frosting and puts it on her lip: they’ll all think she stuffed her face, she reasons.
When Neil’s turn comes, he tells us that the Blue Team has already decided that, should one of these situations present itself, he agreed that he would do the eating to help his team. Once in the room, he immediately sits down and starts shoving in the food. He claims he ate at least 1,700 calories. Patty is up next and she decides that Neil probably didn’t eat anything, so she decides to eat for the team. She surveys the calorie content of each food and piles on the highest calorie foods. It’s really kind of disgusting. That would be another appetite suppressant for me: show me video of myself stuffing my face with junk food and I’d run for the raw veggies.
Once everyone has had their chance at the food table, Alison meets with the teams to reveal the results. The biggest eater, with a calorie total of 1,930 calories, is Patty. The rest of the Blue Team looks dumbfounded. Neil says he feels like he did all that eating for nothing.
The Red Team meets with Kim, who asks if anyone gave in and ate the junk food. Phil says he heard Kim’s whiny (okay, that’s MY adjective) voice in his head, telling him how bad the food is. They all avoided eating. Kim calls them the Comeback Kids. They all grow silent as they hear the Blue Team yelling at each other. Everyone is annoyed (understatement) with Patty for stuffing her face….even BOB! Bob asks Patty why she ate if the team had an agreement that Neil was going to take one for the team. She doesn’t really have a great answer. Kae says she doesn’t understand why any of them felt they needed that 3 pound pass to begin with. She has faith in them to lose the weight and doesn’t want to see any of them go home.
Patty feels like crap, which I’m sure has as much to do with the mountains of nasty food she ate as it does with the stink eye she’s getting from her teammates. Patty explains that she has issues and that’s why she’s big to begin with. She then apologizes to her team. Bob calls this a wake-up call for all of them. They’ve come a long way, but they still have a long way to go. He tells them they need to trust each other. He then says that, if they have anything else to say about this, they need to say it now because, after this, the issue is done. No one has anything else to say and they head to the gym.
Bob claims he doesn’t want to punish them in the gym, but if you play, you pay and he’s going to punish them….especially Neil and Patty. He explains that they need to work off all those calories they ate. You know, and if he can punish them a bit as well, all the better.
Are You Faster Than a Fourth Grader?
As the Black Team goes through their pre-challenge work out, Jillian tells them that the pressure is on. They’ve been a marked team from the get go and there will be no rest for any of them. Jill runs them ragged doing wind sprints. Isabeau says that none of them have ever sprinted before….or jogged…..or much of anything. Kim has the Red Team running as well. In the gym, Bob has the Blue Team sprinting while carrying each other, and him as well. You know how these things are: it’s all fun until someone gets hurt. Ryan picks up Jerry to do his sprint and trips, dropping Jerry and then falling on his face. Jerry’s right thigh is really hurt – he can barely put any weight on it. There’s no telling how this will affect the challenge.
I’ve begun to formulate my own little theory about the challenges on this show. They must, in some way, totally bore the viewer (remember the sand piling challenge last season? If you don’t it’s probably because you fell asleep) or completely humiliate the participants. Today’s challenge would be the latter. The three teams meet Alison at a race track. They will be racing on a 100 meter track, she informs them, and they won’t just be racing each other today: they’ll be going up against another team today. Ali then introduces the Yellow Team. Cue three little kids – decked out in yellow shirts – running onto the track. Alison introduces Cooper, who’s in kindergarten, Jack, a third grader, and Keala, who is in the fourth grade. There will be three heats in this challenge. One member from each team must compete in each heat. The team with the most members to beat one of the kids will win the challenge. Ali tells them the reward will be priceless: they will get to call home and talk to their loved ones.
In the first heat, the Jim, Bryan and Nicole face off against Kaela, the fourth grader. In about half a second, that little flash of yellow is GONE. She’s running like her allowance is at stake….and who’s to say it isn’t? It’s no surprise that she creams them all. The kid is barely out of breath. Next up are Kae, Bill and Phil against third grader, Jack. Phil is sure he’ll win this one. As the race starts, Jack tries to keep Phil in his sights, but Phil beats him, and the others, easily. Phil goes to take his place on the winner’s stand. Finally, it’s time for Amy, Hollie and Ryan to race against Cooper, the kindergartener. Little Cooper stands there looking like a miniature Bjorn Borg, complete with headband. The race starts and man, can that kid move! It’s not even a race: he just kicks their butts. Because Phil is the only player to beat any of the kids, the Red Team wins.
The Weepy, Crying Portion of the Evening
At the campus later that evening, the Red Team makes their call home. David says he didn’t think he would miss his family as much as he does. He’s sweet, but his phone call is really boring. It’s all very “Hi. How are you?” “I miss you.” David’s wife tells him she’s video taping the kids for him. Bryan talks to his wife (?) and says he can hear her smiling through the phone. Amy talks to her little ones, who ask why she’s crying. She explains that she misses them and then her daughter asks her to come home. I’m sure Amy’s heart is just breaking. Phil talks to his wife and, the moment he hears her voice, he starts to cry. She tells him that his absence is harder than she thought it would be and that their daughter really misses her daddy. I never know if these little “reward” phone calls home make things better or worse.
Meanwhile, the Blue Team is crying for a different reason. Bob is leading them straight up a mountain. He says this will help get their metabolism up, but I suspect he’s still pissed off over the junk food challenge. The entire team freaks out over how steep the mountain is, but Bob reminds them of how great it feels to get to the top of the mountain. There’s quite a bit of huffing and puffing and Ryan is really afraid of climbing up and getting down. He’s scared the entire time, but he gets it done. Bob tells us that his team is stronger than the other teams. He’s hard on them because he expects the best out of them.
In the kitchen, the Black Team meets Jillian to head over to the gym. Let me correct that: Isabeau meets Jillian. The rest of the team is nowhere to be found and Mistress Jillian is none too happy. She orders Isabeau to go get the guys in 3 minutes or she’ll kick their asses. Isabeau runs up the stairs screaming for the team, Bill and Jim in particular, but only Bill emerges. He is pissed. He flips out, yelling at Isabeau about his bum knee. Jill remarks that the game is taking its toll on Bill and that, he took it out on Isabeau instead of on the person he really wanted to yell at: Jillian herself. A while later, he takes Isabeau and Jillian aside and apologizes to both of them.
The Black Team does finally make it to the gym for their last chance work out. Jeez, we’re 60 minutes from the end of the show and they’re already doing a last chance workout? That’s gonna be some elimination. All of the teams and trainers sweat it out in the gym. Bob doesn’t want his team to even think about the 3 pound pass. He hops on a stationary bike and toils away with them, shouting all the way.
Weighty Matters
Kim meets with her Red Team before the weigh in and they all claim they aren’t nervous. They haven’t had huge results at the weigh-ins, but Kim reminds them that there’s a lot more going on in their bodies than that number on the scale. She’s sure all the hard work will show this week. Bob claims he’s always nervous before the weigh-ins. He tells his team they did well in the first two weigh-ins and thinks the issues they had earlier in the week have made the team stronger. He thanks Jerry for choosing such a great team for him to train.
Jillian is sure that the Black Team couldn’t have done anything more this week and she couldn’t have been prouder of them. She tells them she’s never had a team where everyone in the team gave 100%. Jill says she missed the job last year, but forgot just how much until she started training them. She thanks them for all of their hard work and says that, no matter what happens, they’ve all been amazing.
This is a long enough recap without more filler, so let’s get to the weigh-in results, shall we?
Black Team
Jim: 325 (9 lbs/36 lbs total)
Hollie: 239 (3lbs / 16 lbs total)
Jez: 316 (4 lbs / 29 lbs total)
Julie: 210 (3 lbs / 8 lbs total)
Bill: 298 (3 lbs / 36 lbs total)
Isabeau: 280 (5 lbs / 18 lbs total)
Black Team totals: pounds lost: 27 / percentage of weight lost: 1.59
Blue Team
Alison tells them they must lose more than 27 lbs to beat the Black Team.
Kae: 197 (3 lbs / 28 lbs total)
Ryan: 347 (2 lbs / 27 lbs total)
Jerry: 254 (2 lbs / 43 lbs total)
Nicole: 262 (3 lbs / 17 lbs total)
Patty: 260 (5 lbs / 20 lbs total). Including the 3 pound pass patty received, her total this week is 8 pounds.
Neil: 386 (3 lbs / 35 lbs total)
There is an audible “oh” from the other contestants when Neil’s weight is revealed. Bob looks defeated.
Blue Team totals: pounds lost: 21 / percentage of weight lost: 1.22
The Black Team in lead and Alison tells the Red Team that they must lose more than 16 pounds to avoid going to the elimination room.
Red Team
David: 338 (6 lbs / 30 lbs total)
Bryan: 321 (4 lbs / 25 lbs total)
Amy: 279 (6 lbs / 18 lbs total)
Phil: 363 (9 lbs / 40 lbs total)
Red Team totals: pounds lost: 25 / percentage of weight lost: 1.89
The Red Team wins the weigh-in and, sadly, the Blue Team will be going to elimination. Wah. Bob calls this loss a punch in the stomach for the whole team. He says his heart is broken. *wipes tear from cheek* Patty had the biggest weight loss on the Blue Team this week, so she’s safe from elimination. Even without the 3 pound pass, Patty still would have been the biggest loser on her team.
Mutiny in the Weight Room
Bob meets with the Blue Team to talk about the upcoming elimination. Ryan tells Bob that the team did a secret vote last night after the weigh-in and Jerry was the one they voted out. Jerry argues that the decision makes no sense. After all, none of them would even be on the team if it weren’t for him. Bob asks Jerry how he feels and he hardly opens his mouth before Neil starts yelling at him. Jerry fights back, defiantly, saying he believes in loyalty and respect. He argues that Kae, who has the least weight to lose, should be the one to go home. Kae says this isn’t just about the game for her, but she has to remind herself that it is a game. She argues that she still has a lot of weight to lose.
It’s time for another elimination and the Blue Team is under the gun. They file into the elimination room and all sit at the table. Alison remarks that they all worked very hard to stay out of this room. They lost some challenges and suffered some injuries, but that hasn’t stopped them. Still, one of them has to say goodbye. Alison talks to Kae about her role on the team as “Bob’s Soldier” and opines that people might see her as someone who could do this at home. Kae says that this is just the beginning of her journey: she still has a lot of work to do. Before the voting begins, Ali reminds the team that Patty is safe from elimination tonight.
Here are the votes:
Jerry voted for person because he believes is the weakest link on team: Neil.
Patty voted for person who she says has played a major role in success of the team. With a heavy heart, Patty votes for Jerry.
Nicole says this whole thing has been so hard for her and she wishes didn’t have to do this. This is the most we’ve heard from Nicole this entire season. Nicole the Verbose says she voted for a person who has great strength. She thinks that five members of the team still need to be there and this person could be successful at home. She votes for Jerry.
A weeping Kae says she thinks she made a mistake voting for this person now. She claims he got scared when she saw this person getting stronger every day. She now thinks she shouldn’t have voted this way, but it’s just too late. She votes for Nicole.
Neil claims this was not an easy decision. The person he voted for is integral to the team and a fierce competitor who has less weight to lose than he does. He believes this person can continue on at home. He votes for Jerry.
There’s no need to see Bryan’s vote because, Jerry is eliminated.
Jerry is defiant, saying he picked the team with the belief that the Blue Team would produce the biggest loser. Now he doesn’t believe that the winner is on this team. Well, MEEE-OW. He vows to go home and work hard. He then wishes hisbackstabbersformer teammates all the luck in the world and cautions them: they’ll have their work cut out for them. Jerry says the show has been a fantastic ride. He hopes people his age will watch him and know that it can be done.
So how has Jerry done since he left the Biggest Loser Campus? Well, I hardly recognized him in the video. Jerry now weighs 209 pounds, which means that he’s lost a total of 88 pounds. Jerry says he’s thankful for the Biggest Loser. He sits with his three grandchildren and says that now, he hopes to see them all graduate from high school.
Next week: The show moves to 8:30, which likely means we’re down to 90 minutes now, thank God. The trainers will face temptation, the teams will go to war for the “ultimate prize” and the unthinkable happens….the Biggest Loser Campus is shutting down.
Reply With Quote
