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Greetings from Earthquake Country! Or at least a hundred miles or so from Earthquake Country. You see, just before this week’s episode of The Biggest Loser, acatastrophicminor earthquake hit the Bay Area. There was no major property damage and there weren’t any major injuries, and yet, the local news here saw fit to cut into programming every 5 minutes to tell us that, no, there was still no major structural damage and there were no injuries. There were maps and phone interviews (with people who had no property damage and who were perfectly fine) and everything. It was all very un-dramatic. What this means is that this week’s recap might have a few holes in it, so bear with me.
When we last saw our losers, everyone – players and trainers alike – were furious with Neil over his “water-loading” weight gain. Bob even swore. A lot. It was hot. Jez was sent home, leaving Neil to deal with the aftermath of his deception.
The Aftermath
When we (or rather, I) join our losers this week, David is promising that he didn’t know anything of Neil’s deception when he marched Neil downstairs to claim innocence after the weigh-in. David says he would have voted differently if he had known about Neil’s scheme. Julie vows to take Neil down. Meanwhile, Neil is thinking about what he’s done….only not really. He tells us the whole thing wasn’t personal. He saw an opportunity and took advantage of me.
Isabeau and Hollie are also pissed off, but not only at Neil. Hollie thinks Kae sacrificed her integrity by voting Jez out last week. Isabeau knows she’s probably safe this week since Neil will likely lose a lot of weight. If they do go up for elimination, Isabeau says, she knows Neil won’t be safe. Meanwhile, Hollie isn’t the only one who’s questioning Kae’s integrity: Kae isn’t feeling so great about herself either. She isn’t sure if she even wants to stay anymore. Amy goes to talk to Kae, who has begun packing all her belongings.
The next morning, Bob meets with his Blue people to find out what happened at elimination. He’s clearly surprised that Jez was eliminated: he thought sure Neil would be voted out. While the rest of the group stays silent, Nicole says Neil is like family and she won’t turn her back on him. Kae is completely silent and Bob asks how she’s doing. Kae admits last night was hard and that she almost went home. The game became overwhelming and she lost sight of what she was there for. She doesn’t want to get caught up in any of the crap. Bob tries his smurfy best to bolster Kae by assuring her that her legacy on the show will be how hard she worked and how much weight she lost. Bob assures them that everyone makes mistakes and that, in the end, the good will outweigh the bad with this experience.
Later, Neil talks to Isabeau and says he can’t take back what he did. It doesn’t really seem like he would want to take it back, but he wants everyone to get over it and trust him again. Isabeau says it’s easier to move on if you’re not the one who’s been hurt. She felt like the target of Neil’s scheme. Neil claims that his priority now is to lose weight and he just wants Isabeau to trust him. Isabeau says she understands where Neil is coming from, but she still doesn’t trust him.
Let the Punishment Begin!
In the gym, Kim works out with David and Bryan. She proudly declares the Red Team a drama-free zone. Um, has she completely forgotten the past two weeks and her screaming matches with Amy? David and Bryan might be drama-free, but their trainer, well….not so much. David doesn’t want to have to play the game: he just wants to stick around as long as he can by doing the right thing. He’s toast.
Jillian meets with her people out on the lawn. Hollie is feeling the pressure because, if her team falls below the Yellow Line, she’s sure she’ll be the one voted out. Julie admits that the Black Team feels ganged up on. Jill tells everyone she won’t tolerate pouting or sulking: they all need to keep working out and toughen up. She urges them to pull together. Cut to Amy sitting about ten feet away from everyone under a tree. Jillian and Amy have another of their little private chats. Amy admits she did something wrong and feels the need to confess to Jillian. Apparently Neil pressured Amy to take part in, um, Water-gate.
I missed the rest of Amy’s confession because there was very important news about the non-catastrophic earthquake. Apparently, there was a lot of shaking. That was important information.
In the gym, Bob tells Neil he’s going to ride him hard. Is it sick that my mind went straight into the gutter right there? And that I was suddenly jealous of Neil? Alrighty, then. Moving on! Bob tells Neil that this is not the week for him to be questioning anything and he hopes everyone can forgive and forget. Neil is no dummy. He knows Bob is pissed off: this is the worst he’s felt after a workout since week one.
A Major Reward
Everyone meets Alison on the beach for another tedious challenge. In the past two months, they’ve all learned to hang tough, Ali says. This week’s challenge will be another endurance challenge that will involve hanging tough. You know what “endurance” means: BO-ring. This week, the teams will be seated on a platform at the end of a long arm that hangs out above the water. They will sit on the platform and hold onto a rope that will keep them suspended over the water. It’s kind of like they’ll be playing a game of tug-of-war with themselves. The last team to stay dry will win. The reward this week will give the winning team the power to affect the game.
The waiting begins but we don’t have to wait very long for Neil and Isabeau to throw in the towel. David, Hollie and Kae are the next team to fall. They’re soon followed into the water by Bill, Amy and Julie. Bryan, Nicole and Ryan win this week’s challenge. Alison reveals the reward: each player on their team will get a vote at this week’s elimination, instead of their whole team getting only one vote. There’s only one catch: in order to redeem the prize, they must stay above the Yellow Line at the weigh-in.
Bob = Happiness
After the challenge, Bob meets with Nicole and Ryan to find out what happened. When he learns that the Blue Teamers finally won a challenge, he’s overjoyed. The Blue Team has been shut out of the challenges all season. He congratulates them on the reward and vows to do whatever he has to do to ensure that their team stays above the Yellow Line.
Meanwhile, Kim is in the kitchen with David and Bryan for this week’s product placement portion of the evening. This week, they’ll be cooking salmon in the microwave. The product is a Ziploc bag that lets you steam food in the microwave. Yay for more disposable, non-biodegradable packaging to pollute the planet with!
Out on the lawn, Bob and Kae take some time to stretch and mellow out. Bob tells Kae that everyone was worried about Kae, but he told everyone that she was just tired. He tells her not to worry. Every time he looks at her he just has to laugh because everyone in the house is afraid of this little bitty girl. He then tells us that Kae is breaking records in the house and that puts pressure on both of them. He urges Kae to relax and lighten up. She tells him that she wants to keep going. Oh God, she’s getting the elimination edit. Bob will be crushed. Kae tells us that Bob is the only person she can trust.
In the gym, all the players get in their last chance workout. Jill takes time for a one on one workout with each of her people. After the trios are dissolved and she doesn’t have to worry about the other teams, Jill boasts, she’ll just pull ahead like she always does. Ah, there’s the Jillian I know and loathe. Meanwhile, Bob is kicking ass….well, he’s kicking Neil’s ass. Bob tells us that Neil disrespected the scale and now he needs to get on the scale’s good side. I always suspected that scales could be spiteful. Neil claims is goal is to lose weight and prove that he can be trusted.
Weighing In
Alison welcomes everyone to this week’s weigh-in. They’ve all been away from home for over 2 months and have lost 757 pounds so far….that doesn’t even include the hundreds of pounds of former contestants they’ve voted out.
Neil: 339 (33 lbs / 82 lbs total)
No one claps or congratulates Neil on his weight loss: there’s total silence. Neil claims that he had a lot of time to think this week and realized that his water-loading scheme was a big mistake and he’s not proud of what he did. Alison informs him that he’s been this season’s biggest loser and biggest gainer.
Isabeau: 255 (0 lbs / 43 lbs total)
Isabeau says she kind of expected not to lose any weight and feels that it’s only fair that Neil save her this week. She admits she took advantage of the fact that she knew Neil would lose lots of weight this week. This way, she can lose more weight next week.
Total pounds lost: 33 lbs / Total percentage of weight lost: 5.26%
Nicole: 235 (9 lbs / 44 lbs total)
Bryan: 289 (8 lbs / 57 lbs total)
Ryan: 308 (13 lbs / 67 lbs total)
Total pounds lost: 30 lbs / Total percentage of weight lost: 3.48%
Amy: 254 (11 lbs / 43 lbs total)
Bill: 251 (10 lbs / 83 lbs total)
Julie: 186 (6 lbs / 32 lbs total)
Total pounds lost: 27 lbs / Total percentage of weight lost: 3.76%
Hollie: 218 (5 lbs / 37 lbs total)
Kae: 168 (6 lbs / 57 lbs total)
David: 312 (3 lbs / 56 lbs total)
Total pounds lost: 14 lbs / Total percentage of weight lost: 1.97%
Hollie, Kae and David will be up for elimination this week. Hollie isn’t sure which of them will be voted out since each of them came from a different team. Alison congratulates Kae. She now has a higher percentage of weight loss than anyone else: 25%. No matter what happens at the elimination, she has a lot to be proud of.
The next morning, Jill meets with her team to get the news about the weigh in. All she cares about is keeping Hollie and she’s confident that will happen. That is until they all remind her that Nicole, Bryan and Ryan all get a vote. Amy feels that Kae is the biggest threat and she begins to rant about how Kae should go home as everyone alternately laughs and shushes her.
Like Killing Bambi
At the elimination ceremony, Neil apologizes to everyone again. He says that he only wants to fight the scale now. No one looks eager to accept his apology.
Neil claims that he and Isabeau compromised on their decision this week. Neither of them wanted to vote for this person. They do hope that their vote puts to rest the idea of a two team alliance against another team. They vote for David.
Bill speaks for his team. He says that he, Julie and Amy voted for someone they have a lot of respect for. Unfortunately, the game playing continues and their hand was forced. Common sense has gone away, Bill says, so they cast their vote for David.
Bryan took his vote as his own vote and didn’t listen to anyone else when making decision. The person he voted for is wonderful and will be able to complete the journey at home. He votes for Kae.
Nicole is voting for someone who is one of her favorite people here. She says she fell in love with his family while she was here. Ultimately Nicole had to look at who would be okay at home and that’s why she voted for David.
David is eliminated and everyone cries. Even Alison looks like she’s holding back tears. David cries when Ali asks if he’s excited about going home to his family: he missed them a lot. David isn’t scared to go home and he doesn’t have any hard feelings about being eliminated. It is just a game, after all. He then asks that they all throw game play out the window and just work hard. It’s kind of cute how naïve he is. David tells everyone that he didn’t come on the show to win the game, he came to win his life back and they all had a part in helping him do just that.
Twenty four hours later, David is headed home, just in time for his son, Jake’s, first birthday. He arrives home with flowers and balloons to find a big homecoming celebration. His wife is ecstatic and his daughter Monika tells us that she’s happy to have one of her favorite people back again. So sweet. In an update we find that David now weighs 263 pounds, bringing is weight loss to 103 pounds. He can now play with his kids and go horseback riding with them.
Next Week: Neil still has more surprises in store. Lord knows what he’s going to pull out of his hat this time. Plus, the Biggest Loser campus is going green and that means no electricity.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Critical;2644033; 
I'll never confess to having improper thoughts!
Crit, don't you just love the breaking news bulletins that let you know nothing is going on? 
And yet you're still able to pull out a stellar recap - how do you do it? 
Thanks for the recap, Critical! 