I actually thought the whole 'giving them rings' thing was kinda nice. I enjoyed that entire portion of the show. Both Jillian and Bob seemed so genuinely proud of their students, it was touching to me. They could have "edited" Jillian to be the constant mega bitch, and Bob to be the looney easy going free spirit, but both of them where shown to be complete human beings with their strengths and weaknesses, and with senses of humor and intelligence.
The same goes for the contestants. Other than Lisa, the final 4 or 5 contestants have been flawed, but generally likeable people most of us can relate to. I give a lot of credit to the producers for this. There have been some squabbles and a little back stabbing, but you get the sense that these people do like and/or respect each other, in that everyone is in the same situation.
That being said, I think Gary is just the greatest. I like him immensely. He reminds me of Boston Brian from Average Joe II. I guess its the accent. But he just seems like such a nice guy and its so evident he's put his heart and soul into his transformation. I hope he wins.
P.S. And as for the strategy part and voting out Mo, I guess it depends on what the final rule are. Do the candidates get 3 months or so to keep working out, come back, and whoever's lost the most weight wins? If so, I can understand why Mo was voted out. If he worked hard, he could have lost lots more weight. Gary is pretty much at his goal. Kelly would probably like to lose another 20 lbs. Ryan could maybe lose another 30. I thought the "biggest loser" was going to be based on pounds lost, not percentage. Does anyone know for sure?