The Biggest Loser is BACK! The only good thing about the Olympics being over is that our favorite shows that went on hiatus during the games are finally back with new episodes and that includes The Biggest Loser! I’ve really missed this show and I’m happy to see it back on my TV!
If you can stretch you mind back to Feb 9th when the last episode aired, we were left with a heck of a cliffhanger. It was a double, red-line, elimination show in which three people would fall below the yellow line, and one would fall below a red line. The person unlucky enough to fall below the red line would have to leave the ranch immediately. Then rather than voting on the two remaining under the yellow line, they had then had to participate in an endurance challenge, the result of which would force one more contestant to go home.
Falling below the red line was the controversial Melissa from the Red Team, which I dare say most viewers were not sad to see leave. Her insistence that she she was not ‘playing the game’by not losing weight when she had immunity, and then her ‘shock’when she didn’t lose weight when she didn’t have immunity, hardly endeared her into the viewers hearts. After she left, it came down to Darrell from the Black Team and Cheryl from the Orange Team in the endurance challenge, and that’s where we pick up this week’s episode.
Darrell and Cheryl had to stand, in a semi squatted position, and hold a barrel shaped tube between their head and a button above. The first one to let their tube drop would be sent home. It was not going to be good to see either of them leave, but after nine minutes, it was Darrell that let his tube slip. Darrell was a great guy and his love for his daughter/partner Andrea showed in everything he did. He will be missed by all the remaining contestants! After a tearful goodbye between Father and Daughter, it was back to business.
The teams have now re-grouped for a Temptation Challenge, but before we get to it, Alison has an announcement to make. The contestants will soon be split into two teams — Blue vs. Black. Ashley (the younger of the Green Team) nails it when she notes that it is at this point every season where the real drama begins! It never fails that however the teams are split up, some are not going to like where they land, and this season will be no exception! Who falls on the Blue Team and who falls on the Black Team will be decided by just one factor: the winner of the Temptation Challenge. Whoever wins this challenge will decide the who’s on what team. Furthermore, the winner will also be able to choose one person to have immunity this week, including him/herself. Before Alison tells everyone about the challenge, each contestant must first decide whether or not they want to participate. The can chose not to play, and therefore not have to eat a bunch food they shouldn’t eat anyway, but they will also not get be able to win a chance to influence their position in the rest of the game. Or they can play in the challenge, and risk the possibility of eating too much, but also possibly win the challenge and the opportunity to pick the teams and get immunity. Which would you choose?
Most of the contestants realize, this is a big responsibility (and could possibly lead to a target on their own backs). Michael (White Team), however, comes right out and admits he doesn’t want to put his fate in someone else’s hands, so he volunteers to play. Also playing will be Drea — and that’s it! Everyone else chooses not to play in the challenge.
The challenge is a version of snack food ‘memory’. There are 40 Biggest Loser ‘cards’on a wall. Behind two of the cards is a ‘Golden Ticket’. The first one to match up the two Golden Tickets wins the game, and the opportunity to split the rest of the contestants into two teams. The other 38 cards have snack food behind them. If you match two snack food items, the opponent has to eat that snack food and you get another turn. If they don’t match, you have to eat a cookie. Several cookies and snack foods later, they’re both feeling pretty bad physically, but only Drea is regretting her decision to play — Michael wants the control!. When all is said and done Drea has consumed 1,320 calories to Michael’s 2,310 calories. Michael has matched the Golden Tickets and will be solely responsible for dividing the players into two teams. Cheryl (Orange) notes that Michael is definitely a ‘game player’and Sam (Brown) correctly assumes the house will be shaken up. As a tool often does, Michael admits he’s going to be looking out for no one but himself and Ashley (younger Pink) astutely observes that this is about to get ugly!
And it’s time for Michael to divide and conquer. The Blue team will consist of Lance (formerly Red), Daris (Orange), Koli (Brown), Miggy (Green), and Sunshine (Yellow) and will train with Bob. Black team consists of Sherry & Ashley (both Pink), Stephanie (Purple), Drea (Black), Cheryl (Orange), and Sam (Brown) and will train with Jillian. If you’re not picturing all these guys in your head (you can see pics of them all here) please allow me spell it out for you… Michael has stacked all the heavier people on the Blue Team and put all the smaller ladies plus Sam on the black team. He’s also split up Darris & Cheryl of the Orange team, and Koli & Sam of the Brown Team. We now have most loved ones split up into two ridiculously unbalanced teams, and this fact is not lost on anyone! But wait, Michael’s not done dishing the drama yet! He still has to place either himself or O’Neal on one of the two teams, and assign immunity and whoever has immunity will be placed on this week’s losing team after the weigh-in and elimination. Michael assigns himself to the Blue Team and forfeits immunity, giving it instead to O’Neal. Sounds like good news for O’Neal, right? Wrong! The bad news for O’Neal is that if the Black Team loses (as it is set up to do) then O’Neal will end up going with them while Sunshine is on the Blue Team! And Michael has effectively broken up yet another couple that came to the ranch together. This is messed up any way you look at it, unless of course you’re Michael.
With the teams picked, Bob and Jillian walk in. Bob’s jaw is on…the…floor, and Jillian, ever the drama police, loses her mind and says ‘This is the most ‘effed’-up thing I have ever seen! This is an unfair, impossible scenario!’Jillian continues: ‘This can’t be possible. How is this even fair? You didn’t even give them a chance!'(remember, Jillian is training the Black Team now). Michael gets tired of getting beaten up by everyone and makes the very fair point that he didn’t make up how the game works. Which is a valid point, and he actually had me agreeing with him right until he followed that up with ‘I have to look out for myself!’All of a sudden my head flashes with severe pain as I get flashbacks of Tracy from last season! I am only consoled by the fact that what Michael doesn’t realize is that now Jillian is pissed! She’s always pulled out all the stops for the underdog! (more flashbacks… anyone remember Shay?) I love Bob to pieces, but there’s a reason why Jillian’s trainee’s win almost every year!
It’s now time to work out! Jillian is still seething, but so is her team and they’re ready to kill something (or someone)! Bob has to convince his team that just because it seems stacked in their favor, that doesn’t mean it’s time to coast.
Back in the house, things are real quiet! Even his own team members, with the obvious advantage, are questioning Micheal’s decisions. And why wouldn’t they? Most of them have been split up from the loved ones that they came to the ranch with in the first place. Even Miggy, Michael’s ‘best friend’is keeping her distance. While they share a cup of coffee together, Miggy’s eyes are darting all around the place and cannot bring herself to look Michael in the eye. He’s brought this on himself and I don’t feel sorry for him one little bit!
Time to regroup before the next challenge and you know what that means… it’s Product Placement Time! Jillian informs her team that ‘Lara Bars are a great….’oh forget it, if you need a commercial break you can Google it, ;-)
The two teams are in their new colored T-shirts and find out that today’s challenge will be to lift a huge Biggest Loser banner to the top of a very tall building. It’s a pretty straight-forward challenge and the winning team gets letters from home. Because O’Neal has immunity, he does not have to participate in the challenge, and is instead given the opportunity to cheer for one team or the other. If the team he cheers for wins, he will get letters from home as well. Of course, O’Neal picks Sunshine’s Blue Team. The Blue Team definitely has an advantage in upper body strength as the Black Team only has one male member. With the banner half-way up the building, they’re both pretty close, but the Black Team loses steam and the Blue Team easily wins it in the end. The Black Team is devastated to be able to see the letters yet not be able to read them. Grown men cry on the Blue Team reading their letters from home and it’s just impossible for me to enjoy this because scene because I feel the Black Team lost due to being at an unfair disadvantage. The only highlight during all of this was seeing a before and after of Darris. You can visibly see the difference in his face between the scared little boy he was in the beginning while weighing in, in front of his hometown and family, and the confidence in his voice and how he holds himself today. You just know this kid is going to make it and that makes me very happy.
After the challenge, it’s time to check in with Dr. H (Dr. Rober Huizenga) to see how the contestants are doing 7 weeks into The Biggest Loser training. We begin with Ashley who started with an inner age of 57 compared to her real age of 27. Today, her new inner age is 49, so she has gained 8 years of life as a result of just 7 weeks of effort. Ashley makes a very good point that most people want to lose weight to look good on the outside, but even more important than that is what losing weight does for you on the inside! Sam’s is 23 years old and when he first came to the ranch, his inner age was 51. Sam has had to deal with quitting smoking and drinking as well as exercise so his numbers will increase more dramatically after he has maintained a smoke-free lifestyle for at least a year However, his is inner age is now 46 gaining 5 years of life he didn’t have before. For the first time Sam is leaving the Dr’s office with a smile, and I’m smiling right along with him! Not sure why we only got updates on two people, but that was all they showed, and it’s really too bad because these kinds of results are dramatic and very motivating!
It’s now time for the Last Chance Workout! Bob and Jillian are working them all very hard but for very different reasons. Bob is afraid of apathy on his team given how the two teams are stacked up. Jillian is also working her underdogs hard and that team is pulling together like a mama and her pups. They’re doing everything Jillian asks without question or complaint and they’re working together and supporting each other! They’re like a pack of hungry wolves!
It’s now time to weigh in and the Black Team really wants to stick it to Michael. O’Neal, with his immunity, weighs in first and loses 9 lbs! Now the Blue Team starts to weigh-in. Michael is first, loses 15 lbs, and beat Rudy’s previous record of losing 100+ lbs in the quickest time. It’s a hell of an accomplishment he should proud of. Everyone is happy for him, even if some *coughSamcough* may have trouble showing it. Miggy was next and got very upset that she only lost 4 lbs. Some people have a lot of trouble relating to Miggy due to her emotional issues, and her reaction tonight just highlights it further. I can’t help but feel that her inability to control her negative emotions and stress is hindering her weight-loss. She, and her daughter Migdalia before her, pull at my heartstrings and I just want to yell at them to ‘Stop being so hard on yourself and stop being so angry’and hug them at the same time! Lance only loses 5 lbs and when you couple that with Miggy’s 4 lb loss, this may very well give the Black team a shot at beating them. It’s a small shot, but a shot nonetheless! Rounding it out, Sunshine and Darris each lose 7 lbs, and Koli makes up for some of his teammates less than stellar weigh-ins by losing 10 lbs.
Now it’s on to the Black Team and Sam looks works worried! He knows he’s on the weaker team and he wants his team to pull through. He’s taken the leadership role within his team and has tried to keep them motivated all week. Michael knows the Black Team has been fierce in their determination this week and he’s a little worried too. It’s going to be close with the Black Team needing to lose 39 lbs in total to beat the Blue Team.
Drea loses just 5 lbs — no doubt caused by all the calories she consumed in the Temptation Challenge. Cheryl lost 4 lbs, also not a good number and Blue Team is starting to feel a little more confident. Sherry loses 6 lbs, and then it’s Sam’s turn. They still need to lose more than 24 lbs, needing an average of 8 lbs each for the remaining 3 Black Team members. Sam lost 8 lbs and was a little disappointed, but he met the average needed. Stephanie’s next and also loses 8 lbs! Now everyone is wondering the same thing… Can they do it? Ashley must lose more than 8 lbs to keep the Black Team safe, from facing elimination, and she does it!! Ashley loses 10 lbs and the Black Team, as the ultimate underdog this week wins the weigh-in! Jillian is BEAMING with pride! Sam is thrilled! And Michael over on the blue team… is not! LOL! The full weight-loss break-down is as follows:
O’Neal (has immunity) loses 9 lbs. Previous weight: 325 — 9 = 316 Current Weight losing
Blue Team:
Michael loses 15 lbs. Previous weight: 432 — 15 = 417 Current Weight
Sunshine loses 7 lbs. Previous weight: 239 — 7 = 232 Current Weight
Lance loses 5 lbs. Previous weight: 305 — 5 = 300 Current Weight
Miggy loses 4 lbs. Previous weight: 199 — 4 = 195 Current Weight
Darris loses 7 lbs. Previous weight: 274 — 7 = 267 Current Weight
Koli loses 10 lbs. Previous weight: 326 — 10 = 316 Current Weight
Total Team loss 48 lbs/2.70%
Black Team:
Drea loses 5 lbs. Previous weight: 255 — 5 = 250 Current Weight
Cheryl loses 4 lbs. Previous weight: 191 — 4 = 187 Current Weight
Sherry loses 6 lbs. Previous weight: 177 — 6 = 171 Current Weight
Sam loses 8 lbs. Previous weight: 298 — 8 = 290 Current Weight
Stephanie loses 8 lbs. Previous weight: 221 — 8 = 213 Current Weight
Ashley loses 10 lbs. Previous weight: 311 — 10 = 301 Current Weight
Total Team Loss 41 lbs/2.82 %
The Black Team has overcome significant obstacles, both physically and mentally this week to pull out a win and now the Blue Team must vote to eliminate one of their own. However, because Michael had the highest percentage of weight-loss on the Blue Team, he has immunity from elimination. Michael then confesses in an interview, ‘Thank God I have immunity, because had I not, this is the perfect time for the majority to send me home’and he’s so right! The good news for us is that O’Neal will be able to join Sunshine on the Blue Team! However, that won’t happen until after the elimination, so he’s now worried they might send Sunshine home and there’s nothing he can do about it. O’Neal cannot cast a vote or even participate in the deliberations.
During the Blue Team’s deliberation, Koli realizes they were overconfident and notes that because he and Lance had the lowest numbers one of them should be eliminated. We weren’t given individual percentages during the weigh-in so I guess we’ll have to take his word on it, but I would have thought Miggy’s 4 lbs would have landed her near the bottom. Miggy speaks up that although she did not have the lowest percentage tonight, her number (4 lbs) did not reflect what she can do. Lance outright states he has to put himself before the team and does not want to go home, but doesn’t exactly give a reason why they shouldn’t vote for him other than that. Koli says the vote should be based on what is best for the team to make sure they don’t lose again. There’s no real consensus as we head into the voting room.
Lance is first to cast his vote and admits he had the lowest percentage but he can’t vote for himself, so he voted the #2 choice, Miggy (what happened to Koli being #2 in percentages?). Darris is next and states that one of the biggest ways to affect the weigh-in, other than working out, is stressing out, so his vote also votes for Miggy. It’s Miggy’s turn and thought the fairest way to vote would be to go with the lowest percentage, so she voted for Lance. Michael is constantly saying that Miggy is his best friend at the ranch, so it’s no surprise he voted for Lance (with tears in his eyes). Lance completely understands. Ali points out, and Michael agrees that he is still in shock that his team didn’t win. Sunshine voted for Miggy because she feels Miggy has a lot of support at home to help her there. This vote infuriated me and I really wished her father, O’Neal could have counseled her on the vote! So now it’s up to Koli. If he votes for Miggy she goes home. If he votes for Lance and forces a tie, then the Black Team gets to decide who to send home. Koli notes that with O’Neal coming in, it will make the team weaker in challenges. He feels Lance would be stronger in challenges than Miggy so in order to keep his team strong, he casts the deciding vote to send Miggy home. It’s obvious that she is disappointed, but Miggy takes it surprisingly well, says good-bye, and quietly leaves.
What I loved most about Miggy’s ‘How They Look Now’segment is that Miggy has taken control over her stress at home by learning how to meditate! ‘Meditating is helping me lose weight. I have released so much negative energy and I’m able to re-focus and think different’she says and I could not be happier for her! She’s also seen kick-boxing and I’m sure that helps keep the anger at bay too, LOL. Bonus! Nicole, from Season 7, has reached out to Miggy to support and help her continue her weight-loss because so many previous contestants also reached out to her. Miggy says The Biggest Loser has changed the energy in her life from negative to positive and you can see it clearly in her relaxed and confident face! I was hoping to catch a glimpse of how her daughter Migdalia was doing too, but I guess we’ll have to wait until the finale.
Then they did a ‘How They Look Now’segment on Darrell as well. He has lost 120 lbs! He is now exercising with his wife who has always wanted to have a healthier lifestyle. She lets us know that The Biggest Loser has not only ‘given his life back to him, but has given my life back to me as well’. Darrell’s goal is to lose 200 lbs in time for the finale, and I bet he does just that!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this new blog and I’d really like to hear from you in the comments below! What did you think about tonight’s episode? How did you feel about the way Michael divided the teams? Was it hard for you to enjoy watching the Blue Team read their letters from home too? Were you surprised by how the Black Team beat all odds to win the weigh-in? Did you think they should have eliminated Lance instead of Miggy? Let me know in the comments below and I look forward to seeing you here again next week!
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