Biggest Loser, Season 9 - Episode 6

This week's episode was pretty mellow. Nothing exciting and no major twists - what happened? Maybe the writers were afraid that if there were too many surprises week after week, the contestants would get a heart attack. After all, they aren't in the best of shape. With the Olympics starting this week, it makes sense that the Biggest Loser would have an Olympic-themed week. The workouts, challenges and daily lessons all centered around the Olympics and the centered around a few of the athletes that will be competing.

Everyone was flown out to Colorado for a mini-vacation. They would be spending one week at the Olympic training center getting lessons on how the athletes train for the Olympics and what they ate. The contestants ate a special diet specially prepared for them (insert your own sarcastic remark here - I have none), and lived in luxury. How about I get fat so I can live in luxury as well?

This week's twist was that there would be a red line in addition to the dreaded yellow line. The yellow line doesn't look so terrible now, does it? Whoever falls below the red line automatically goes home and of course, the two that falls under the yellow line will be up for elimination.

After the contestants were introduced to their "haven" for the week, they met with a few athletes that would be competing in the Olympics and trained with them. The Olympian competitors went too easy on them, I think. Bob thought so too. Koli was obviously lacking determination throughout the workouts. It seems that he had a complex about John leaving and Koli deemed himself unworthy enough to continue on. If it were me, I'd be like "aw bummer, but at least I'm still here and my odds of winning went up."

The pop challenge was based on a sport from the Olympics (big shocker), an activity that stimulated speed skating. First three players to slide back and forth to 500 wins an advantage at the next challenge. Another big shocker - Grey and Red were up for 1st place. It was another close race. Melissa started off at the top and stayed at the top throughout the whole time. She made a blooper and tripped over herself, giving Koli the chance to jump ahead and win 1st place. Melissa won second and Sunshine (Yellow) won third. Sunshine sure started off with a bang after coming into the game pretty late. I'm hoping to see good things from her.

The advantage for the next challenge was this: 1st place would have a chance to give 3 shots; 2nd place would give 2 shots; and 3rd place would give 1 shot. This next challenge was based off another Olympic event. The players would run around a track and each time they completed the circle, they would pick up a rifle (armed with lasers, not real ammo) and shoot at a target. Their goal was to shoot at another player's 5 targets to get them out of the game. Of course, Melissa and Sunshine decided to gun (pun intended) for Koli because he was obviously the biggest threat. In return, Koli gave Melissa and Sunshine their shots back. Because Melissa had 2 opportunities, she used them both on Koli and Koli gave two back to Melissa. Sunshine gave one to Koli and he gave one back to her... with lots of love.

Going with the mellow theme they got going here, the prize for this challenge was immunity. Sure - Immunity is great but how about changing things up a little? Immunity has become a little bit boring. Right when the game started, everybody was aiming for Melissa. I guess with three shots out already, people didn't consider Koli a threat (yet). Melissa was the first one out and Koli was the second. Unlike most of the other challenges, this one didn't depend on your determination, strength and drive to win. This one was just whoever hated you the least.

After a short while, it was down to Yellow and Black - both of them dads. It was neck and neck. Both dads had four targets down; they were grunting and struggling to run that last lap. They both made it to their opponent's targets right about the same time, and Yellow took the first shot. Imagine the pressure to take a shot. One of them had to take a shot quicker than the other and there was the added pressure of actually making that shot. If one of them missed, it would have been over for them. Yellow aimed, fired and won. He received immunity and he was thrilled. But wait a second - weren't Yellow supposed to have immunity for two weeks in a row? Did I miss something here? Oh well.

After the challenge, the players went to do a last minute workout. Their workout was with a medalist figure skater and the workout was called "The Boot Camp Workout." I did one of those before - man, that was tough.

Did you hear something? I didn't. Wow - Jillian was quiet this week. No lecturing, no doctoring and definitely no counseling. Wow.

On to the weigh-in. Wouldn't it be funny if both members of a team fell below the red/yellow lines? Hmm, maybe it wouldn't be funny to them.

The numbers were much lower this week - most likely due to the mini-vacation they took. Miggy pulled a higher number than everybody else and this is two weeks after surgery. I'm thinking we'll see her pull out ahead of everybody else from now on. Maybe not.

It was down to Red again versus the others at the end. Melissa needed three to make it above the yellow line and she actually gained a pound. At this point, I wasn't surprised. This automatically forced her down below the red line - bye bye Melissa.

J said that it seemed pretty odd that she was prepped with a long-winded speech. Maybe she was just rambling on, saying whatever was on her mind at the moment, but it DID seem like a well-prepared going-away speech. Did she fall below on purpose? She spoke about missing her kids. For the on-camera interview she said that she knew she wasn't going to make it towards the end, and that she thought she'd at least make it a little bit longer. That would actually make sense - the biggest ones would stay the longest because they had more fat to lose. However, that isn't always true. Helen won the title and she wasn't even the top 4 biggest when her season started. John from this season was one of the biggest (tying with his twin brother for 2nd place) and he went home last week. Michael was the biggest person ever to step on campus and he was in extreme danger of going home (he fell below the yellow line). He would have left if it wasn't for his mother begging everybody to keep him there.

Anyways, after Melissa went home Ali announced that it was time for a twist. Orange (mom) and Black (dad) fell below and one of them has got to go. This time, there would not be an elimination but in staying with the Olympic spirit, there would be an elimination game. Whoever won the game would win the right to stay another week.

The game was that they had to balance a torch pole on their heads to "hold up" their torch. Whoever's torch pole fell first would be eliminated.

Who won? You'll just have to wait until next week to find out just like the rest of us....

Biggest Loser, Season 9 - Episode 5

This season has certainly not been lacking in drama. While drama may be the way to go (misery loves company), I was actually hoping for less drama this week. My philosophy with drama has always been this: If it doesn’t involve me, go have fun with it. However, with all the extra drama I’ve been hearing about lately, I’ve just about had it. Will this week’s episode grant me the serenity I’m looking for?

Right after the elimination, Miggy ended up in the hospital with stomach pains. Could it be separation anxiety? While she was carted off to the hospital, the remaining players geared up for another week of game-playing and losing weight. First things first, remember the two teams that got eliminated right at the start? Blue and Yellow came back to duke it out for another chance on campus. For those of you who suck at remembering things (like I do), Blue was a Mother/Daughter team and Yellow was a Father/Daughter team. The two teams were reintroduced to the remaining players and then… off to the weigh-in they go, right? Wrong.

For the first time ever (we have welcomed players late into the game before, but never like this), they headed straight to the gym to get their “Rite of Passage” as Bob delicately put it. Every Biggest Loser contestant that has stepped on campus has been subjected to a grueling work-out that is aptly titled “The Last-Chance Workout.” Heaven forbid that either Blue or Yellow would be eliminated again without experiencing anything like that.

Let’s focus on Ali for a little bit. I adore her and I love her character on Days of Our Lives. She’s pretty cute and I like her so much better than the first host… but (yes, there’s always a “but” with me)… what the heck was that outfit?! She looked like she stepped straight out of Starbucks with that black getup and a green apron/skirt thingie. Ali – fire your wardrobe person. Seriously.

This week’s “pop” challenge was actually the weigh-in of the Blue and Yellow teams. I don’t really know why but I felt drawn to the Yellow team and was rooting for them to win. In addition to winning a spot back on campus, there were some pretty heavy prizes. First – they would receive two weeks Immunity to guarantee at least a little chance at spending time on campus. Second – they would receive 100% of the voting power at the next elimination. Hot dang! This would immediately create plenty of room for the team to make enemies and there will certainly be lots of ass-kissing this week.

The weigh in results: Yellow won the weigh-in but not without some impressive results from the Blue team. The daughter lost 39 pounds all on her own at home in just one month while the house average is 45 pounds lost in the same amount of time. How about that? Yellow needed 61 pounds to lose in order to beat out Blue and the father alone lost 51 pounds. They certainly proved that they could do it at home. Will they do even better on campus? You have to love Bob. As soon as it was declared that Yellow won the weigh-in, Bob grinned and stated, “Ooh! Another victim!” Yeah. Have fun with that one, Yellow team.

OK – I cannot go a week without saying anything about Melissa. What happened!? She went from this uber-strong and determined girl to a super crybaby. Was Bob pushing too hard? Maybe – but with all the “unintentional” weight loss/gain issues she’s been having, you’d better know that Bob would do whatever he could to get that straightened out, including work her to death and finding that “niche” to get her body to respond.

After weeks of practically non-existence, Daris’ presence was finally acknowledged by Jillian. Yes, Jillian… and what does she do best? Welcome to another episode of “Dr. Jillian: What the Bleep is Wrong with My Contestants?” She went after poor Daris. She isn’t successful until she makes her “patients” cry and she hasn’t failed…yet.

Well, enough about Jillian. On to the challenge! One person on each team is chosen to hit a rotating tackling dummy 1,000 times. Should be easy, right? Ha! Nothing on the Biggest Loser is easy. The first team that gets to 1,000 wins Immunity (duh) and the last person to get 1,000 gets a 2 pound disadvantage. This was a fun one. I figured that Grey and Red would be the ones to watch. They’ve proven themselves time and time again and they are seriously strong competitors. When the game started, it was no surprise to see Red and Grey shoot up ahead of everybody. Throughout the entire game, they were neck and neck. Insert Mike: Mike is so huge – he didn’t even have to move back and forth like everybody else did. He stood in one place and hit the tackling dummies like they were nothing. He had a bad start… and slowly but surely, he rose to the top and eventually passed Red. Now we’re talking! Grey freaked out but remained strong. Mike eventually overtook Koli and made it to the top. Who’d have thunk it?

Aww, Mike was cute. He shouted out to the camera and said “I did it Mom!” He did a complete 180 – going from being a slacker to a hard-working contestant. He certainly earned his spot this week.

Miggy came back from the hospital after all this and announced that she had surgery. She had her appendix removed. They also found a cyst and some mass. Yikes. She was prohibited from having any heavy exercise. The only thing she could do at this point was walk. They should have kept Migdalia…The first thing Miggy did was wake up at 5:30am to walk. She set a goal to walk 20 miles that day. Mike decided to go along and walk with her for morale and support.

When Mike was walking along the path, he cracked a joke. “Hear that? Nothing. Because the birds are sleeping!” I hear ya, Mike. I wouldn’t be up at 5:30am either if it was my choice!
Later on at the weigh-in, we found out that she walked 13 miles one day after the surgery. She’s nuts! Actually, I probably wouldn’t blame her for being so determined. She had a post-surgery meeting and found out that they pumped about 8 to 9 pounds of fluid into her. That would certainly destroy her chances at making it through the weigh in. Talk about a potential death sentence of your time on campus.

This was a weird week. White had Immunity, Pink gained 2 pounds and Green went off to surgery. This week was truly an original week. Here’s another thing that’s weird. We usually see Jillian tackle one contestant per week. She probably has tried to take on more than one patient at once, but right now I don’t really remember if she has. Shortly after going after Daris, she went after Ashley. Welcome to Episode #2 - “Dr Jillian: What’s got Ashley all wound up?” Gag. Enough is enough.

The last-chance workout was pretty uneventful. It was kind of boring, even. I’m really starting to like Purple (but for the life of me, can’t remember her name). She was very positive and encouraging. She took up a leadership role and led some of the players on a particular workout. There’s always one or two of those each season. Last season was Coach Mo. He was awesome.

We have made it through the episode thus far without too much drama. So far, so good. Let’s see how the weigh-in went. With Yellow having the only vote, this weigh-in was particularly scary for all the other contestants. Yellow could be objective with their vote – not really knowing anybody and not having any grudges (yet). However, Dad said that he’ll vote whichever way that’ll help him in the long run. A self-proclaimed game player. Ouch. Wonder how that will turn out?

Highlights of the weigh-in:
Pink did well despite the 2 pound disadvantage. They lost 15 (not counting the 2 pounds). Will this be enough?

Red didn’t do so hot this week. Melissa lost 5 and Lance only lost 4. Melissa was not shy to admit that she was disappointed in Lance. What? Where was her support for her spouse? Did we see Lance say he was disappointed in Melissa when she only lost 1 pound? When she gained 1 pound? Please.

Red started to drop lower and lower on the board after more people weighed in. Will they finally be under the yellow line? My initial guess was that they would make it because Green had a bad week. I had no faith in Miggy losing enough to stay on campus another week. She had surgery, 8 or 9 pounds were added and then she couldn’t really work out. Making it another week would be impossible.

It was down to Red, Green and Brown (John). Who would stay and who would go? I was shocked to see that Miggy had lost 5 pounds. She was able to get rid of the surgery weight and plowed through the week by just walking. I have a renewed respect for Miggy now. Let’s hope she doesn’t mess it up again. Green’s success meant that Red would be on the bottom. Now it was truly down to Red and Brown.

I could imagine what Yellow was thinking. It might be better to have Brown to go under so they wouldn’t be faced with the task of eliminating either Melissa or Lance. Who knows? They might have gained lots of alliances by booting Melissa off.

It turned out that it was unnecessary to give Yellow 100% voting power. There was no need for an elimination because Brown didn’t lose enough. He needed more than 7 and only lost 6. Bummer.

It was sad to see him go, but I’m already looking forward to the next episode. John – you can do it. Come back and amaze us at the finale!