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!