Biggest Loser, Season 9 - Episode 17

This is it!  The last episode before the finale.  We have our final five and this episode for sure will keep us on our toes while we wait to find out who will be the final four.  Mike, Ashley and Daris are feeling pretty good about making it all the way to the end with Sam out of the picture.  The way they see it - Sunshine and Koli are strong allies but only for each other, and if one of them falls below they will definitely be out-voted.  I am really not liking Koli right now.  He carried on a rant about how stupid the three (Mike, Daris and Ashley) were to vote Sam out instead of Mike because Mike poses a great threat at the finale - if he makes it that far.  In the past, when someone asked him to help get rid of the competition, he refused and vowed that he would rather preserve his integrity than play the game.  What about the time he tried to pit the younger contestants against Stephanie (whom we found out last week is dating Sam, how weird is that)?  He scoffed at Melissa when she gave a very compelling speech about keeping her around because since she's the least threat and struggled with her weight loss the whole time, she'd fall below each week; therefore giving everybody an easy chance to pick off their competitors.  Koli - just admit it - you're acting like a brat because you lost your partner, it's as simple as that.

Now that Sam is gone and Koli has almost made it to the end, his focus has changed - he is all about the finale and he is all about winning the money.  Sure - at this point, it's normal to hope to win the money, but if you're willing to ruthlessly run over anybody who gets in your way, something's wrong.  Earlier in the season, Koli proclaimed that he looks up to O'Neal and one day hopes to be the kind of man that O'Neal is.  Well - he ain't even going to come close if he keeps acting this way.  Suze Orman changed her prediction about Koli as the winner solely on the fact that he doesn't count his calories.  For someone who isn't attentive to the little (but necessary) things probably won't succeed later on.  How much do you want to bet that once the finale is over and the publicity dies down, Koli will slowly start to gain weight over the years (like Erik did).

Back to the show - the remaining contestants were shocked to find out there would be no yellow line this week, only one red line.  The person who loses the least percent of body fat will automatically be sent home.  While Ali was making the announcement, Koli sneaked in a grin (which looked devious to me) thinking that he's got it in the bag, he's already guaranteed a spot in the final four.  We'll see....

Erik and Helen came back on the show to talk to the remaining five about the realities of keeping the weight off once you're off campus for good.  Daris has genuine concerns about the single life.  He's always been the joker and the "best friend" but has never had a girlfriend.  He wonders how his life will change.  It is my personal prediction (almost a guarantee) that Daris isn't going to be single for much longer.  His time on campus has treated him well - very well!  While Daris led a formerly quiet life and was wondering how much it would change, Ashley expressed concern over her former partying lifestyle and tried to figure out what she needed to do to stay fit.  Her friends and her sister would still be partying.  She wants to feel like she still belongs but she will need to set boundaries (less drinking and eating) so she doesn't fall off track.

When it was Koli's turn to talk to Erik, all he did was talk about winning.  Erik can relate because he was the winner of season 3.  Erik cautioned that he still needed to stay on path and don't let himself regress like Erik did.  Koli spoke about how he's almost guaranteed to win the whole thing and that he feels he really deserves it.  I wanted to reach through the TV and smack him.  There were times where he fell below the yellow line and people kept him out of compassion when he begged for a chance to stay longer (to improve his health or a chance to win the whole thing?).  How about paying it forward?

Mike is struggling the most with his weight loss (and lack of weight loss).  He has lost a whole obese person weight-wise and he is still obese.  That has got to be really tough.  Mike blew a gasket during a workout.  He felt extremely frustrated.  With no yellow line, everything is riding on this last week - you either make it above or you don't.  Mike's weight loss has been a roller coaster.  With such a big guy like Mike, you would think that his weight loss would steadily be in the double digits like it did for Dane and the other bigger men that were on past episodes.  Mike would lose big one week and then lose so little the next week.  Would this week be a big one or a small one?

Having one red line this week is good in some ways.  This will definitely decide who deserves to stay and who goes solely based on their weight loss and not based on game play.  No chance to vote for favorites like Koli kept voting for Sam.  Even if there was a yellow line and Mike fell below, he wouldn't be in danger of leaving because Ashley and Daris would not let it happen.  However, if he fell below with either Ashley or Daris, he'd probably be gone.  Koli had his sights set on getting rid of Mike.  How is Mike a big threat?  He's not even halfway done, he's dipped below the line several times and it's kind of far-fetched to think that he'll actually lose the other half of what he needs by the finale.  All Mike needs right now is a great last week and he'd make it to the final four.

This week's challenge was the same as two seasons ago.  The contestants had to run over 16 hills while carrying the weight that they lost over the past 16 weeks.  Each hill represented one week on campus.  Whenever they came to the top of a hill, they would shed the pounds they lost.  First person to make it over 16 hills and to the end gets $10,000.  I remember the winner for this game - who could forget Tara?  She was a lean, mean, green fighting machine!  Daris soared way ahead of everybody else.  He had a very easy win.  Koli got third place... and when he tossed his remaining weight over the cliff at the finish line, he almost threw himself over.  That would have been fun to watch.

Everyone finished in steady streams except for Mike.  Ashley and Daris went back to Mike and helped him finish the competition.  Ashley and Mike held hands briefly - do I see another romantic match-up?  At this rate, the Biggest Loser has a higher success rate of creating romantic couples than the Bachelor/Bachelorette.  How sad is that?  Of course, it would make sense.  The Biggest Loser showcases real people with real struggles and real problems.  These people have seen each other at their worst, supported each other and grew extremely close because of shared hardships.  The Bachelor/Bachelorette displays fake people with fake blonde hair, fake nails and fake boobs who are whisked away on unrealistic romantic adventures (who goes from Hawaii to New York City to the Bahamas and to Fiji for dates in just a few short months).

Daris relinquished the $10,000 for a one pound advantage.  I personally think he didn't need it but better safe to be sorry.  You wouldn't want to fall below the red line if you had that one pound to help you stay above.  Talk about a major personal beating if Daris had kept the $10,000 and fell below the red line because of that one pound.

Each contestant was able to watch a video montage of themselves and their journey over the past few months. It was touching to see how far they've come and how much stronger they've become.  Daris' video was my favorite (maybe just because he's pretty nice to look at).  I just hope that they continue to do well at home.

At the weigh in, Mike breaks (or actually makes) another Biggest Loser record.  He became the first person to lose 200 pounds while still on the ranch.  He lost 12 during this episode.  With a big loss like that, he's definitely one of the final four.  But it's still too early to tell...

Koli lost 13 and pushed ahead of Mike so he's definitely in the final four.  I'm semi-proud of him but somewhat disappointed.  His head is going to grow 10x bigger overnight now.  Daris lost 10 and pushed up above Mike and guaranteed himself a spot in the final four.  It turned out that Daris didn't need that extra one pound - he could have (and should have) kept the $10,000.  Oh well. 

All the boys pulled out really big numbers... can the girls keep up this week?  Ashley ends up losing 7, which is a big number for her, but it wasn't enough to beat Michael.  Now Michael is in the final four.  Will Sunshine beat Ashley?  She's done so well in the past so it's almost a guaranteed victory for her.... right?  Sunshine ends up losing only 2 pounds - not quite enough to beat Ashley.  I was genuinely shocked.  I would have picked her as a possible winner of the season (and remember Suze Orman's prediction?  She predicted that Sunshine would win).  What a bummer for Sunshine... however, if there was a yellow line, she would have still fallen below with Ashley.  We all know how Mike and Daris would vote - so either way, Sunshine was doomed.  To add insult to injury, Sunshine fell short of her 100-pound loss by one pound.  It would have been nice to finish out the season with the accomplishment of losing 100 pounds, wouldn't it?

So - in anticipation of the finale, I went online to NBC's website to find out when it's going to happen.  The finale is on May 25th, which means that tomorrow's episode is going to be about something else.  I decided to watch the previews (I have no patience!) and predictably, the final four goes home to their families.  I guess they are going through their first true test - whether they can make it out alive back at home.  The preview was juicy and delicious!  It seems as though that at least one (or two, or three, or all of them!) didn't do quite so hot at home.  One of them gained two pounds!  Tune in tomorrow - I know I will be!!!