Just as I'm getting back to the Biggest Loser, the Biggest Loser contestants were sent home for a weeklong visit.
(Anyone know what the song was during the homecoming scenes? I tried to Shazam it, but was unsuccessful.)
The same day the contestants arrived home, so did a very large wooden crate. Inside each crate was an exercise bike and a box of mini cupcakes -- the makings of a challenge and a temptation.
The challenge was a 26.2 mile bike challenge. The first to finish would win $10,000. But not so fast. Each player could eat as many 100-calorie cupcakes as they wanted to in order to add time to another player's bike time. For every cupcake they ate, they could add 5 minutes to another player's time.
Lance ate 17 cupcakes. Michael ate 6. Drea ate 9.
The product placements in this show were as obvious as always, but they were at least for new products: Tempurpedic, Biggest Loser Wii game, Biggest Loser app for Verizon Blackberry. Not one mention of Extra Sugar-Free Gum or Ziploc bags.
The contestants were all faced with making healthy choices in situations and places where they previously ate badly. Ashley was talking with her family about changing how they spend time together. Their habit was to get together to eat. She said they were going to go hiking and canoeing and do other active things:
"We're actually going to live because eating is not living," Ashley said. I love that!
Then it was time for the bike challenge. Sam at 13.1 miles looked cool and unthreatened. But I knew that all those minutes Lance, Drea and Michael ate against him were going to come to haunt him. I don't think anyone ate against Lance. Koli and Lance were neck and neck at the end. Koli took second. Lance took third. Sunshine - 4th. Daris - 5th. Drea - 6th. Stephanie - 7th. Ashley - 8th. Michael - 9th. Every single one of them finished!
After the cupcake totals, the standings were:
Steph - 9th. Sam - 8th. Drea - 7th. Sunshine - 6th. Daris - 5th. Michael - 4th. Ashley - 3rd. Lance - 2nd. Koli, with the win for $10,000, 1st!
For all the 17 cupcakes Lance ate, if he would have eaten just one against Koli, he could have won the cash.
After the bike challenge, they headed back to the ranch for the last chance workout. Poor black team. Jillian had them back on the bike! I bet their butts panicked at the sight of that tiny seat.
Lance had a hard time coming back. He described Melissa as "lost and confused." That totally doesn't jive with what we've seen of Melissa on the show. But Lance told Bob that he felt like he was letting down his family by leaving them again and coming back to the ranch. Bob told him he was at the ranch for his family. That seemed to settle him down.
Then it was time for the weigh in --
Blue Team
O'Neal: -7
"My shape is my shame," he said talking about how he hasn't been under 300 pounds in many years.
Sunshine: -8
Lance: -8
Michael: -8
Koli: -10
Daris: -4
Total: -45/2.58%
Black Team had to lose more than 26 pounds
Drea: -6
Stephanie: -9
Ashley: -10
Sam: Needed to lose 2. I was definitely nervous for him. He is really getting very trim and it was imaginable that he might have a hard time losing weight. But I shouldn't have doubted him. Sam lost 14!
Total: -39/3.86%
For the first time in three weeks, the blue team headed for the elimination room. Sunshine was safe from elimination because she had the highest percentage of weight loss.
Koli, Michael, O'Neal and Daris all voted for Lance, which sent him packing. I can't say that I'll miss him and that nasty, scruffy beard of his.
Biggest Loser transformation moment: Lance has lost 100 pounds since beginning the show. Because he and Melissa live way out in the country, he doesn't really have access to a gym so they work out with equipment at home. The transformation moment showed him walking to the top of a nearby mountain with his son. That was a great moment.
