Biggest Loser: No room for gameplay

I watched The Biggest Loser on DVR at 2am last night and was just too tired to post any reflections about it. However, I was thinking about it on my way to work this morning.

This season is different. Yes, it's the same trainers. Same host. Same shameless product placements. Even the same outrageously large weights at the start of the season. But this season's contestants are different. This season's contestants are supportive of each other. They truly want to see others succeed. They definitely seem to be there for their health, not their wallets.

The only real game player has been Melissa. Once she left the ranch several weeks ago, there seemed to be a lightening of spirits. When she returned last week, no one was throwing her a "welcome back" party. Melissa never made any secret of the fact that she was all about the game -- and I have to give her credit for that. At least she wasn't skulking around being all sneaky about it.

But her desire to play the game did not make her a favorite in the house. In fact, last night's swim challenge in which each player had to move 100 1-pounds weights from the bottom of the pool to a bin on the edge of the pool, demonstrated that quite clearly. Sunshine won the challenge and then moved on to help her father, O'Neal, finish. Sam, who came in second, also helped O'Neal. As each person finished, he or she worked to help another player. The player who came in last would receive a 1 pound disadvantage at the scale. The only person who did not receive help was Melissa.

She viewed that as stupidity, that people weren't trying to knock out the biggest threats in the house, that they obviously didn't understand how to play the game. What Melissa didn't understand is that the players this season don't care about gameplay. At least not yet.

When Melissa fell below the bottom line with Drea, her plea to those who would be deciding her fate was "I'm your fairy godmother. I can't beat you. So keep me and pick off everyone else one at a time." In other seasons, her argument would have been persuasive. But not this season. And so, with five consecutive votes, Melissa was sent packing once again.

I thought that her tearful display of emotion at being forced to leave the ranch for a second time was one of the few times we've seen her real self, instead of this tough competitor image she's projected throughout this season.

To Drea's credit, while she could have been smug and think "I've got this; no one likes Melissa," she didn't. She offered her own plea for why she should stay on the ranch.

I don't think the remainder of the season will be devoid of gameplay. As the numbers dwindle, people will be forced to make alliances and to make difficult decisions which will certainly be influenced by what's best for themselves. The next most likely gameplayer, in my opinion, is Koli. We saw him place seeds of doubt about Stephanie in Ashley's mind. And I think he's getting frustrated by his cousin Sam's success while his own weight loss has not been as remarkable.

So I'm sure the games will take place. But last night anyway, it was refreshing to see that there was no room for gameplay.

Biggest Loser: Get your head in the game

It was student/teacher week on the Biggest Loser this week. One player in each pair was the teacher, one was the student. The students did not get to workout with Bob and Jillian. Instead, their teacher partner had to deliver all the training to them and the student was the only one whose weight counted at weigh-in.

To determine who of each pair would be the student and the teacher, the contestants had to face a candy challenge. Players had to eat only one piece of candy per round. Each candy was 5 calories each. (M&Ms, I think.) If you didn't eat, you're out. The one who ate the most got to pick the students and the teachers. Only two people ate candy in the first round -- Michael (White) and Sherry (Pink). Michael bowed out after the first round. So Pink got the power for only 10 calories.

For the most part, they chose the heaviest partner in the pair to weigh in. They were very deliberate about not making enemies with their choices. However, Green team -- Migdalia (daughter) and Miggy (mother) -- was upset that Migdalia was chosen as the teacher because they thought that she would have the best weigh in of the two. The other odd choice, in my opinion, was that the White team teacher was selected to be Michael, leaving his mother Maria to weigh in.

Migdalia was obviously angry, but when Bob asked her about it, she denied being angry. So Bob and Jillian went all psychiatrist on Migdalia, trying to break her down. Even though it was a bit overly dramatic, Jillian did make sense in saying that feelings and emotion are a compass that let us know when things are out of kilter in our life. That allowing ourselves to be vulnerable really is to be strong.

But Migdalia was not having it. When she finally started to allow herself to feel the pain, she walked out of the gym and threatened to quit.

Jillian followed her out of the gym, sayin that quitting is weak. True strength is digging in to the feelings you're having. Fixing the inside is the only way to make what's going on outside better. Once Jillian got Migdalia crying and broken, she sent Bob in to finish the deal.

When Bob goes in to talk to Migdalia, her mother is there too. Miggy argues that coming to the ranch was about changing your ways, not your personalities. They won't let themselves see that it's their insides that made their outsides 300 pounds.

A few times the show checked in with the Blue and the Yellow teams at home. I really wish that Green would go home and they would bring back one of the teams that is willing to work on their whole selves. As a seriously overweight person myself, I will venture to bet that there are very few obese people who are that way because they just love pizza and beer. Most people eat to extremes for the same reason others drink to extremes or take drugs or shop -- to fill a hole inside themselves. And until we face down those holes and learn to fill them with something emotionally -- and physically -- healthier, we will always be sick individuals.

I wonder if they have real therapists on the ranch, besides Bob and Jillian doing their best Dr. Phil impersonations?

The middle segment of the show was one big product placement. The first was in the training room for Walgreens. The second was with Chef Curtis Stone who showed the contestants proper portion size. While seeing how many calories are in certain restaurant foods was eye opening, it was basically an extended commercial for Muir Glen fire-roasted organic tomatoes.

With the product placements out of the way, it was time for the student-teacher challenge. The teacher had to unwind 1,000 feet of ribbon through a school playground. The students were told they would draw for which ribbon they had to untangle. The winning team would earn immunity and the ability to switch teacher and student roles on one team.

Once the tangling was done, the twist was that the students didn't really draw to see which ribbon they were untangling. They had to untangle their own ribbon -- blindfolded. The untangling would have been hard enough, but blindfolded seemed impossible. Gray, Red and Green did a remarkable job untangling the ribbon, but Gray won. They had until the weigh in to make the teacher/student switch if they chose too.

In the last chance workout, Mike was kind of slacking off, joking around. It made me wonder if Gray would choose White to switch teacher and student at the weigh in. And I was right. Of course, that made Mike mad.

Weigh in (Teacher, Student)

Gray: Koli -13, Sam -11

Even though they had immunity, they said they were there to work and that's what they planned to do every week. Gotta have a lot of respect for that.

Green: Migdalia -8, Miggy -7 (3.2%)
Black: Andrea -7, Darrell -12 (3.22%)
Orange: Cheryl -7, Daris -9 (2.9%)
Purple/Brown: Stephanie -7, John -14 (3.1%)
Red: Melissa -1, Lance -12 (3.57%)

Was this more game play from Melissa? Bob and Jillian seemed to think so. An argument ensued with Bob and Jillian accusing Melissa of throwing the weigh in and Melissa denying it. I think Melissa just guaranteed that Bob and Jillian will not be giving her much attention in the workouts next week. This is not over. The previews for next week, show Melissa scoring a 28 pound weight loss, proving Bob and Jillian right; Melissa is all about the game play and also lied about not throwing the weigh in again this week.

White: Maria -4, Michael -10 (2.08%) - not enough to keep them safe, unless Pink falls below
Pink: Sherry -6, Ashley -12 (3.48%)

So White was up for elimination. I think that everyone will give Michael an opportunity to prove that he really does want to be on the ranch. Sending him home at this point could literally be sending him home to his death. John wasn't buying Michael's sob story about being in pain. And John would know best. He only weighed about 60 pounds less than Michael when they all arrived at the ranch. And John and Stephanie (Brown/Purple) were the only ones who voted to send Michael home.

Maria was eliminated, as she wished. I only hope that Michael sees this as a wake up call that he needs to engage in the processand take advantage of the gift that the Biggest Loser ranch is.

While on campus, Maria lost 27 pounds. At home, she's lost another 23 pounds, for a total of 50 pounds. She's also taking swimming lessons and is conquering her fear of water.

This episode has given me more to think about than any episode in a long time. I think I'll come back to revisit that whole idea of healing the inside. In the meantime, I'm curious to hear your thoughts about it.

Biggest Loser: The notorious Week 2

In light of the fact that I'll be meeting with my new trainer on Friday for my first real workout, the opening scenes in the gym of the Biggest Loser made me more than a little nervous. I'm pretty sure that I didn't hear anyone at Life Time Fitness screaming and hollering like the BL contestants.

I have to say that I'm having a hard time getting into this season of the Biggest Loser so far. I don't know if it's too many contestants to keep track of at this point or if it's that the so seems so much more scripted and overly dramatic than previous seasons, but tonight I felt a bit disengaged as I watched. So if this post isn't up to snuff, I apologize.

Some things that struck me in this episode included:

John (Brown Team) - His dad died when John and his twin brother James (who was sent home last week) were just 15 years old. Three months later, their grandma died. Three months after that their died. I can totally understand eating to bury that pain.

Patti (Purple Team) - in talking with Dr. H. about her 20 year history of Type 2 diabetes said "I didn't have symptoms that interfered with my day to day life, so I was in denial." Oh, sister, I've been paddling the same canoe.

Anyone else think Michael looks like an oversized Kramer from Seinfeld?

Why is Jillian wearing those big Uggs in the gym? Hello? Tennis shoes?

The teams were given a series of "medical tasks" that were meant to wake them up to the severity of the consequences associated with their weights. Most of these tasks seems contrived and a little heavy handed.

White -- Watch a normal weight man simulate a daily task at your weight. Put 330 pounds on Bob to simulate Mike's excess weight -- it was really condescending. Not sure it would have made an impact on me.

Purple -- Watch a special message about how your health is hurting more than just yourselves. Patti's husband and Stephanie's dad and sister met with Dr. H. The conversation was ultimately one of guilt trips and scare tactics.

Red -- Find out the true cost of your being overweight. An armored truck arrived carrying over $3M to represent the money Lance and Maria will lose over the course of their lifetime because of their weight -- medical expenses, lost wages, etc. That was actually pretty eye opening.

Orange -- Watch how your old unhealthy diet affects a healthy person. Jillian has to eat one of their meals pre-BL. Bad news for Taco Bell -- that's what most of the food on the table looked like. I was glad to see it -- especially how many of those items had more than 20 grams of fat -- because a Taco Bell opened just outside my neighborhood today. Knowing what's really in that food will make it easier for me to stay away.

This week's challenge was a balance challenge. A beam 3.5" wide and 40' across stretched over a pool. Each team had to get 10 beach balls across the beam. If the person fell in, they had to start over. Winner would get immunity while the losing team would get a 2lb. penalty at the weigh in.

Maria of the white team was panicked because she is afraid of water and can't swim (though they were wearing life preservers.) I don't know why so many of the contestants kept walking sideways. One foot in front of the other seemed like it would be the best option.

Red team (Melissa and Lance) won immunity and were quite elated by it. Then it came down to the white team and the brown team trying not to be last. Maria (white) stepped on the balance beam, panicked, fell and got a bloody nose. Apparently it was more than a bloody nose b/c the ambulance came, they put her on the backboard and took her to the hospital. Too bad for them, not finishing earned them a 2 pound penalty awaiting at the weigh in.

I found Maria to be whiny and annoying and full of excuses. Wonder how long she'll last? I'm officially sick of the white team already.

A big chunk of time was taken up by meetings with Dr. H. But at this point, I lost a contact lens, so I was a bit distracted.

Last chance workout. The red team is already playing the game. They have immunity, so Melissa is planning to sandbag her weight loss to save up for next week. Lance lost 8. She gained 1 and owned up to the gameplay. I'm sorry, but that's just irritating. I would like the show just as much, if not better if it was all about the weight loss and not the cash prize. Then people might stay focused on why they are really there.

Add red team to the list of teams on my "go home already" list.

Weigh in:
Gray team - down 17 combined (8/9)
Pink team - down 13 combined (8/5) - remind me of Helen and her daughter
Green team - down 12 combined (4/8)
Purple team - down 7 combined (4/3)
Orange team - down 10 combined (3/7)
Brown team - down 10 - John weighing in by himself
Black team - down 15 combined (5/10)
White team - down 21 combined (10/11)

Which means that someone from the Purple Team - either Patti or Stephanie -- would be sent home. Patti asked to be sent home so her daughter Stephanie could stay. As a mother, I would make the same request. The teams respected her wish and sent Patti home.

The Biggest Loser transformation moment - Patti's lost 43 pounds so far and got a sassy new haircut. She's well on her way and looks great! Even better, she's gone from taking 9 medications daily to taking just 2.

By the end of the show, I was feeling the love a bit more because the weight losses are always inspiring. But I hope the character or attitude or whatever it is that's out of whack this season gets back in line for next week.

The Biggest Loser: A mop and a bucket

That's what I need to wade through tonight's Biggest Loser drama -- a mop and a bucket. The opening temptation was to spin a big Wheel-of-Fortune type wheel. The contestants had to either eat what was under the lid or they could win a golden ticket that would allow the winner to divide the teams into black and blue, Jillian and Bob's teams. Everyone except Abby chose to participate.

As luck would have it -- or as the producers arranged it -- Tracey found the golden ticket. She broke up every team, except for hers (with her partner Mo) and Daniel and Shay. Plenty of people were upset with Tracey for breaking up the teams. But no one was more angry and more outspoken about having Tracey in the crosshairs than Liz.

"What do Southern women do when they get mad?" Jillian wanted to know.

"They get even," said Liz, ever so seriously.

Abby and Tracey still can't train, though by the last chance workout, Tracey was walking slowly on the treadmill.

Best quote of the night: Jillian to Dina when Dina couldn't make herself jump up on the Plio stool. "You're life is not changing today, but at least your butt will get smaller."

Then the teams had their first blue vs. black challenge: a chariot challenge. Each team had to carry one member of the team on a platform up a hill, through the mud. The winning team -- BLUE -- won videos from home. Rebecca gave her opportunity to watch the video to Dina, who is on the black team, saying "Go get that step," referring to the Plio stool. But Dina turned it down, because she had to get on that step on her own. It was a totally scripted exchange. Clean up on aisle 13!

Liz asked Danny to watch her video with her and I was thinking that her behavior was approaching inappropriate -- they are both married. But it was really Danny's video. His wife said she's lost 20 pounds and several members of her family are losing weight too, inspired by Danny's efforts on the ranch.

On to the last chance workout. Bob heads to 24 Hour Fitness with his team. No surprise there. Jillian pushes her team to the limit in an outdoor workout. She shows a surprising bit of compassion by letting Dina stop her workout even though she didn't make it on top of that stool.

In the weigh in room, can Jillian keep her win streak going?

Blue (Bob's team)
Tracey -7 (no one seemed to be happy)
Mo -6
Allen -7
Rudy -8
Rebecca -7
Liz -8
Blue team percentage of weight loss: 2.56% (43 pounds)

Black
Abby -5
Dina -6
Amanda -6
Danny -10
Daniel -11
Shay -- Needed to lose 8 pounds to keep the black team safe. She dropped 16 pounds!
Black team percentage of weight loss: 3.05% (54 pounds)

Tracey said her head is on the chopping block because she split everyone up. But her head was in a precarious position because of her attitude and her actions for several weeks in a row. However, I had a hard time believing that the producers weree going to let her leave now. She brings too much drama to let her go.

Sure enough, as the blue team was discussing who should go, Coach Mo threw himself on the sword. He's been pulling the lowest numbers, he told them. He should go home.

I thought Rebecca was going to kill Coach Mo. She was really gunning for Tracey to go home. Rudy argued that having Mo around would be better for the team than having Tracey around. Mo is supportive and encouraging. Tracey has and likely will continue to make things insane.

Liz flip flopped from her original position and voted to send Mo home. I'm thinking she thought that Tracey is the next obvious target, so keeping Tracey one more week guarantees Liz at least two more.

Wonder what the black team will think when they see Tracey still on the ranch?

In the Biggest Loser Transformation Moment, Coach Mo had lost 76 pounds and looks great! Next week's show is Old Home week -- the remaining contestants get to go home for a week. Should be interesting.

One thing you didn't see on the show itself was me, actually exercising during several commercial breaks. I'd like to say I was inspired by the show -- and that was a part of it. But I was also feeling guilty because I had a frustrating evening and chose to feed that frustration with a Quarter Pounder (No cheese, though. That should count for something!), fries and Oreos. Why the heck did I do that?

So anyway, I spent several commercials walking up and down my stairs, doing toe touches on the steps, and simulating my own Plio stool by jumping up onto the second stair.

Do you exercise during the show? If yes, what do you do?

Biggest Loser: Down to the Final Four

Maybe it's because I wish Kristin was still there. Maybe it's because I'm PO'd that Ron is. Maybe it's because I'm just cynical and glass is half-empty, but tonight's episode of The Biggest Loser put me in a bad mood.

I know in my head this is a game. I know it's all about the money. But I hate this. It's creepy and manipulative and Ron is a big fat (pun intended) liar, lying straight to Bob's face saying he had nothing to do with Mike's choice to vote Kristin out.

It irritates me that Ron is still there -- even more than I'm irritated that Helen is there. I mean Ron flat out quit or didn't even start how many challenges? How many times was Ron in the bottom two? That man is a master manipulator -- which could likely give him a share of $250,000.

It was irritating how they kept saying "it only took 17 weeks!" "We did this in 17 weeks." "17 weeks ago, I couldn't do a push up."

Yes, in 17 weeks, so many of them have lost 100 pounds or more. So many of them have become real athletes. But they worked out 8+ hours a day. They had controlled food at their disposal. How many people in the real world could do that?

Do you really believe that Tara and Helen had those clothes in their closets forever and just brought them just in case? Did all they have to bring "goal outfits?"

This was the last week on the ranch, which seemed to come as a shock to the players left in the game. Filipe knew everyone left at the ranch is gunning for him.

Much of the show was spent looking back at how far they've all come. We got to see pics of most of their big bellies and then what they look like now. At least they didn't show us Ron's outsides -- we got to see his insides, which was actually pretty cool.

The last challenge of the contest was to run over 16 sand hills carrying weight equivalent to what they've lost on the ranch. At each hill, they got to drop as much weight as they did in the corresponding week on the ranch.

The winner of the challenge could choose $10,000 or a 1 pound advantage at the weigh in. The 2nd place finisher got whichever prize the winner doesn't take.

I know some people don't like Filipe. But how can you not when he said to Tara as she passed him -- "You're doing great Tara. You can do this."

And she did -- win the challenge handily, that is. My guess was that she would take the 1 pound advantage this time, since she took the $$ last time.

Ron was at the top of the week 6 hill, when Mike went back to help him. Filipe also joined him to help out. (See what a great guy he is?)

Then it was time for the last chance workout -- but guess what? It was Train the Trainer day! So Bob and Jillian got put through the paces by their contestants. For almost the first time in the episode, I found myself smiling.

Of course there really was a last chance workout and it was fierce. It's hard to really tell because of the editing. But it seems like Jillian's people did more cardio than Bob's. I wonder if that's really the way it is?

Weigh in...
Before the weigh in, Allison asked Mike if he thought he still has the game in the bag. He said he "Last week I knew I could win. This week, I hope I can."

When asked if she thinks she can win it, Tara very wisely (and I think honestly) said, "It doesn't matter -- I've won my life back."

Tara chose the 1 pound advantage as her prize for winning the challenge.

Ron was the first to weigh in -- he lost 9 pounds -- 3.02% of his total weight. Then it was Filipe's turn: he lost 10 pounds (4.10%)! Mike's upset was pretty veiled, but it was there. Ron was gritting his teething behind his forced smile.

Helen was up next. She needed 4 pounds to hit the 100 pound mark. She had to lose 7 pounds to stay in the final 4...and she did. Darn it. I was also bugged that Jillian kept making a big deal about Helen being 48 years old, like that's ancient or something.

Tara and Mike were left to weigh in. Mike was worried that he and Ron would be below the yellow line together. I was worried that they wouldn't be.

Mike stepped on the scale and they cut to the commercial break after they show a bunch of shocked faces, which totally told me that Mike lost the 10 pounds he needed to. Yep. He lost freakin' 11 pounds. I know I should be happy for him. But he's part of the evil brown empire (not as evil as last season's brown team of course).

Tara, who has never been below the yellow line, needs more than 6 pounds, which she of course gets and then 2 more. Again, Mike's disappointment is visible.

So it's Ron and Filipe below the yellow line. There's really no question who will not make the final four. Filipe -- I love you man!

Ron played the "keep me b/c I'm not a threat" card. Filipe begged to stay because he wanted the accomplishment. He tells them "to be the best, you gotta beat the best." That might speak to Tara, but ultimately I think she'll go the easy route.

Filipe was all gentleman when he was voted off. He spoke of not being sad, of being blessed, of being an inspiration. Tara herself looked inspired. I wish we could have seen who she voted for, even though it didn't matter.

The final four will all go home for 30 days. Then they will return for one more weigh in before the finale.

They showed Filipe's homecoming. He's got quite a job ahead of him, creating a change among the Tongan people -- the welcome home feast was fried chicken, potato salad. He's offering an exercise class at his house once a week. He sure had those folks sweating!

Two more weigh ins. Of the four finalists, I sure hope Tara wins the whole thing.