I smell foul play on “The Biggest Loser.” Not Vicky and Brady foul play, but some manipulation by certain contestants. More on that later.

The show began last night with Daris being upset about his mom Cheryl being sent home. That lasted about 5 seconds. Then it was on to the initial challenge, and one of the contestants even said “oh crap” when they saw host Alison Sweeney in the room. That was funny. The challenge was a trivia game, with the winning team earning a “spa night” at the Four Seasons Hotel, and the losing team having to clean both the kitchen and the gym. Yikes. After some trash talk from Stephanie of the black team, the blue team won, which was funny, because their team is mostly huge guys, not the types you’d expect to see in a spa.

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NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” consistently transforms the lives of its contestants, but that doesn’t mean every one of them really wants to be on that ranch and do the necessary work to change their bodies. Last night we saw two instances of just that, despite what those contestants would tell you.

They began by reminding us that there were two teams, blue and yellow, that had been sent home on Day 1 for 30 days. At his point, it was halfway through the 30 days, and each team was working extremely hard to earn that spot back on the ranch.

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Last night on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” there was one more weigh-in before the live finale this coming Tuesday night. The final four would have one more opportunity to reach that finale and have a shot at the title, while two of them would be subject to a vote by all of us to determine if they deserve to be or should be in the running for it all.

The episode began with each contestant going home for 60 days after being on the ranch for a few months, and after showing a bunch of fluff with families and once again seeing Danny as a “rock star” from when he was like 17, seeing Curtis Stone cook for Danny and his family, and having the trainers visit each contestant at home and coach them a bit (we know there is more than coaching going on between Bob and Amanda)–it was time for the big jolt. That they would each be going back to Los Angeles to run a full marathon before weighing in one more time. Yikes. They did this last season and my legs wanted to buckle while sitting on my couch. But if Big Ron from last season could walk it, anyone could.

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Thanks to the NCAA basketball tournament for giving us the term “Final Four,” because now it’s used in every walk of tournament life. Same with NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” which reached the final four of this season last night.

The episode began with the final five–Rudy, Allen, Liz, Amanda and Danny–talking about Rebecca having been eliminated and now Amanda was afraid she no longer had allies. Then CNBC finance personality Suzy Orman made a guest appearance and talked about how obesity is costing our nation and individuals so much money….really, almost as much or more than cancer. Yikes. They had a challenge in which they walked on treadmills while answering quetsions about how obesity relates to money. Pretty scary stuff! If they got a question correct, they would earn $1000, but if they got it wrong, their speed on the treadmill would increase.

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For a change on last night’s episode of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” there was a happy ending. No gameplay, no formed alliances or ulterior motives…only the opportunity and the inspiration of having to all work together. And now that the contestants have scored a victory, as Mrs. Mike pointed out, the producers are going to find a way to mess with them again. What do I mean? Well, read on….

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On NBC’s “The Biggest Loser: Couples,” gameplay reared its ugly head again last week as the black team voted off Damien after saying they wouldn’t. The show began last night with the blue team members pissed off about that, and feeling like they could not trust the black team, and also that the game was now “on.” Yeah, just what I don’t want to see in a weight loss show. But I guess we have to get used to it, because this is what the show is about, and what the producers want us to see. However, I also have to say that while everyone kept Joelle in the competition another week, she finally is showing signs of wanting to succeed and wanting to work hard to get there.

With five days until the teammates who were sent home in Week 1 can return, everyone is getting anxious and looking forward to getting back to the “Couples” theme. Being that it is Super Bowl week in real time, Curtis Stone from “Take Home Chef” was brought in for the initial challenge, which was to guess the calories in typical Super Bowl fare. The winner would get a 2-pound pass for their partner at that weigh in, and Stone would fly to wherever the partner was for a healthly cooking lesson. Big Dan won the challenge, and Stone surprised his partner Dave back in North Carolina. Dave has been eating somewhat unhealthy at home, stuff like fried chicken and hot dogs Read the rest of this entry »