This week’s “Biggest Loser” on NBC was a special event, as the backdrop was Washington D.C., where the contestants would not only have a chance to spread the word about the show but also talk to members of congress about their own journeys and how they feel they could teach fellow Americans about a fit lifestyle.
The first thing host Alison Sweeney told them when they arrived in DC was that they would no longer be blue vs. black, but would be going back to being singles. Mrs. Mike pointed out that they have only been teams for a couple weeks, so once again they have confused us all. But okay. So the pop challenge was to gather people off the streets to come and work out with them, with Bob and Jillian leading the way….and the one who brought the most people to work out would win. Allen went straight to a fire station to lure his fire fighting “brothers” but it was Liz who drew the biggest crowd and won the challenge.
After showing the contestants telling two members of congress their stories, it was time for the main challenge. It was a four-stage challenge in front of the Jefferson memorial and Liz would be allowed to skip one stage since she won the initial challenge. The first leg was running a mile, something that freaked Tracey out because of what happened to her at the start of this season. But she made it, even though she didn’t finish high enough to move on to the next round. Those who did move on were Rebecca, Daniel, Allen, Amanda, Rudy and Liz. Then the next round was to collect pennies that were on the steps of the memorial and put them into containers representing each of them. Liz sat this one out and had a bye into the third round, and joining her would be Rudy, Daniel and Rebecca. For round 3, they had to balance on a brick holding a pilates ball, and whoever fell off first would be out. Daniel and Liz were eliminated, leaving Rebecca and Rudy. For the final round, Rebecca and Rudy had to climb up and down a step and the first one to do it 200 times won. Rebecca jumped out to a lead she never relinquished, and won the challenge…and the highly coveted immunity at this week’s weigh in.
Then the contestants were treated to lunch with Sam Kass, one of the Obamas’ personal chefs, who took them into the first family’s garden and then prepared them a salad.
Then it was time for the weigh in and since they were playing as individuals now, the bottom two would face elimination. Rebecca had immunity, so she went first and lost 4 pounds.
Shay was next and lost 9 (putting her under 400 for the first time!), followed by Tracey who lost 3. So Tracey was in danger of falling below the yellow line. Daniel lost 11, finally making up for two lousy weeks in which he could have and really should have been eliminated. Allen was next and lost 9, followed by Danny who continued to impress with a loss of 12 pounds. Rudy then weighed in and lost 9 pounds. Liz followed and lost 3, putting her below the line with Tracey. Uh-oh. Finally, Amanda was next and she lost 7 pounds, ensuring her another week on campus and putting Liz and Tracey below the line.
So remember early on when Tracey was busy playing the game that she made a bunch of enemies? Well, you’d have to think it was payback time…but then after each of them stated their case, Shay said she wasn’t impressed with Liz’ desire or lack thereof to remain on the ranch. Oh, here we go…..was Tracey going to hang around again and would Liz regret not booting her off a few weeks back?
The first one to vote was Amanda, and she brought up the fact that she didn’t trust Tracey so voted for her. Shay voted for Liz, but then Tracey had three straight votes from Danny, Daniel and Rebecca. See ya, Tracey. She defended her earlier gameplay, saying she felt she needed to play the game to remain in it, because since she wasn’t working out as much she needed all the help she could get. Unfortunately that came at the expense of alienating the other contestants.
So Tracey went home to her husband and four kids, and after losing 44 pounds on the ranch, has lost another 41 giving her 85 pounds lost so far. But not only that, she and her family returned to the place in California where she had broke down trying to run a mile and wound up in the hospital…and she completed that mile with no problem. Not only that, she looks great. Good for Tracey that she realized what was important and worked hard to achieve that. Don’t be surprised if she wins the $100K at the finale for most weight lost at home.
So now we’re down to the final eight–Rebecca, Shay, Daniel, Allen, Danny, Rudy, Liz and Amanda. Who do you like? I still think Danny is the one to beat. See you next week, when we’ll be Tracey free!
