Yes, my subject line is being sarcastic, and last night’s episode of “The Biggest Loser” was a bit eye-opening. The show opened with a challenge between the black and red teams in which they were tangled up as teams in rope, and had to collectively untangle, and then go grab a “key” to the gym. That team would be able to train as usual in the gym all week, while the losing team would be locked out and forced to work outside or somewhere else. The red team won easily, as the black team could do nothing but trip over themselves. So Bob and Jillian would have to train their team outside, which didn’t seem to be a big deal as the weather cooperated.
But Jillian looked at the teams as they were competing and said, “Have you seen our teams? It’s like the Care Bears versus an NFL football team.” Then they showed Cara in the gym with her team and putting more pressure on Rulon than everyone else, and he was not having it. She kept telling him she expects more out of him based on the fact he’s an Olympic athlete. But he didn’t agree, and he also refused to open up about his mental roadblocks to losing weight.
Then they showed a friendly challenge between Jen and Justin as the entire red team wound up near a pool, and those two challenged each other as they jumped in with their clothes on and raced one lap. Justin won and his prize was Jen serving him Subway breakfast in bed. Aha, product placement. Nice.
Then came the main challenge, which was the two teams pushing real train cars that weigh 24 tons 800 feet. Along the way they had to answer trivia questions about food, and would lose time based on wrong answers. The winning team would be able to pick one person from the other team to not have their weight count on the weigh in. That was huge, but risky if they chose the wrong person. The red team won, based on their 1:35 time against 2:05 for the black team, but also because the black team had four wrong answers on the trivia while the red team had five wrong but that still nabbed them the win.
So then it was time to weigh in. Jay lost 9 pounds while Jen lost 7; Moses lost 7 and Kaylee 3; Justin lost 5 and Rulon 11, but both were not happy with those numbers, even though Rulon has now lost 103 pounds; Austin lost 10 and Ken 11, bringing Ken down to 296.
Then the black team went, and first the red team chose Irene to not have her number count. Really? You wouldn’t choose Arthur or Courtney? So Irene lost 6 pounds, bringing her down to 198. Then it was time for the ones that counted. Deni lost 5, also bringing her below 200 pounds at 196. Sarah lost 4, Olivia just 2 and Hannah 7 (bringing her down to 194); Marci lost 6 while Courtney lost 7; Jesse lost 8, and then it was time for Arthur and he needed a 13 to win for his team. Well, he delivered with a 20 pound weight loss, giving his team 3.02%, beating the red team’s 2.68%. Wow. I think everyone knew Arthur had this coming, but the red team picked Irene?
Here is what I think…the “family” of the red team, which does not included newcomers Jay and Jen, had a pact not to vote each other off. Well, after Q and Larialmy, that is. So Jay and Jen knew that if the black team won more weigh-ins, they were toast. But was the red team’s strategy yesterday to choose Irene, thinking she’d lose the least amount of weight, therefore giving them the option to lose and send Jay home? I think so. And I’d love to know if Jay and Jen agreed with choosing Irene. I doubt that. It just makes me mad when gameplay rears its ugly head, sending people like Jay who really need to be there home. Give me a break.
So, not surprisingly, everyone voted for Jay, who had asked them to vote for him rather than for Jen. Jen voted for Kaylee and Jay voted for Rulon, but that just didn’t matter. So there you have it, red team. But Jay has gone home and is down from 400 pounds to 289, a 111-pound weight loss. Good for him!
That’s it, we’ll see you next week for more fun and gameplay.
