Last night on the finale of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” host Alison Sweeney mentioned that this is the longest season in Biggest Loser history. Since it began shortly after New Year’s Day, I can see the math adding up. There were also 22 contestants this season.

The live finale of the show is always a big event, probably why “American Idol” decided to move its performance show to Tuesday this week–to compete head-to-head. Of course, I blog about both here, so that was annoying to me. Anyway, the first order of business was to bring out Jay and Irene, and find out who America voted to compete for the $250K grand prize along with sisters Hannah and Olivia. The winner was…Irene! So there would be three women competing for the grand prize, and Jay was relegated to compete for the $100K “at-home” prize.

The first group they brought out was Ana, Courtney and Marci. The all look great. Ana, who went home in Week 1 only to see her daughter Irene sail all the way through to the finals, lost 109 pounds at home, or 42.75%. Wow. Courtney lost 110, and she had already lost 100 pounds or so at home before even going on the show, so she is down to 213. Good for her. Her mom Marci lost 86 pounds and looks like a pencil, but it wasn’t enough of a percentage to overtake Ana.

Next up, the twins, Dan and Don; along with Q and Laramie. You might remember that Dan and Don threw their weigh-ins to force themselves out, but they shocked everyone last night by how great they looked. Dan lost 124 pounds, and he took the lead over Ana with a 43.21% weight loss. Don lost 130 pounds, but he was heavier to start out so he was still behind Dan. Q, who still looks mighty large, lost 93 pounds; and Laramie lost 84.

Then came Moses, Kaylee, Ken and Austin. Moses, who was 400-pounds to start, lost 153 pounds, but that still wasn’t enough to win the at-home prize. Kaylee lost 54 pounds, but looks great as she didn’t have as much to lose. Ken lost 158 pounds (wow!), and Austin lost a whopping 174, putting him in the lead now with a 43.94% weight loss.

Next up, Sarah and Deni; and Arthur and Jesse. Sarah, as Mrs. Mike pointed out, looks like a model. Deni, meanwhile, is a thinner pencil than Marci. Sarah lost 106 pounds, and Deni 125 pounds, giving her 48.83% weight loss and the lead over Austin. Arthur looked great too, but he clearly still has a ways to go. He lost 163 pounds, down to 344 pounds from a 507 starting point. And Jesse, who was woo-hooing for ten minutes, lost 83 pounds.

Then came Jay, Jen and Justin. Justin lost 173 pounds, which was great but not enough to win. Jay lost 181 pounds, and being that he was 400 pounds to start, that was pretty amazing. His daughter Jen looked awesome, and she has lost 114 pounds. But none of them lost enough to overtake Deni, who won the $100K at-home prize. But wait. Where was Rulon? Mrs. Mike pointed out that he left the show, so he wasn’t competing for the $100K. But why would they not even mention him?

Okay, here we go…but first, since Jillian Michaels is leaving the show to pursue other endeavors, they needed a new trainer next season to go along with Bob, Brett and Cara. That person is…wait for it….Anna Kournikova. The tennis star, who has been more recognized for her hotness than her tennis skills, will likely tower over most of her pupils, but it will be interesting to see what she brings to the table.

So here we really go. Alison asked Irene to choose the order in which they would weigh in. She picked Hannah to go first, followed by herself and then Olivia. Mrs. Mike pointed out that Olivia won, because they always set it up ahead of time so that the person who weighs in last wins. She is right, but I tried not to believe it.

So Hannah went first and she has lost 120 pounds, or a whopping 48.39%. Irene lost 116, or 45.49%. So it was down to Olivia. She lost 129 pounds, down from 261, giving her the win with a 49.42% weight loss. Good for her!

So there you have it, America. Whereas last time there was a 2-week break from Season 10 to Season 11, this time we have to wait until September for the show to pick up again. Whew, it really has been a long season. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Last night was the season premier of “The Biggest Loser: Couples,” and it sure was interesting. The producers always try to keep both you and the contestants guessing, and last night they did that, and in fact they are still doing it as you read this today. That’s because the two trainers they added this season still have no identities, and why they won’t just come out and say who they are is just plain annoying. But more on that in a bit.

At the start they focused on Arthur, who at 5’8″ and 507 pounds is the largest person in density this show has ever seen. This season also includes Moses, a 400-plus pound man who is of Tongan descent, just like Sam and Koli and Filipe and Sione were in seasons past–proof that those folks love to eat and eat bad things. There is also Rulon Gardner, the wrestler who won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics and also competed in the 2004 games, but who is now over 400 pounds. The theme is couples too, which only means that the contestants were brought on in pairs–parents and children, siblings or just friends.

So after introducing rock star trainers Bob and Jillian, it was time to work out. Or was it? Well, sort of. They had their first challenge, running a 5 K on a treadmill. The teams had the option to choose their training team based on what order they finished the race in. They could stay on the ranch and train with Bob and Jillian; or they could train with the “unknown” trainers in an undisclosed location, which turned out to be the Biggest Loser fitness ranch. But wait, there’s more. Going with the unknown training situation also came with FOUR weeks of immunity. Holy crap.

So the yellow team of Rulon and Justin finished first, followed by the gray team of Kaylee and Moses–and both went with the unknown. The aqua team of Marci and Courtney went with Bob and Jillian as did the green team of Jay and Jen. The brown team of Ken and Austin went with the unknown, the purple team of Hannah and Olivia went with the ranch. Two spots remained for the uknown and the next two teams chose them–the pink team of Sarah and Deni and the red team of Larialmy and Q.

Then after showing contestants working out a fitness ridge with only silhouettes with voices as trainers, they showed a last chance workout with those at the ranch. They then showed a small part of the weigh in at fitness ridge–Rulon and Justin lost a combined 59 pounds, and Moses lost a whopping 41 pounds! Those trainers are not screwing around.

So now it was time for those on the ranch to weigh in. Marci and Courtney went first and lost 14 and 15 pounds, respectively; Arthur lost 31 and Jesse 7; Jen lost 20 while her dad Jay lost 26; Olivia and Hannah lost 16 pounds each; Ana lost 9 while her daughter Irene lost 13; and twin brothers Dan and Don lost 21 and 19. So the team with the lowest percentage was the orange team of Ana and Irene. That meant that everyone else on the ranch voted for which team member to send home, and which one to keep.

Ana pleaded with everyone to send her home and let Irene stay, and that’s how the voting went. There certainly is no gameplay at this stage, so it would just be a subjective vote. They showed Ana at home and she has gone from 255 pounds to 205, with hopes to lose 100 pounds overall. Good for her!

Meanwhile, we still have no idea who these new trainers are. We know they exist and that they have credentials and even that they can get results in Week 1. But really, not showing who they are after one full episode? That’s just bogus.

See you all next week….