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’s episode of “The Biggest Loser” was an interesting one with a lot going on. It began with Kaylee talking about how she felt bad about thinking she was ready to go home last week and throwing the weigh-in. Some of her fellow contestants, and especially her trainer Cara, were pissed. Kaylee’s dad Moses pointed out that he knew Kaylee was tired of the show’s gameplay, and that’s why she was ready to go home. Interesting.

Then they all walked into the gym and host Alison Sweeney was waiting for them. As Hannah said, that is never a good thing for them! Alison showed them all video from when they first were told they made it to the show. It was similar to “American Idol” where the contestants who made it were in a holding room in a hotel conference area, and Ali walked in to let them know if they were in or out. But while 11 teams made it, Alison spoke about the 12th team that did not—mother and son Leanne and Vance. And she showed footage where she had told the “white team” that they could earn their way onto campus in midseason. So here they were, but they had to have surpassed the person with the lowest percentage of weight loss currently on the show, who was Kaylee with 25.32% Vance weighed in first, and he had begun at 379 pounds, which meant he had to lose about 90 pounds to grab a spot on campus. He lost 30 pounds, so was way off. Leanne began at 315 and lost 45 pounds, which was great but not nearly good enough. Okay, so that was that. But both were told they were still eligible to win the “at-home” prize of $100K.

Then it was time for the initial challenge, which was for the teams to balance colored balls on a flat board of wood, and carry them as a team about 30 feet to a bucket. The first team to 10 balls won a 1-minute advantage in the main challenge, and the losing team would have to spend a week off campus. The green team won, with black coming in second. So it was down to blue and red, and blue barely won, meaning the red team of Jen and Courtney lost. So Alison let them know that they had a $1000 budget to be spent on various things during the week. They would be staying at a posh resort in Ojai Valley, but had budget items such as doing their own grocery shopping/cooking or having a personal chef, gym membership, personal training, and perks like meal at a restaurant or having a massage. The trainer cost $200 per day, so they knew they couldn’t have Brett for five days, but could have him for one or two days. But instead, they chose to cook at home, have a gym membership and then dine out one night and also get massages. Brett, of course, was pissed and concerned that they chose luxuries over him. But Courtney claimed that that was all Jen’s decision.

Then it was time for the main challenge, which was an Easter egg hunt, and involved a cross-promotion with the premiere of the movie “Hop.” Alison told them they would be participating in the mother of all Easter egg hunts, with 5000 eggs! They had to grab eggs in a field of their respective colors, and put them in cartons. The green team had a one minute head start, and one person would find a golden egg that had some special distinction. Oh, and the winner would be able to walk the red carpet for the theater premiere of “Hop.” Olivia found the gold egg, and then the green team won, followed by red, black and blue. They all got a private screening of the film, and after that it was time for the last chance workouts. Blah blah blah. But wait, the golden egg….Olivia won the only vote this week, but it only applied if her team wasn’t the losing team weighing in.

So the blue team weighed in first, and Olivia lost 4 pounds, while Irene lost 3 and Moses lost 7 (getting him down to 293!). The green team was next—Ken lost 6, while Austin lost 7 and Kaylee 5. That made the green team safe. Next was the blue team—Jay lost 6, Rulon 5, but Hannah lost 0 pounds. Game play? Very possibly, because her sister had the only vote this week and Hannah knew she was safe. Hmmm.

Then the red team went, and had to lose more than 5 pounds combined to be safe. Courtney lost 2 pounds, and Jen (who just HAD to have that elegant meal and massage) lost 0 pounds. Wow. But here was the kicker….with just 2 team members, and with the person with the highest percentage of weight loss on the losing team had immunity, that meant that the other person was automatically eliminated. That person, of course, was Jen, and to her credit, she didn’t get sad, just inwardly angry at herself for not choosing to have Brett train them for a day or two.

So Jen, who lost 91 pounds on campus, was shown at home, and overall she’s gone from 278 pounds down to 173—a 105-pound weight loss.

There you have it…since Justin went home last week and Jen this week, Courtney is now Brett’s only member left. And if she gets booted off last week, Brett is supposedly done for the season as well. What do you think about how things went down? Let me know in the space below and we’ll see you back here next week….

One of the best parts of “The Biggest Loser” on NBC is that they bend the rules, often. So even when someone is eliminated, it’s not always forever. And last night they brought back one of the eliminated contestants.

The show began with host Alison Sweeney meeting the contestants in the gym, and then screwing with any remaining team chemistry again. They would be broken into four teams of three, and each would train with one of the four trainers. Each would draw randomly a color that represented a trainer, starting with the person with the highest percentage of weight loss to date, Justin. He wound up with the red team, training with Brett. And here is how it went down–Brett’s red team was Justin, Jen and Courtney; Cara’s green team was Austin, Ken and Kaylee; Bob’s blue team Moses, Irene and Olivia; and Jillian’s black team was Rulon and Hannah. Um, wait. That team was one person short, but Alison announced that Rulon and Hannah could choose from any eliminated contestant and bring them back into the game and onto their team. Would it be Arthur? Jay? Q? More on that in a bit.

First, they showed each trainer taking their respective team somewhere to work out–Bob took his team to Crunch gym for a spin class he’s been teaching there since 1997; Jillian took Rulon and Hannah to her beach house in Malibu; Brett took his group on a hike; and of course, Cara took her team boxing–including making Austin spar with someone from the gym. That was pretty cool.

Then it was time for the main challenge, and at this point the black team had to announce who they were bringing back–and it was Jay. Jen, of course, was giddy, even though Jay would not be on her team. Jay would also be immune this week, so his weight loss would not count for the black team. The challenge was for the teams to hold up the amount of weight they have lost to date with ropes, and letting go would drop water onto flames and put out the fire for that respective team. The winning team would receive video chats with their families. The green team went out first, followed by the black team. So it was down to blue and red. Justin had to let go, but kept coaching Jen and Courtney. Meanwhile, Moses let go and could only encourage Irene and Olivia. But in the end, the blue team let go and the red team won. But before they could use their prize, they gave their prize to the blue team–because Jen’s dad is back, and Courtney’s mom just left last week, and because Justin is, as Courtney said, “a good guy.” That was very cool of them.

Then after I forwarded through the boring last-chance workouts, it was time to weigh in. The losing team would lose one person, chosen from the two on their team with the lowest percentage of weight loss. That meant that the person with the highest percentage on each team would be immune. But this time, the players on the team not up for elimination would do the voting. Hmmm, interesting.

The black team went first, and Jay was first to weigh in since he was immune. He lost 7 pounds. Hannah lost 4 and Rulon 5.

The blue team was next–Moses lost just 3, Irene 5 and Olivia 5. And they were all safe.

Next was the red team, and Jen lost 4; Courtney lost 3 and Justin lost 2. Yikes. They were now at the bottom, which made the black team safe.

Finally, it was the green team, and Kaylee announced that she had discussed with Ken and Austin that she was ready to go home, and that they had agreed to all fall on the sword together for her. But of course, her team would not be voting, so who knows if her plan would work. And why does she want to go home, anyway? I have my theories, but I probably shouldn’t share them here.

So Kaylee lost 0 pounds, which was no surprise. But Austin lost 3, which made you think that maybe he wasn’t going along with the plan. Then Ken, who had to lose 6 pounds to keep his team safe, lost 7 pounds! It was clear gameplay, and Kaylee was devastated. But Ken said something like, “We can’t choose when we go home,” but Alison snapped back at him, “This is not a prison!” Then Alison told Kaylee that she could go home if she wanted to–but of course, Moses talked her out of it.

So it was the red team up for elimination–and Jen had immunity on her team. That meant it would be Justin or Courtney. Of course, Justin pleaded with everyone to vote for him, because he was going to be selfless even if he wanted to stay. Courtney, though, also said she would not mind going home at this point, and Justin replied with, “No, you need to be here.”

So at the voting, Kaylee went first and voted for Justin. Rulon, Justin’s buddy who brought him here, voted for Courtney–but then everyone else voted for Justin, and he was heading home. You know, I bad-mouthed this dude a few weeks ago when he sent Arthur home, but Arthur was also the reason Jay went home. And these folks all seem to love Justin.

But that’s not even the whole story. Justin has gone from 365 pounds down to 225, and he was known on the ranch for calling people out and getting the most out of those around him. Well, he’s gone home and done the same thing to his friends–with T-shirts made up that Justin is “calling them out.” Pretty awesome.

So okay, now we’re down to 11, which makes me wonder how long this show is going to drag on for. It sure seems like it could last through half the summer. Anyway, it’s definitely getting interesting if anything. Thanks for reading and see you next week!

Now that was refreshing. Last night on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” the episode began with host Alison Sweeney revealing that this week, there would be no red team or black team, but that everyone would be wearing a blue shirt. That meant that it was one for all, all for one. And if, as a group, they lost more than 64 pounds (their combined weight loss last week), everyone would have immunity this week. If not, two of them would fall below the yellow line and the entire team would vote as one.

Well, this was a nice change of pace. There would be no gameplay or catty nonsense, only one team working toward a common goal. They then had a pop challenge in which celebrity chefs Curtis Stone and Lorena Garcia were on hand to judge their cooking ability. They broke into teams of two, with one former black team and one former red team member pairing off. The winner would get a year’s worth of The Biggest Loser meal plan meals. The two favorites were Jen and Kaylee’s turkey tostadas, and Olivia and Moses’ baked cod with asparagus. And Olivia and Moses won, with a dish that came in a whopping 170 calories, but according to Curtis and Lorena, had great flavor as well.

Then after visits from Dr. H showing how far they’ve come so far, it was time for the main challenge. Keeping with the one-team mentality, this time the group would have to pull on a giant rope to unearth big plates with a trivia question. Once they answer correctly, two more players get to join and help pull the rope. Honestly, this challenge was a bit confusing to the naked eye and mind. Anyway, if they finished in under 90 minutes, they would get a 5-pound advantage at the weigh-in. But if they didn’t make it, they were going to have a 5-pound penalty. Yikes. Well, amazingly, they made it with SIX SECONDS to spare. Wow. And so instead of 64 pounds, the group had to lose just 59 pounds this week in order for everyone to stay on the ranch one more week.

Then came the last-chance workouts, and as I normally do, I forwarded through these. Sorry, NBC. Then it was time to weigh in. Jen went first and lost 5 pounds, followed by Hannah with 4 and Olivia with 3. Uh-oh. If the contestants had to average 5 pounds each, they were not off to a great start. Justin lost 5, Rulon lost 7, and Ken lost 7, putting them back in the game. Austin lost 8, giving them more confidence. But Courtney lost 4, followed by Irene who lost 2. Uh-oh. Moses lost 6, but then Marci and Kaylee had to lose 5 pounds each. Not likely. Marci lost 0 pounds. I mean, Dr. H had told her she already reached her goal weight and that she had to now focus on adding muscle. Could Kaylee lost 10 pounds? Nope, she GAINED 2 pounds, giving the group 49 pounds lost and sending someone home.

So of course, Marci was the one who stepped up and said she wanted to go home, and it made sense all the way around as Kaylee still had some pounds to shed. She had wanted to go home last week, but had immunity on her team after losing 5 pounds. But with no more weight to lose, why stay?

Courtney, naturally, voted for Kaylee, since she couldn’t write her mom’s name down. Moses voted for Marci. Then Jen voted for Kaylee. Are you kidding me? I didn’t listen to her reasoning, because I was dumbfounded. But then Hannah, Olivia, Irene, Rulon and Justin all voted for Marci, and she was ultimately going home. So Marci went home and continued to work out and she looks great. And even if it will be difficult for her to win the at-home prize of $100K, Marci has already won.

So after all of the feel-good stuff this week, next week someone that was elminated gets to come back. Uh-oh. That should make for good TV, if anything. Thanks for reading and see you all next week…

Last night on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” host Alison Sweeney told both the red and black teams that they would have to each choose a captain for the week. The red team chose Justin and the black team chose Marci. The captains then met with Alison and she informed them that they would choose one person who would be allowed in the kitchen for the week (and cook for everyone else) and they had to choose two people to work out with the trainers, while everyone else had to find alternate ways to exercise.

The black team chose Olivia to cook and the red team chose Ken; and for the gym, the black team had Hannah and Sarah and the red team Kaylee and Ken. So Ken was doing both? Okay.

Then for the main challenge, the teams had to participate in a 100-yard obstacle course in the mud, without their feet touching the ground…..so on tires. It was weird. But if anyone from the team touched the ground, they had to go back to the previous obstacle. This was one of the oddest challenges on the show. But anyway, the black team won, mostly because the red team kept having to retreat as both Moses and Ken touched the ground at different times. The black team’s prize was $6K to split!

Then after the last chance workouts, it was time for the weigh-in. The red team went first. Justin lost 8 pounds; Rulon lost 8; Moses lost 8; Kaylee lost 5; Austin 6 and Ken lost 9. Their total was 2.61 percent which would be tough for the black team to beat.

Marci lost 5, and so did Courtney and Irene. Sarah lost 4, but then Olivia and Hannah lost 2 each, and Jen lost just 1 pound. Yikes. Their total was 1.76 percent. So of course Marci would try and have her team eliminate her, but she wound up with immunity with the highest percentage of weight loss on her team. So who would it be? This was an interesting vote for sure.

Marci went first and voted for Olivia, then Hannah, Jen and Courtney all voted for Sarah. Sarah voted for Jen, but then Olivia voted for Sarah, and that was that. Sarah was one of those contestants that you never felt like she was giving it her all most of the time, and that probably factored in here. So they showed her at home, and she looks great, having gone from 261 pounds to start, down to 169! Good for her, and we’ll see her at the finale.

But I was bummed the red team won this weigh-in, because I wanted so bad for them to have vote someone from their large alliance off. Maybe next week, and we’ll see you back here then….