Last night on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” it hit me. There were 8 contestants remaining, and this season is dragging on like no other season before. It feels like we’re all trudging through the mud. But there was an interesting twist again. The show began with host Alison Sweeney offering up a temptation challenge. For this one day, the kitchen was closed and the contestants had to eat in this one room where there was healthy food as well as really unhealthy food. Whoever consumed the most calories this day would have the only vote at the weigh in, assuming that person didn’t fall below the yellow line. If they did, the voting would be like it normally is.

Koli consumed 4164 calories, making sure he won by a mile, and he did. Most of the others just ate healthy like they have been so far. Naturally, Bob and Jillian were pissed at Koli, but they helped him work off the calories. And Koli’s reasoning was he wanted to make sure Sam didn’t get voted off this week. Still, eating that many calories was risky.

Then came the main challenge, in which the contestants had to pile up colored bricks in order to make a “ladder” and then they had to climb a real ladder that was suspended in mid air and grab a flag at the top. The winner would have a 1 pound advantage this week while the person who came in last would have a 1 pound disadvantage. Daris won the challenge and O’Neal, because he fell and hurt his knee, finished last. But he came back after a short hospital visit.

Then the contestants were shuttled to the beach where they had a grueling, intense workout led by volleyball star Gabi Reese. Is that woman seven feet tall? Man, she’s big! But she sure can lead a workout.

O’Neal’s week then got worse when he found out his brother, who had been suffering from cancer, passed away. Jillian and Bob helped him cope and helped him take out his frustration and sadness in workout fashion.

Then, after forwarding through the last chance workout (sorry NBC), it was time to weigh in. Koli went first and lost 10 pounds, securing the likelihood of his having the only vote. Daris was next and lost 7 pounds, or 8, considering he won an extra pound in the challenge. Mike lost 5 pounds and Ashley 4. Sam lost 6, all but guaranteeing he would not be below the yellow line. Victoria lost 1 pound, all but assuring she WOULD be below the line. O’Neal was next, and you know all of America was pulling for the guy. He lost 8 pounds, or 7, considering his one pound penalty. Sunshine was up last, and she lost just 1 pound, putting her and Victoria below the line. Yikes, would O’Neal’s week become worse?

Well, Koli had his vote and he felt kind of bad that he had to choose between Sunshine and Victoria, but since everyone in the house now is not really a game player, you kind of knew he’d choose Victoria. And he did, citing that she hasn’t quite given 100% effort lately in the gym. She was taken aback, but Koli was right.

Victoria went home to Texas and has so far gone from 358 pounds to 240. Good for her! But now we are down to the final 7….the teams of Koli and Sam, O’Neal and Sunshine…and Michael, Ashley and Daris.
I think Daris is a dark horse here and would be a likable champion…but there are several episodes left. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of this season dragging, and I hope it doesn’t wind up going into June like the NBA playoffs!

See you next week everyone, and thanks for reading….

After a three-week hiatus due to NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics, “The Biggest Loser” returned with a bang last night, with lots of controversy. First, you may remember that they left us hanging three weeks ago with Cheryl and Darrell hanging on in squat position balancing an Olympic torch replica. Darrell’s knees finally gave out, and he went home, with Cheryl remaining on campus.

Then, host Alison Sweeney announced that the teams would no longer be couples but would be broken up into blue vs. black. They do this every season and it doesn’t get any less annoying. Really, do they have to keep confusing us and messing with the show’s format? Alison then announced the initial challenge, which would give one person control in the game. But first, before they agreed to play a game of Memory, they had to agree to the fact that with the game came the possibility of eating a lot of calories, mostly in the form of chocolate chip cookies that were worth 100 calories each. Behind each memory card were food items, and behind two of them were golden tickets that would determine the game’s winner. The only two that stepped forward to play were Michael and Andrea. After the game went back and forth, and after both consumed way more calories than they wanted to, Michael won…despite eating 2310 calories worth of cookies and other junk. He was then given the right to choose the teams, and he also would have the power to give immunity this week to either himself or to one other player.

Michael chose Sam, Cheryl, Drea, Stephanie, Sherry and Ashley for the black team and to train with Jillian, while he chose Koli, Daris, Lance, Miggy, Sunshine and himself for the blue team to train with Bob. He gave O’Neal immunity, putting himself on a strong team instead of giving himself immunity. Next week, O’Neal would join the team that eliminated someone this week. Michael’s strategy was to put the potential big weight losers on one team, and making the black team weak and vulnerable. In the process, he broke up several teams and showed favoritism to Lance and Miggy.

The trainers were pissed, especially Jillian, who was left to coach a team that didn’t have much of a chance to lose weight like the blue team did. Well, on paper anyway. Then the first challenge as blue vs. black was to raise their team colored banner up a huge building. The winning team would receive letters from home. Blue won, as you would expect looking at them all.

Then they had Dr. H meet with some of the contestants to track their progress, and I admit I skipped through both this and the last chance workout. Blah, blah, blah. Then came the weight in….

O’Neal had immunity so he went first, and lost 9 pounds, or 2.77%. Not bad at all, but he had immunity so they wiped him off the board. Then it was the blue team…..Michael went first and lost 15 pounds, now having lost 109 pounds in just 7 weeks! Sunshine lost 7, Lance lost 5, Miggy lost 4 and was furious with herself for letting the team down. Daris lost 7 pounds and then Koli lost 10. The blue team in all lost 48 pounds, or 2.7%. Not bad at all, and the black team then had to lost 39 pounds to win.

Andrea was first and lost 5 pounds, followed by Cheryl with 4 and Sherry with 6. Then came the big guns….Sam lost 8, Stephanie 8 and then Ashley lost 10 pounds! That gave them 41 pounds lost, or 2.82%….and the victory. The blue team was devastated, as Michael’s dream team didn’t come through. But lucky for him, since he had the highest percentage of weight loss on his team, he could not be eliminated. Instead, it would likely come down to the two worst performers this week–Lance and Miggy. Both of them pleaded with their teammates to stay.

Then after Lance and Daris voted for Miggy, Miggy and Michael voted for Lance, tying it up. Then Sunshine and Koli voted for Miggy and it was her that went home. Whew, you could feel the stress level in the house drop immediately! Miggy has lost 41 pounds, down from 240 to 179, and is training at home with Nicole from Season 7. Good for her. She is also meditating to ease her own stress levels.

Then they showed Darrell at home, and he has lost 120 pounds, down from 413 to 293. Good for him too!

So now with Michael having made a few enemies, there is some lingering bitterness among the black team, but the blue team is strong and even stronger now with O’Neal. Should be interesting to see how it all plays out. I like Michael’s overall chances but he’s playing the game a bit too much and that always winds up biting these contestants in the butt.

What do you think? Let me know below and see you all next week!

Every season on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” the producers have a way of changing things up to the point of having us all scratch our heads. Last night there was more of that, though some of the curves came from natural causes. The first of those was at the start of the episode when Miggy had to call 911 in the middle of the night due to abdominal pain, and was rushed to the hospital.

Then came the return of the blue and yellow teams, who would weigh in to determine which team was coming back to the ranch. The other contestants had no idea that one team would return after 30 days, so they were all surprised and kind of nervous. Host Allison Sweeney instructed the blue and yellow teams to go and weigh in, but instead they were met in the gym by Bob and Jillian, who put them through a last chance workout.

Before they weighed in, Allison announced that not only would the winning team come back to the ranch, but that they would also have immunity the first week. To make things more interesting, they would also have the only elimination vote at the main weigh in. Wow, now that’s a curveball, and one that really made everyone else worried.

The blue team of Cherita and Vicky went first and they lost 24 and 39 pounds, respectively, for a total of 63 pounds, or 9.92%. Damn. So next was the yellow team of Sunshine and O’Neal. Gotta love that someone named Sunshine is on the yellow team, huh? Anyway, they lost 25 and 51 pounds, respectively, for a whopping 76 pounds or 11.45%. Good for them, but sad for the blue team, who took the loss in stride.

During regular workouts, Bob was really pushing Melissa, and Jillian was pushing Daris through some self-esteem issues. Then they had product placement with Jennie-O turkey, as Bob cooked them all some chili.

After that came the main challenge, and since it’s Super Bowl week in real time, the task would be to push a tackling machine back and forth, and the first player to push 1000 times won. The teams with two players would have to choose one to participate and one to be a cheerleader. But this was a valuable challenge to win, because the prize was immunity. Yikes…that makes two teams immune this week. Also, the team that came in last would have a 2-pound disadvantage at the weigh in. Well, after the red and gray teams battled, Michael of the white team cranked it up and put all of his almost 500 pounds behind it and came away with the victory. The losing team was the pink team.

Then Miggy returned, and announced that she had her appendix taken out, as well as a huge cyst in her abdomen. Yikes. And Dr. H told Miggy she could only walk for exercise, and also that they injected her body with salt water, which would put about 8-9 extra pounds on her. Not good.

Meanwhile, John, who had been working out mostly in a pool, finally worked out in the gym with everyone else and was happy to do so. Then Jillan was shown pushing Ashley harder than ever, and found out that Ashley was holding in some baggage about her dad that passed away when she was young.

After the last chance workout, it was time to weigh in. Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell NBC how pissed I am that they ran half of last week’s episode at 7pm CST, opposite “American Idol.” Since I blog Idol too, I couldn’t watch Loser on TiVo delay….I had to watch it with all the commercials, making the 45 minute weigh-in just agonizing. Thanks NBC, thanks for nothing!

So the yellow team and Michael went first, since all three of them were immune. Sunshine and O’Neal each lost 5 pounds. Not great, but not bad. Michael lost 13 pounds, and has now lost 83 pounds in 5 weeks. If he reaches 100 pounds next week, he will break Rudy’s record of 100 pounds in 7 weeks set last seaon. Good for him.

Then the pink team went, and lost 15 pounds total, and 13 with the 2 pound penalty. That was good for 2.54%. The red team of Melissa and Lance lost 5 and 4 pounds, respectively, for 9 pounds total and 1.73%. That made the pink team safe and made the red team very nervous. Orange was next, and while Cheryl lost just 3 pounds, Daris dropped 12, giving them 15 pounds lost and 3.05%.

Next up was Stephanie of the purple team, who lost 5 pounds, or 2.17%. The gray team of Sam and Koli lost 10 and 6 pounds, or 2.42%. But Koli was bummed he only lost 6 when he expects double digits each week. Easy, dude! The black team of Andrea and Darrell weighed in with 5 and 8 pounds lost, or 13 total and 2.10%. All that remained to weigh in were Miggy and John, and the red team was still facing possible elimination.

Miggy, who has been walking like crazy, lost 5 pounds, or 2.37%, to remain on the ranch. Mrs. Mike and I both felt they should have given her a pass this week, but I’m glad she was able to drop 5 pounds and stay on campus. Finally it was John of the brown team. John had to lose 7 pounds, and Bob had announced in the gym that he expected the time in said gym to translate to a big number. Well, no, it didn’t…John lost just 6 pounds, and while he has lost 63 pounds off his 400-pound plus frame, it wasn’t enough this week. And since he was the only remaining brown team member, John was instantly eliminated without the yellow team having to make a decision.

It really does suck that someone that heavy who needs to be there went home at this stage, but that’s how the game is played…and the producers continually remind us that this surely is a game. But for John, it’s been good at home…he’s gone from 484 pounds down to 380, so he’s lost 104 pounds all told so far. I have a feeling either he or his brother James will win the $100K at-home prize.

So that’s it…..weird things happening at the ranch, and if you asked me who I thought might win it all, I don’t think I could tell you at this point. It’s really pretty much wide open. What do you think? Let me know in the space below, and thanks for reading!

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.

Then it was time for the first challenge, and host Alison Sweeney describing the premise of the competition this week. It would be “teacher/student” week, meaning each team would consist of a teacher and a student, and that only the teachers would have access to trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels, while the students would then be trained by the “teachers.” What’s more, only the weight of the students would count at the weigh in. To determine who would be who for each team, the challenge was to eat M&M’s and whoever devoured the most of them would get to pick the teachers and students. Only Sherry of the pink team and Michael of the white team moved forward to eat the M&M’s but they didn’t feel right about it. As a result, Sherry won by eating just two candies for a total of 10 calories. Her and daughter Ashley were then not thrilled about having to choose the teams, but it was one of those “be careful what you wish for” moments.

Anyway, here is how they chose–teachers were Andrea, Stephanie, Sam, Melissa, Cheryl, Migdalia, Michael, and Sherry; students were Darrell, John (her and Stephanie were teammates this week since their partners had been eliminated), Koli, Lance, Daris, Miggy, Maria and Ashley.

Then they all had a cooking lesson from celebrity chef Curtis Stone. After that, they showed Jillian training Migdalia, who was clearly angry about something. Jillian couldn’t get her to open up, so just kept pushing her buttons until finally Migdalia walked out and threatened to quit the show. After Jillian tried to use Miggy to convince Migdalia not to quit, Bob intervened and knew just what to say to get her to stay. Let’s all get our violins out!

Then there was one of the weirdest challenges the show has ever produced. Each team had to have one member take a large roll of ribbon the color of their team, and wrap it around various parts of a playground. Then, members of the other teams would have to unravel them. So some of them made their ribbons extremely difficult to unravel on purpose, and were shocked to hear Alison tell them that their teammates would be the ones unraveling their color. Snap! But to make it worse, the ones unraveling would be blindfolded and their teammate would have to guide them verbally. Yikes. The gray team won, and their main prize was immunity at the weigh in. Their secondary prize was to be able to switch out one team’s student and force the teacher to weigh in instead. They would announce that at the weigh in, meaning that no one could slack off. Well, in theory, anyway.

After the last chance workout, it was time to weigh in. The gray team announced that they were switching Michael and Maria of the white team, because they felt Michael had not been giving it 100% during the week, and of all the contestants, he should have been, because he started as the heaviest contestant in the show’s history. Michael was pissed, but we could surely ask him how bad he wants this.

The gray team weighed in first and though they had immunity, we know they are on the ranch for the right reasons. They lost 11 and 13 pounds, for a total of 24.

The green team of Miggy and Migdalia was next, and only Miggy’s weight would count, but they lost 8 and 7 pounds, respectively. Miggy’s 7 pounds was a 3.2% weight loss.

Next up, the black team. Andrea lost 7 pounds while Darrell lost 12, giving them 3.22% and putting them above the green team. Orange was next, and Cheryl lost 7 pounds while Daris lost 9, putting them below the yellow line for the moment with 2.9%.

Then came Stephanie and John, with Stephanie losing 7 pounds and John losing 14,or 3.10% and keeping them both safe for the week. The Red team was next, and Melissa lost just one pound while Lane lost 12, giving them a 3.57% weight loss. Remember that last week Melissa was playing the game because they had immunity, and she had gained a pound. So while she acted all shocked, Bob and Jillian called Melissa out, and she and Bob even got into a shouting match. If you do the math, Bob and Jillian were correct, because you can’t work out as much as they do and then put up numbers like that unless you are taking in like 7000 calories a day or something crazy like that. Sorry Melissa, we all know you’re full of crap too. Then again, it had to be risky considering the power of the gray team to switch them.

The white team was next, and Maria lost 4 pounds while Michael lost 10, which for him was only good for 2.08%. Of course, I don’t know what Maria’s percentage would have been, but I’m pretty sure 4 pounds would have also put them below the line if they had counted her weight instead.

Then the pink team was up, and Sherry lost 6 pounds while daughter Ashley lost 12, giving them a 3.48% mark and second place, and putting the white team below the yellow line.

So everyone would have to vote to send either Michael or Maria home. Maria pleaded with them all to send her home because Michael needed to be there more. I can see that, but they all hoped Michael saw it also. And while John was still pissed about Michael slacking off, and he voted for him to be sent home, everyone else voted for Maria, including the gray team, who told Michael they only wanted to teach him a lesson and make him appreciate why he was there.

Meanwhile, Maria went home and has so far lost 51 pounds, down from 281 to 230. What’s more, she has gotten over her fear of water, and is taking swimming lessons. Good for her!

Now, we have some good old-fashioned dissension brewing. How much will Migdalia and Michael want it now, or will they continue to be bitter? And how will Melissa get along with Bob and Jillian now they called her out for being a liar? I know the producers are licking their chops, and I have to admit it’s all pretty intriguing now!

See you all next week…

Host Alison Sweeney starts out by visiting the ranch, and if she is visiting the contestants in the house, they know a curveball is being thrown. As you might expect, it’s a “pop” challenge, one that can win a contestant 24 hours with a loved one from home. What they had to do was stand on a block, on one foot. Mike and Ron were the first ones out, and I’m pretty sure Ron was out in 15 seconds. One by one they couldn’t hold on, and it was down to both yellow team members, Mandi and Aubrey, as well as Filipe and Blaine. Mandi, who wanted to see her husband so bad, asked Filipe and Blaine to step off, and they both did because, well, they’re good guys. So did Mandi’s sister Aubrey. Mandi’s trainer, Jillian Michaels, however, was not happy with the fact that Mandi would miss a day of workouts to hang with her husband (and kids, as it turned out). But Mandi vowed it wouldn’t be a distraction.

Bob Harper, the other trainer, told the brown team they needed to eat more calories in order to burn more, something they had been hard-wired not to do. Then Bob was shown doing yoga with his team, which he said is a better workout than most people might think….and that it helps build mental focus. Remember I just wrote that, okay? Jillian, meanwhile, was having trouble keeping green teamer Laura focused, until she threatened to have Tara slap her in the face every time she lost focus. Yikes, but it worked.

Then came the main challenge, and this was for immunity this week. Yes, they are in Los Angeles, but at night it can get chilly there too. So Alison had the teams hang on bars for as long as they could…first with two hands, then with one hand after one hour. Well, this thing went on for hours, and I do mean hours….almost five. It came down to the green team of Tara and Laura, along with the purple team of Kristin and Cathy. They flashed back to two earlier challenges that Tara won over Kristin, and two very strong-willed opponents were at it again. But this time, Tara had Laura dragging her down, and Laura finally lost her grip. So the purple team had immunity this week…and you have to believe it was due in part to the concentration they had gained from doing yoga.

At the last chance workout, Aubrey was crying because while she was happy Mandi got to see her family, she missed her husband and kids as well. Then it came time to weigh in. But first, another twist…Alison announced that just one team would fall below the yellow line this week and that one of the two members of that team would be voted off. So as they usually do on this show, they are making it an individual competition now. I mean, do the math…they want this season to extend into May along with “American Idol” on Fox.

So first Cathy and Kristin weighed in, and Kristin was so excited because last week she was 301 pounds, and she was hoping to be under 300 for the first time in like eight years. Uh-oh. She gained two pounds while her mom Cathy lost 2. You might call gameplay here since they had immunity, but I’m telling you, Kristin wanted to lost those 2 pounds so badly that no one sensed gameplay and I didn’t either. There are no Vickies this season, at least as far as I can tell. Helen and Shannon lost 10; Tara and Laura 14, including 11 by Tara, who keeps pulling double digits; Sione and Filipe 21, causing Filipe to do one of his patened “woo-hoos;” Blaine and Dane lost 9; Mandi and Aubrey 7, including 6 pounds by Mandi, who Jillian was worried about; and finally Ron and Mike lost 18 pounds, 13 by Mike, which pleased Bob immensely.

So Blaine and Dane were below the line, and one of them was going home. Blaine, who had finally dropped below 300 pounds, pleaded with the other teams to send him home to see his family, including his new baby. The teams all argued back and forth about either doing “the right thing” by granting Blaine his wish, or sending Dane home because he was more of a threat to everyone else in the game. Some of them were adamant about doing the right thing, but some of those who argued that were the same ones who voted Damien off a few weeks ago while keeping Joelle in another week. So everyone else was skeptical, and so was I at this point.

But then while the pink team voted for Dane, everyone else voted for Blaine….at least the next four teams did, which was enough votes. Yep, I do believe the gameplay is not going to rear its ugly head, at least not yet, because there are too many good-hearted contestants in the game this season. As far as Helen and Shannon, I think they made some enemies last night by voting for Dane. That, and as Mrs. Mike pointed out, Shannon is such a whiner.

Meanwhile, Blaine was shown at home and is training for an Iron Man competition. He’s also lost 88 pounds to date. Folks, I would put money down on Blaine right now winning the $100K….an Iron Man competition? That is serious! Anyway, this should get interesting now. See you all next week…and don’t forget, Bob Harper wants you to load up on carbs before training for the Iron Man!