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!

I have to ask as I do occasionally. Does “The Biggest Loser” HAVE to be two hours long every week? Last night, I swear, there were commercials between each contestant’s weigh in. Well, not really, but between every team for sure…..and there was just so much fluff and stalling for time, while this show could have been easily 90 minutes long and maybe even one hour. But thankfully I watched it on DVR delay and skipped the crazy amounts of commercials.

They began with a challenge, where the contestants had to walk a mile and place a flag on where they thought was the exact spot that constituted one mile. There were markers all over the place, but they had to put a flag on the marker they thought was the mile marker. They also only had 15 minutes to do so. The winning team won a night of luxury in Hollywood, while the other three teams had to clean the campus. It was sort of like a “Hell’s Kitchen” type prize and penalty. Well, the black team of Hannah, Jay and Rulon won…even after Hannah’s complaining the whole way that they were approaching the challenge wrong. Ha!

Then Jillian had a chat with Rulon about the fact that he scarfed down a bag of chips late at night and was caught on camera. Dude feels like he deserves something like that after working so hard, but dude…..eat like that when you’re not trying to win a quarter of a million dollars! Jillian told him so but was not mean about it whatsoever.

Then after showing the black team out on the town and a lengthy last-chance workout, it was time to weigh in. Hannah went first and lost 4 pounds, while Jay lost 6 and Rulon 7.

The blue team went next and Olivia lost 2, Moses 7 and Irene 6–they had to lose 14 to stay in contention and they lost 15. So they were all safe while the black team was not.

The green team was next–Ken lost 4 pounds, but Kaylee lost just 1 pound and Austin 2. Uh-oh. The black team was safe and the green team was not with only Courtney of the red team to weigh in. She had to lose only 2 pounds to stay at the ranch, and with Brett working her like crazy, that was very likely. But she has struggled the last few weeks to lose more than 2-3 pounds. So then………wait, there is a commercial…..okay we’re back……Courtney lost 1 pound. Yikes. So she was automatically eliminated and the green team was safe.

Courtney was totally cool about it…..saying she was mentally prepared and could easily do this at home along with her mom, who was eliminated a few weeks ago. But this also meant Brett’s season was over. But Bob, Jillian and Cara were all standing there with their mouths open, and Bob was clearly angry. Hey, she lost fair and square, so I don’t know what the big deal was about–there was no gameplay at all. But they were upset because Courtney still has a long way to go while some contestants, like Kaylee and Hannah, appear to have reached their goals.

So Courtney went home and announced that she has lost 113 pounds since starting her journey on the show–but she also lost over 100 pounds before she even stepped foot on campus, because the show had inspired her so much at home. So she is now down to 210 pounds and I, for one, am so happy for Courtney. But what’s more, since her parents own a Dairy Queen franchise and she works there, Courtney brought in a regional rep and is trying to help change the DQ menu to include some healthy options. Good for her! And good for DQ for the product placement that provided.

So we’re down to three teams and nine contestants altogether. And wow, Brett’s red team were eliminated clean-sweep style the last three weeks. Too bad for him, but that’s how the tortilla chip crumbles (sorry, Rulon!). 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….

I’ve long thought that the producers of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” try too hard to manipulate the game itself, and last night they went way too far in doing so. The more I think about it, the more clear it becomes that last night’s challenge was a ploy to have Arthur, the so-called “unhealthiest” contestant in the show’s history, sent packing–or more to the point, figuring out a way to have the evil red team send him home.

It began innocently enough, as the contestants were told at the start of the episode that they would be going home for two weeks to return to normal life for a bit, and then return to a 5K challenge. The contestants, based on how they finished in the 5K, would get to choose their trainers–i.e., if they wanted to stay on their team or switch teams. Now think about that for a second. How did they think that would turn out? Arthur would finish last and be forced to switch teams, because there had to be at least one red team member that would switch to the black team–Jen, who knew her days were numbered with the red team’s “alliance.”

Anyway, more on that in a minute. They showed them all going home, and it was pretty cool to see, especially when Austin had to celebrate his 21st birthday at a bowling alley with friends, and resisted the urge to eat pizza and cheesecake and drink beer. Good for him. They also showed Courtney working in her family’s ice-cream shop and eating a salad in the back for lunch.

Then it was time to return to the ranch and the contestants had to participate in the 5K on treadmills. Sarah was going very slowly, because she wanted to be the one without a choice for some reason. Whatever. Justin finished first, followed by Rulon, Kaylee, Jen and Austin. A red-team top 5. Marci was next, followed by Olivia, Hannah, Moses, Irene, Courtney, and Ken. So it was down to Sarah and Arthur, and Arthur had a lead, until Justin decided he wanted Arthur to finish last, so he went and encouraged Sarah to speed up, and so did most of the others, who were annoyed by Sarah’s indifference. Sarah won, and Arthur finished last, of course.

So before the weigh-in, each contestant came in to the room wearing a jacket, and shed their jacket to reveal which team they wanted to be on going forward. Justin, Rulon and Kaylee all chose to stay on the red team. Well, duh. Jen switched back to the black team. Well, duh. Austin stayed red, and Marci, Olivia and Hannah stayed black. Moses stayed red, Irene stayed black, Courtney stayed black and Ken stayed Red. Up came Sarah, and her decision was crucial. She stayed on the black team, meaning Arthur was forced to join the red team. As he came in sporting his new red shirt, Arthur was in tears because he knew he’d be going home as soon as his team lost a weigh-in, which could be immediately.

Really, producers? Really????? Of course you knew the red hillbilly alliance led by Justin and Rulon would get rid of Arthur if their team lost a weigh-in. But I digress. On to the weigh-in….

Jen lost 14 pounds, Irene 10, Hannah 11, Olivia 12, Courtney 10, Marci 14 and Sarah 10. All double-digit weight loss, which was awesome. Then the red team went….Rulon lost a whopping 17 pounds, followed by Austin with 10. But Ken and Moses lost just 5 pounds each, and Kaylee lost just 1 pound. Yikes. You could see Arthur’s face reddening. Just lost 8 pounds, and so Arthur’s only hope was to be granted immunity if he lost the most weight on his team. Arthur had to lose 18 pounds, and he’s put up numbers like that before. But alas, he lost just 16 pounds, and immediately began to cry and then made himself stop crying, instead talking about the fact that he would keep on his journey at home.

But Jillian shouted “No!” and asked Arthur why he wasn’t fighting to stay. Bob chimed in, saying this should never be about the game and he hoped the red team would think twice about their “alliance” and keep Arthur on campus.

So they had the big red hillbilly Justin go first, and after giving this speech about Arthur and even stated, “No more finishing last for you, Arthur,” I thought for a split second that he and his teammates had a collective heart. But then Justin added, “But I had to vote for ya, buddy.” Wow. What a douche. Of course, Rulon also voted for Arthur, because an alliance is an alliance–yeeeeeeeee haaawwwwwww! Arthur voted for Ken, but that didn’t matter. Kaylee voted for Arthur, which means Moses voted for Arthur, and that was that. What pisses me off beyond the fact that this was a horrible moral decision, is the fact that Kaylee, despite losing just one pound and maybe being the healthiest contestant there, got to stay.

Well, as Mrs. Mike pointed out, this is going to come back to bite them in the collective red ass. And the problem now, is that the alliance is all that is left–meaning, they will have to start voting off their own. Unless the producers decide to make it all individuals now, which is entirely possible.

Ugh. About once a season I get so disgusted with the game portion of this show, but I’m more pissed now than ever about this, which was a blatant cry for ratings and controversy. You producers should be just as ashamed as the red team should be this morning.

Okay, so there you have it. Arthur, of course, went home and lost another 50 pounds or so to date, and is down to 345 pounds, which is amazing considering he once was over 600 pounds. I sure hope this guy wins the at-home prize of $100K. I also hope there is a red line next week and that Justin falls below it. Alliance, schmalliance.

Off soapbox, see you all next week….