The big, ugly thing known as Gameplay has reared its ugly head again on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser.” Last night, just when I thought the contestants were playing the game for the right reasons, they proved me wrong again. Ugh.
First off, everyone was shown as upset with Joelle at the start of the show, because she had shown the week before that she, out of anyone there, did not want to put the effort in to lose weight like everyone else. And then when two very likeable contestants, Dan and Jerry, fell below Joelle at the weigh-in, everyone seemed pissed off that they had to choose between those two rather than Joelle. Meanwhile, they showed some of the at-home contestants, and Dan’s partner Dave was shown eating a piece of fried chicken. Last week it was a couple of hot dogs. What goes on off-camera, Dave? Dude is sabotaging his team, and I have a bad feeling about that.
Then came the temptation challenge, where a contestant (and their teammate at home) could eat some pizza or other equally calorie-dense item, or eat nothing. The team who ate the most calories would “win” the prize of having their trainer give their team some one-on-one training for a few days. Of course, you should be considered a “winner” if you eat nothing. Carla, Joelle’s best friend and partner back in Detroit, ate 2710 calories, while Joelle ate nothing. But it was enough to get a win, and to have Bob Harper travel with Joelle to Detroit to train the gray team. This was humorous, because Bob has been having trouble whipping Joelle into shape to begin with, but Carla, who is very fiery, was getting angry that Joelle did not mirror her fire and desire to win.
