As this season’s “Biggest Loser” on NBC hurtles toward its conclusion, I think we can agree on two things. One, the season has dragged on to epic proportions. And two, the alliances of the yellow team and gray team have gotten a bit out of hand. With that, here is how it all went down last night……

The show began with a clip of last week’s elimination (Victoria) and then host Allison Sweeney telling Koli and Sunshine that everyone would be invited back in for an announcement. That is, that the remaining seven contestants would be headed to Texas this week to help train and educated a population that has the most obese citizens per capita. They would be interviewed on radio stations and then lead anyone who cared to participate in a 5K run at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. There were a few inspiring stories among those who came down, and maybe some inadvertent casting for next season.

Still in Texas, Daris gathered Mike and Ashley to climb the stairs in their hotel for a workout. Daris then mentioned that he was feeling like the three of them had to form an alliance because the bond between the yellow team of O’Neal and Sunshine and gray team of Sam and Koli were very strong, not just as couples but tight with each other. And he was right. Mrs. Mike mentioned how she’s tired of Sunshine and O’Neal sticking up for each other, and to a lesser degree, Sam and Koli, and I admitted at that point she was right. I began to think in terms of pulling for anyone named Daris, Ashley or Mike.

For the main challenge, the contestants had to literally herd cattle into cages. Not huge cows, but calves. That looked like really hard work, and something I hope I never have to do! The prize for herding the most cattle was immunity. Ugh, who among you isn’t tired of immunity being a prize? Anyway, naturally Sunshine tried to herd cattle for O’Neal, and Koli did it for Sam since Sam helped save Koli last week. When Mike realized he wasn’t going to win, he and Ashley began helping Daris. Good for them! But it wasn’t enough as Koli won immunity.

For the last chance workout that we mostly forwarded through, Bob Harper was pushing everyone way harder than usual, prompting a heated exchange between Bob and Mike. But they got through it.

At the weigh in, Koli went first and lost one pound. He was trying to hide the fact that he was smirking, but he couldn’t do it. I mean, dude pulled a Melissa! He talked about how he worked so hard all week, blah blah blah, but of course he didn’t mention the fact that he probably chugged three gallons of water before weighing in. Man, I hate when they pull this crap. Then again, it’s a quarter of a million dollar prize we’re talking about here.

Sam was next and lost 6 pounds, followed by Sunshine with 4. O’Neal lost 5 and that immediately put both yellow team members below the yellow line for the time being. Mike was next and lost a whopping 15 pounds, putting him at 343 pounds, a 183 pound weight loss to date. Wow. Daris lost 5 pounds and Ashley 6, confirming that O’Neal and Sunshine were below the line together and that one of them would be voted off this week. Thank goodness! We forwarded through Sunshine’s tears…I’m sorry, but that whole act was getting far too annoying. O’Neal pleaded with everyone to send him home, and with this group you had to believe they would grant his wish….and they did. It was unanimous, in fact. O’Neal went home and they showed him having lost 139 pounds total, down from 389 to a svelte 250.

So now we’re down to six–Sam, Koli, Sunshine, Ashley, Mike and Daris.
I hope one of the gray team goes home next week, and that’s more likely now that the alliances seem to be evenly split. It sure is going to get interesting as we head toward the finale.

What do you all think? Did Koli throw the weigh in? Who do you like? I am pulling for Mike or Daris, and maybe Ashley. But it sure is a wide open competition now. See you all next week…

Thanks to the NCAA basketball tournament for giving us the term “Final Four,” because now it’s used in every walk of tournament life. Same with NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” which reached the final four of this season last night.

The episode began with the final five–Rudy, Allen, Liz, Amanda and Danny–talking about Rebecca having been eliminated and now Amanda was afraid she no longer had allies. Then CNBC finance personality Suzy Orman made a guest appearance and talked about how obesity is costing our nation and individuals so much money….really, almost as much or more than cancer. Yikes. They had a challenge in which they walked on treadmills while answering quetsions about how obesity relates to money. Pretty scary stuff! If they got a question correct, they would earn $1000, but if they got it wrong, their speed on the treadmill would increase.

Then came the main challenge, and this one was a football challenge featuring former NFL Pro Bowler Rod Woodson. They would, as they do each season around this time, have to run with footballs representing the weight they’ve shed, until all of that weight was shed, and the person who finished first won. That would be Allen, and his prize was $5K to the school of his choice for sporting equipment. He chose is daughter’s school in Indiana.

Then after watching Danny play guitar and sing a song he wrote about his journey on the show (which wasn’t half-bad, by the way), it was time for the last chance workout and then the weigh in. The winner of the weigh in would have celebrity chef Curtis Stone come to their house in the time between the taping and the finale to help show how to cook healthy meals.

Liz went first and lost 5 pounds, but she was at 198, under 200 for the first time. Rudy went next and lost 12, giving him 146 pounds lost in 11 weeks, a Biggest Loser record. And he was likely safe. Allen went next and lost 8 pounds, putting him in danger of falling below the yellow line. Danny was next…..and he lost a whopping 16 pounds. Holy crap. He was now down to 288, first time under 300 and he set the record with seven straight weeks of double digit weight loss. Good for him and I still hope he wins. Amanda went last, and she knew she needed to stay above the line or she was headed home. She lost 7 pounds, and that kept her safe and in the final four with Rudy and Danny.

So it was down to Liz and Allen, and everyone remaining liked both of them, so this was tough. But we knew Danny and her had a special alliance from being teammates, and Rudy was going to vote to keep Allen there. So the swing vote was Amanda. Allen pulled her aside and pleaded his case, telling Amanda that Liz was a bigger threat to win.

At the judgement table, naturally Rudy voted to eliminate Allen and Rudy to send Liz home, while Amanda had the deciding vote. In the end, she voted to send Allen home, and said she had more of a bond with Liz and thought that having Liz in the final four would push her more. So Allen would not be the Biggest Loser.

They showed Allen at home and he lost another 10 pounds, putting him at 220 and not really giving him much more to lose. But he looks great.

So your final four is Liz, Amanda, Danny and Rudy. Quite honestly, this is probably between Danny and Rudy, as they have been big losers all season and still have the most to lose. But hey, Helen surprised us all last season so Liz or Amanda could do the same. But please, for the love of G-d, can we stop with the “America voted me in” stuff from Amanda? Mrs. Mike correctly pointed out that NOBODY remembers who Amanda was up against in last season’s finale. Seriously, Amanda, enough.

And I guess I was incorrect about them bringing someone back on to the show…it’s down to these four and we will have some hand in choosing who the final three will be with phone votes. Awesome.

So here we go…two more episodes including the grand finale in two weeks. And tonight, a special two-hour treat…..a bonus episode of “where are they now?” from former contestants. That is must-see TV. See you all next week, and enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Estella lost 45 pounds, or 18.6%; David, though he looked about the same as when the season started, lost 46 pounds or 11.7%; and Nicole lost a whopping 87 pounds, or 32.34%, and was the clear winner. Not only that, Nicole has the second highest percentage of weight loss in the house now, second only to the mighty Tara. Not surprisingly, this made everyone nervous.

Then Tara was shown talking to Jillian, her trainer, telling her about the demons she faces and is afraid of when she goes home, the demons that allowed her to balloon to almost 300 pounds. But Jillian calmed her down and pointed out that Tara should be proud she recognizes the demonds and that she has confidence in Tara. Then, Ron was shown walking around the campus and experienced chest pains. He was sent to the hospital, where Dr. H took care of Ron and recommended a scope procedure to see why he was bleeding internally. Turns out it was a side effect from his gastric bypass surgery, and that Ron is fine. Whew.

Then for the main challenge, the host was Michelle, last season’s winner. The challenge was to balance on 40 ropes suspended above a pool. The ropes would be cut one by one, leaving them to balance as best they could. The winner would have a one-pound advantage at the weigh in. Amazingly, Tara did not win…in fact, she dropped in the pool with three or four of the others still competing. Mrs. Mike doesn’t agree, but I think Tara took a dive, because she didn’t want anymore bad blood between her and the field. Then it came down to Sione and Kristin, and Sione was staring Kristin down because he wanted to win so badly, and he did.

Then, after the last chance workout, Allison was back for the weigh in, just days after giving birth! Nicole weighed in first, and GAINED 5 pounds. Bob had mentioned that Nicole shouldn’t let the stress of being back at the ranch get to her, but it clearly did and contributed to the weight gain. So no more immunity and the likelihood that Nicole would be going back home already. Kristin lost 4 pounds, Laura gained a pound, Tara lost 6 to put her over 100 pounds of weight loss (and I actually am starting to like Tara again, just a little), Helen lost 6, Sione lost 6 but 7 with the pound advantage, Filipe lost 4, and Mike 11. Then it was Ron’s turn, and he expected to gain weight because the hospital pumped him with salt water to bring his energy back up. Ron gained 3 pounds, which wasn’t all that bad, but that put him below Laura and below the yellow line along with Nicole.

Mrs. Mike pointed out that Filipe and Sione and Kristin were shown discussing the fact that Ron was keeping his son Mikey there and that Mikey had extra “protection” that way. Interesting, but true. So clearly those three would vote to send Ron home, right? Well, it was a tough vote. Because everyone had told Nicole they were happy she was back because she challenged them all, but it wasn’t exactly fair to vote Ron off after he just spent the week in a hospital. I think they should have given him a free pass this week, but this is show biz.

Anyway, Mikey, Laura and Tara all voted for Nicole, while Filipe, Sione and Helen voted for Ron. That left Kristin with the deciding vote, and she surprised everyone by voting for Nicole…citing that Nicole was just more of a threat to win than Ron. She also correctly pointed out that Nicole has proven that she can do this at home. So as quickly as Nicoled had returned, she was going home again.

They showed her at home trying on wedding dresses, and she has gone from a size 24 to a size 12. Wow. But while Nicole has lost 105 pounds now, down from 269 to 164, she is not done yet and has her eye on the $100K prize. As for who might win the whole thing…I have absolutely no idea. But I’d rule out Filipe, Ron or Laura right away and say that it will be Kristin, Sione, Tara, Helen or Mikey. I guess I’m putting my money on Mikey, and I hope he wins to set an example for his younger brother and for millions of overweight teenagers.

That’s it….the season is flying by and I’m exhausted from watching four hours of TV. See you next week, and get ready for more curveballs!