Okay, so last week we were fired up that “Top Chef All-Stars” would have a final five instead of a final four, but that would change last night. When they got to the Bahamas for the finale, I wondered if this was it, if this was the episode they would name the Top Chef. But it didn’t feel like a finale. So what it wound up being is a competition that would bring them down to four.

It started last night at Fort Charlotte, where the chef-testants would compete against the chefs that won their season–Stephanie, Hosea, Michael, and Kevin. The quick fire challenge would be to compete against the chef that won their respective season, using a secret ingredient chosen for them ahead of time. Mike was up against Michael Voltaggio, maybe the best chef in the history of the show, and they had duck; Antonia and Richard would square off against Stephanie using veal; Carla was up against Hosea using lamb; and Tiffany squared off vs. Kevin using pork. The winners would each take home $10K.

Mike beat Michael with his cashew dusted duck breast; Richard beat both Stephanie and Antonia (roasted veal with leeks and almond puree) with his seared veal loin and braised veal cap with carrots, raisins and potatoes; Carla lost to Hosea when she made harissa lamb with rice; and Tiffany beat Kevin with her pork stew with potatoes and peppers. So Tiffany, Mike and Richard had confidence heading into the elimination challenge.

That challenge was to cook for a dinner party for the King of Junkanoo. But whether it was a conspiracy or not, the deep fryer in the kitchen of the restaurant they were in caught fire, which forced them out of that kitchen and having to start over again. Antonia and Carla each changed their dishes as a result. At the judge’s table, host Padma Lakshmi was joined by Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, Eric Ripert and of course, the King of Junkanoo. Tom said that overall, the dishes missed the mark.

But they did have a couple of favorites, and the winner this week was Mike (chicken, mushroom and lobster hash with yams). Richard was also safe, with his lamb loin “cannelloni” with pickled turnip). Richard, of course, thought his dish sucked, but the judges liked it enough to keep him around. So facing elimination were Carla (pork loin with sweet potatoes and apple chips); Antonia (fried shrimp over grits flavored with pork, and slaw); and Tiffany (roasted spiced pork with dirty rice). I thought that they said enough good things about Tiffany’s dish, and that it would come down to Carla and Antonia—and it was Carla. So Carla heads home and our final four is Antonia, Tiffany, Mike and Richard. Okay then. I still like Richard but any of them can win, and that’s how it should be.

I have to admit, I was very surprised that none of the chefs made a fish dish, though Antonia’s shrimp and Mike’s use of lobster were the only things from the ocean. Still, no fish, in the Bahamas? Kind of interesting, or maybe the presence of Eric Ripert coupled with the fear of losing were the reasoning behind that.

So who do you like now? I still like Richard, despite his own self-doubt. See you all next week!

Last night’s “Biggest Loser” finale on NBC was a true showdown of four contestants who really deserved to be there. No real game play was evident this season, anyone who started to play the game was swiftly eliminated by everyone else. Anyway, this was a live event, but they went through and showed each of their collective journey, especially how they all had to weigh in in front of their hometown friends and family at the start. This included the ubiquitous showing of Daris saying “I will do everything I can to make you proud,” in which he sounds like an overweight robot. I mean, the producers of this show love that clip so much, that you could seriously create a drinking game around every time they show it.

Anyway, host Alison Sweeney brought out Daris and Koli, because America held the vote that would send one of them to the Top 3 and one of them back into the “at home” competition. You may remember that Daris slipped last week, overeating when he was home and training for the marathon. I thought for sure Koli would win based on that, but America had sympathy and voted for Daris. Maybe it was all a ploy by Daris? Hmmm. But either way, it would be Daris vs. Ashley and Mike for the title of The Biggest Loser. And Koli, who came out all fired up, was reduced to almost whimpering.

Then after showing former winners such as Danny, Bill and Erik, it was time for one of last season’s fiercest competitors, Shay, to weigh in for her Subway challenge. You may remember Subway enlisted her to win $1000 for every pound she lost from December up until now. Shay looks great, and she lost another 52 pounds for $52K! But then Jared from Subway came out and challenged Shay again, saying she and him would train for a marathon, and when completed, Subway would double that money. Wow. But that was awesome.

Okay, time to what we came here for. To see everyone and how much weight they’d lost. Here is how it broke down:

Cherita lost 91 pounds, down from 277 to 186
Victoria lost 136 pounds, down from 358 to 222
Sherry lost 99 pounds, down from 218 to a stunning 119 (current leader)
Maria lost 114 pounds, down from 281 to 167
Patty lost 73 pounds, down from 243 to 170
Stephanie lost 99 pounds, down from 264 to 165
James lost 128 pounds, down from 485 to 357
John lost 149 pounds, down from 484 to 335
Melissa lost 90 pounds, down from 233 to 143
Lance lost 128 pounds, down from 365 to 237
Migdalia lost 52 pounds, down from 265 to 213
Miggy lost 91 pounds, down from 240 to 149
O’Neal lost 159 pounds, down from 389 to 230

Sunshine lost 114 pounds, down from 275 to 161
Darrell lost 189 pounds, down from 413 to 224 and he took the lead from Sherry
Drea lost 84 pounds, down from 298 to 214
Cheryl lost 76 pounds, down from 227 to 151
Sam lost 142 pounds, down from 372 to 230
And finally Koli lost 215 pounds, down from 403 to 188, and he took the at-home prize from Darrell, with a 53.34% weight loss

Koli was asked by Alison what he was thinking, and he said, “I just want to go home with my family.” Yikes…..that’s all he could muster? He’d just won $100K!

So then it was time for the big showdown between Daris, Ashley and Mike. Daris went first, and lost 168 pounds, down from 346 to 178 for 48.55%. Ashley was next and lost 183 pounds, down from 374 to 191 for 48.93%. Both of them looked amazing, as did Mike, who went next. Mike started out as the heaviest contestant ever, at 526 pounds. He struggled a lot this season, but kept dropping weight like crazy. Mike lost 264 pounds, down from 526 to 262, for a 50.19% weight loss and the title of the Biggest Loser! Now this was a true Biggest Loser champion, the kind of person who can inspire millions of people. But until now, I didn’t realize that Koli had lost more percentage of weight than Mike, and if America had voted him into the Top 3, he would have won. Ouch, that has to sting a bit. But I like having Mike as the champ, and he won fair and square based on the rule of the game.

Now let’s hope Mike keeps that weight off and keeps going, because he still has a ways to go. But he sure deserved to win and should enjoy it. We’ll be on a conference call with him today so look for some excerpts from that interview later this week. Thanks for reading this season!

On NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” last night, yet another alliance was about to be broken up. More on that in a minute…but first, it was makeover week, and that prompted each of the six remaining contestants to hoot and holler like crazy, especially big Michael. They each had $1000 to spend on clothes and had a limo pick them up, with some dude from a show on Bravo called “Shear Genius” making them over. And he did a great job, actually.

Sunshine looked like a chunky version of Beyonce….Koli looked like a Hawaiian Buddy Holly…Ashley lost a ton of midriff…Sam looked like a boxer…Daris looked completely different, and Mike just looked really good. Really, they all did. Then they were treated with a private performance by Ashanti…and we all were like, “Who?” I mean, she’s won at least one Grammy but what has she done lately? I’m just saying.

Then it was time for the Jacob’s Ladder challenge, in which they had to climb up said ladder over a 10 foot drop into a pool. Whoever stayed up the longest would win a 1 pound advantage at the weigh in, and whoever was the first in the water would have a 1 pound penalty. Ashley dropped in after 3 minutes, but Koli and Daris were at it for 2.5 HOURS. Holy crap. But eventually Daris gave way, and I think it’s because he had to pee….I mean, he asked if peeing from up there was considered peeing in the pool, so that’s what I think anyway. Of course, Bob Harper was pissed at Daris for giving up when he could have held on longer. Whatever, Bob!

After the last chance workout that we forwarded through, it was time for the weigh in. Koli went first and lost a whopping 15 pounds! With the extra pound that gave him 16. Then again, remember last week he had immunity and we thought he threw the weigh in by losing just 1 pound? Hmmm. Michael was next and lost 9, and so did Daris. Sunshine also lost 9 and then Sam just 2 pounds. That put Sam below the line and well below everyone else percentage-wise. Ashley lost 10 pounds, or 9 with the one pound penalty.

So it was down to Sam and Michael. Sam has already reached his goal weight, the first ever to do that on the ranch. But Michael started out at 526 pounds, and he’s lost almost 200 but still has a ways to go and could be considered a bigger threat. But Mrs. Mike pointed out the alliances…Koli and Sunshine would vote for Michael and Ashley and Daris would vote for Sam, making it a tie and thus sending Sam home because he lost the lowest percentage of weight. And that’s exactly what happened! You go, Mrs. Mike!

Sam, meanwhile, has reached his goal and is down from 395 pounds to 236…he’s lean and fit and knows we all know he is dating Stephanie…and they are now living together in Los Angeles. Good for them! Another Biggest Loser couple that will soon be making babies.

So we’re down to five and there are no more multiple team members left….it’s Daris, Michael, Sunshine, Koli and Ashley. Any of them could win, but I’m still saying it will be Michael or Daris. Let me know what you think in the space below, and see you all next week!

If “The Biggest Loser” has taught us something besides how to lose weight in a healthy manner, it’s that karma is alive and well in every walk of life. A few years back, Vicky and Brady got what was coming to them by not winning the cash they coveted so badly, despite stepping on everyone’s collective toe to try and win. This season, it’s Lance and Melissa who are competitive to the point of being obnoxious, and it came back to bite them last night.

The episode began with host Alison Sweeney telling them all they’d be going home for a week. But when they each got home, they were greeted by both their families and a crate from the show. The crated contained a stationary bike and some cupcakes and a DVD. These contestants would have to bike 26.2 miles like they did when this season began, against each other, and they could add 5 minutes to someone else’s time by eating a 100 calorie cupcake.

Lance ate 17 cupcakes, with Melissa barking at him the whole time to add time to Sam. That’s (yikes) 1700 calories! He game Sam most of the extra time, but also gave some cupcake time to Daris and Stephanie. Michael ate 6 cupcakes and also gave some to Sam. Drea ate 9, giving them to Sam and Sunshine. Of course, Sam led the whole way and won the race, but with all of the cupcakes adding time to his time, he wound up in 8th place. In real time, Koli was second and Lance third, with 21 seconds separating them. And guess what? Nobody hit Koli with a cupcake penalty! So he won, and Lance could only shake his head, because the grand prize for Koli was $10K for this victory. Good for him.

After the last chance workout, it was time to weigh in. It would be interesting this week, because going home sometimes is difficult for competitors in this game.

The blue team went first this week. O’Neal lost 7 pounds, bringing him below 300 for the first time (295). Sunshine lost 8 pounds, followed by Lance with 8, Michael with 8, Koli with 10 and Daris with 4. Daris has lost 102 pounds in 10 weeks but was bummed about only losing 4 this week The total, 45 pounds for the blue team, or 2.58%.

The black team, or what remains of them, was next. Drea lost 6 pounds, followed by Stephanie with 9, and Ashley with 10. Wow. They only had to lose more than 26 pounds, so Sam needed just 2 pounds to lead his team to victory. He lost a whopping 14 pounds, giving the black team a resounding win this week, 39 pounds, or 3.86%.

After Michael and a few of the other blue team members all stated to each other how they wanted to stay, it was time to vote. Sunshine had the highest percentage of weight loss on her team, so she was immune. Koli went first and voted for Lance, saying something about how “doubt spreads like cancer.” Lance had been doubting himself all week but this had more to do with the cupcakes I think. Michael voted for Lance, and Lance voted for Michael. O’Neal voted for Lance, and so did Daris, sending the big Texan home. Yep, there is that karma thing again.

Still, Lance has done well at home, going from 365 starting weight to 265, losing 100 pounds overall. He and Melissa have gotten their lives back, but they still blew it by trying to play the game too much. It gets them every time on this show.

So we’re down to 9 contestants left, and you know that twist or team change is coming soon. I know we had the Olympics pre-empt the show for 2 weeks, but do you all think it’s dragging too?

See you next week!

I smell foul play on “The Biggest Loser.” Not Vicky and Brady foul play, but some manipulation by certain contestants. More on that later.

The show began last night with Daris being upset about his mom Cheryl being sent home. That lasted about 5 seconds. Then it was on to the initial challenge, and one of the contestants even said “oh crap” when they saw host Alison Sweeney in the room. That was funny. The challenge was a trivia game, with the winning team earning a “spa night” at the Four Seasons Hotel, and the losing team having to clean both the kitchen and the gym. Yikes. After some trash talk from Stephanie of the black team, the blue team won, which was funny, because their team is mostly huge guys, not the types you’d expect to see in a spa.

Jillian propped her team up, saying that they didn’t come to the ranch to go to the Four Seasons, but to “get 200 pounds off the back of your ass.” Nicely said!

Michael had to go home to Chicago to tend to his ailing grandmother, which was a problem considering the main challenge would be a cooking challenge, something Michael was good at. Curtis Stone was the judge of the challenge, and each team had to pick 12 ingredients to make a 3-course meal with. They also only had 30 minutes to do so. The blue team made shrimp ceviche, salmon, and raspberries with chocolate drizzle, while the black team mde spinach/feta salad, pork tenderloin, and pears with feta. The black team won, based on overall taste while keeping calories down. Their prize? A 5 pound advantage at the weigh in, something they desperately needed to avoide losing, again.

After forwarding through most of the product placement, trainers’ tips and last chance workout stuff, I watched Michael return and tell his team that while in Chicago he found the time to work out. Good for him.

The weigh in was next. The black team went first, and Andrea led off with 5 pounds lost. Sam lost 8, much better than the 4 pounds he lost last week. Ashley lost 7, Sherry 3 and Stephanie a paltry 2 pounds. The total for the black team, in addition to their 5 pound advantage, was 30 pounds lost, or 2.5%.

The blue team had to lost more than 45 pounds to win. Lance was first and lost 8 pounds, followed by Daris who lost 10. Koli lost 9, bringing him down to 297, breaking the 300 pound barrier for the first time. Sam ran up and hugged him, even though they are now on opposing teams. O’Neal lost 9, and so did his daughter Sunshine. So they were already at 45 pounds. Michael had to lose just one pound to give his team the win, and that may have been iffy since he missed a few days on the ranch. But no…Michael lost 11 pounds, bringing him down below 400 pounds for the first time at 397. So the blue team won again, losing 56 pounds or 3.11%. Damn!

So once again, the black team had to eliminate one of their own, and it couldn’t be Sam, since he led his team in percentage of weight loss this week. The women on the team all said they didn’t want to go home. Of course they didn’t. But I thought Stephanie, who dodged a bullet last week, should go home based on her lousy weight loss this week.

Ashley voted first and picked Andrea. Andrea picked Sherry. Sam then picked Sherry and Sherry picked Drea. Tied at two votes apiece. What?? No one picked Stephanie. I smell foul play here. I guess the only reason here was that they don’t see Stephanie as a threat, and they could be right. But she deserved to be sent packing here. So Stephanie had the final and deciding vote, and picked Sherry.

Sherry, who began this journey at 218 pounds, has now lost 80 pounds, down to 138 pounds! Good for her, and I have to think she has a clear shot at the $100K at-home prize.

So now that it’s going to be 6-4 in favor of the blue team, I’m sure this where the producers intervene and change the teams up. We’ll see. But meanwhile, the big blue machine keeps rolling along. See you all next week and enjoy your corned beef and green beer today!