We were pimping Danny Cahill to win this season of “The Biggest Loser” on NBC all along, not only because he didn’t seem like a gameplayer, but because he was one of the most genuinely good guys and kind-hearted contestants we’ve seen on the show. Well, after winning last Tuesday, we had the chance to participate in a conference call with Danny the next day, and despite only being able to ask one question ourselves, we did get to listen in on the entire call and all of our feelings about Danny were confirmed–good champion, good guy.

There is no nonsense with Danny. He simply followed what he did on the ranch when he had to spend four months at home continuing the program, and he also inspired his wife and countless fans to lose weight along with him.

“I receive emails every day that say that I’ve inspired (fans) to lose weight,” said Cahill. “So I just hope that I can continue to be that inspiration because that’s what my goal is, is to pay it forward and to be an inspiration to everyone that I come in contact with.”

But despite being a favorite during the season, he had stiff competition from runner-up Rudy Pauls and worried up to the final weigh in about whether or not he could win.

“Before I got on the scale when I walked out I hadn’t seen Rudy,” admitted Danny. “They kept us sequestered, the final four, we did not see anyone. And when I walked out and saw Rudy I was amazed and I was, yeah, I was worried.”

And with an astounding 55.58% weight loss, Danny edged out Rudy (52.94%). But now that Cahill has the title, he’s going to continue to pay it forward as well as coach football (albeit with more spunk) and also pursue more of a career in music, something he’d put on the back burner for years because of his weight.

“Yes that’s definitely in my plans,” said Cahill. “In fact the song “Second Chance” that I wrote (and performed on the show) I’ve recorded and am excited to get it out. And I want to write more music. I’ve actually written a few songs since I’ve been home. And my creative juices are flowing again, you know.”

As for the upcoming holidays, and how he plans to keep indulgence in check during a time when we all like to indulge, Cahill said he’ll take lessons he learned from trainer Jillian Michaels.

“You’ve got to know that you can’t do it all the time,” he said. “And that really taught me a lesson. So, yeah, Christmas I am going to have a glass of eggnog. I’m going to have a Christmas cookie but I’m just not going to have a plateful of Christmas cookies and a whole half of gallon of eggnog.”

Last night’s finale of “The Biggest Loser” on NBC featured the big showdown between Danny and Rudy, and the result of that was not exactly earth-shattering. But there were a couple of other shocking revelations during the show, which we will get to shortly.

First, they brought out Amanda and Liz, to see who America voted into the final 3. Each of them looked quite the same as when they broke camp after running the marathon four months ago….but I digress. The person in the finale was Amanda, and we had to hear her thank America once again for voting for her. Woo freaking hoo. Liz, meanwhile, looked kind of pissed, but let’s face it….neither of them was going to beat Rudy or Danny. And how about Liz being a grandmother of nine at the age of 49? Now that’s impressive!

Then they began to bring out the eliminated contestants in the battle for the at-home prize of $100K. The first group was Antoine, Alexandra, Sean and Julio. Antoine and Alexandra have been dating since being eliminated, and Mrs. Mike tells me she has this funny feeling he’s going to propose to her tonight. Yeah right, I say.

Anyway, Antoine gets on the scale and has lost 152 pounds, or 41.42%. He looks awesome. Alexandra lost 91 pounds, or 29.45%, so for the moment Antoine holds the lead over his girlfriend. Sean is next, and he went from 444 to 289, a loss of 155 pounds, or 34%. Awesome, but not quite enough for the lead. Then Julio, who looks like a completely different person, went from 407 to 227, a loss of 180 pounds or 44.23%. Damn..nice work dude! So Julio, for now, had the lead.

The next group was Coach Mo, Dina, Abby, and Tracey. Coach Mo looks great…he lost 92 pounds, or 25.92%. Dina also looks great, but compared to Julio, both of them have not budged the scale enough. Dina lost 79 pounds, or 31.23%. Abby was up, and we all know the back story on her…..she lost her husband and two kids in a horrible car crash and was getting her life back together. Abby lost 100 freaking pounds, from 247 to 147, and looks amazing. But the 40.49% was not enough for the lead. Still, she was very proud of the 100 pounds and so was host Alison Sweeney. Then came Tracey….who looked, um, scrawny? Is there a nice way to say anorexic? I mean, her face was kind of caved in and I think we could see her ribs. That’s just not right. Anyway, Tracey went from 250 to 132, a 118 pound loss, or 47.2% to give her the lead. Sorry, Julio.

The next group was Shay, Daniel, Rebecca and Allen. We all know Shay’s back story too….heaviest contestant ever. Shay started at 476 pounds. Up on the scale she went, and Shay was down to a svelte 304, having lost an astounding 172 pounds. Still, this was only 36.13%, so not enough for the $100K. Daniel was next, and we know his story too….the heaviest contestant before Shay came along and second-chance entrant. Daniel began this season at 312 and was down to 201, a loss of 111 pounds or 35.58%, and he looks awesome.
Dr. Huizenga was on hand and talked about how Shay had gained 13 years of life back and Daniel 23 years. That is truly amazing and inspiring.

Next up was Rebecca, and here was the other shocker of the night….consider that she was really starting to look great, but last night she had cut her hair even shorter and dyed it platinum blonde…and came out in a short dress that made her look like a hooker. And she, like Tracey, looked scary thin….not as bad as Tracey, but still, not quite right. Anyway, Rebecca was down to 140 pounds, and lost 139 total, or 49.82% to give her the lead. Allen was next, and he also looked awesome. Allen lost 116 pounds, or 35.69%.
So now it was only Liz that Rebecca had to beat.

Liz came back out and had gone from 267 to 176, a 91 pound weight loss but not nearly enough to win the at home prize of $100K. It was Rebecca. I guess I’m happy she won over Tracey, but Rebecca definitely took the competition a bit too far.

Then trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels came out and brought Shay to the center of the stage, with a proposition for her. With sponsor Subway footing the bill, they challenged Shay to keep losing weight with a $1000-for-every-pound incentive, with Shay returning for the Season 9 finale in May. Wow, that’s a lot of cash…so if she loses 100 more pounds, that’s $100,000. Holy crap. Shay, of course, accepted, and so did her husband, who wanted to rush the stage to show his thanks.

Oh wait, there was one more surprise….Antoine proposed to Alexandra. Mrs. Mike is psychic! So Mrs. Mike, will the Giants beat the Eagles this Sunday? Alexandra, of course, accepted. Good for them.

Then they brought out Erin, the person Amanda beat out to get onto the show in the first place…and Erin had lost 70 pounds….awesome. And did you notice they didn’t do this America voting thing again? But they did give us a glimpse of Season 9, which kicks off January 5. It will be “Biggest Loser: Couples,” which, if you’e watched this program for any length of time, you know that that basically means squat, because they always break the teams up anyway and rearrange them five or six times.

Okay, finally….Amanda came back out….and then, Rudy. Damn, that guy lost a ton of weight…maybe literally! Anyway, Rudy looked great as we all knew he would. Then Danny….holy crap, he also looked great. No surprises there…we all knew it would be a two man race.

Drum roll please….Amanda lost 87 pounds, down from 250 to 163, or 34.80%. Nicely done, but we knew it wouldn’t be enough. Rudy was next, and he went from 442 down to 208, a loss of 234 pounds. Holy crap. That was 52.94%, even more weight loss than Rebecca, which in a weird way legitimized the way this all turned out. But Danny still had to weigh in. I went back and started doing the math….last week after the marathon episode, Danny had lost 201 pounds already, and that was, in real time, 4 months ago. Alison said that Danny needed to lose 227 pounds to win. 26 pounds in 4 months, for Danny? Piece of cake. And sure enough, he went from 430 to 191, a loss of 239 pounds or 55.58%.

Danny is your Biggest Loser.

But Rudy, who put in an unbelieveable effort, came in second and seemed happy for Danny but still kind of pissed. I can’t blame him…Danny appeared to have a leg up on Rudy all season long, and in the end Rudy won zero cash. But he sure did lose lot of weight and got his life back. That’s what this show is all about, after all.

So that’s it, folks…..it’s been a pleasure blogging “The Biggest Loser” for you this season and we’ll be back in a few weeks with Season 9.

But before that, I’m curious to know what you all think of the finale last night…especially Tracey and Rebecca. Thanks for reading!

Last night on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” there was one more weigh-in before the live finale this coming Tuesday night. The final four would have one more opportunity to reach that finale and have a shot at the title, while two of them would be subject to a vote by all of us to determine if they deserve to be or should be in the running for it all.

The episode began with each contestant going home for 60 days after being on the ranch for a few months, and after showing a bunch of fluff with families and once again seeing Danny as a “rock star” from when he was like 17, seeing Curtis Stone cook for Danny and his family, and having the trainers visit each contestant at home and coach them a bit (we know there is more than coaching going on between Bob and Amanda)–it was time for the big jolt. That they would each be going back to Los Angeles to run a full marathon before weighing in one more time. Yikes. They did this last season and my legs wanted to buckle while sitting on my couch. But if Big Ron from last season could walk it, anyone could.

So while showing the race, Rudy and Amanda jumped out in front and slowed down a few times but never really stopped. Along the way, they had help and encouragement from Rudy’s former teammate Dina and last season’s finalist Tara. Meanwhile, Danny and Liz, also teammates from Day 1, stuck together the whole time, had help from their spouses and met up with Helen and Mike from last season at the end. Danny almost quit several times but hung in there and in the end they all finished in decent times–between 5 and 7 hours. Good for them!

Then it was time to weigh in, and Alison Sweeney told them that the two of them above the yellow line were going to be competing for the title of The Biggest Loser on December 8, while the other two would be subject to America’s online vote. Liz went first and lost 16 pounds, or 8.08%. Amanda was next and lost 16 as well, which was 8.6%, to give her a slight edge over Liz. Danny was next, and Alison told him he needed to lose 24 pounds to stay above the line. Dude looks THIN….Mrs. Mike said “50 pounds” before the number on the scale came up–59. Danny has now lost 201 total pounds and in the 60 days lost 20.49%, putting him in first by a mile and guaranteeing Danny a chance at the grand prize. Then it was Rudy, who also looks great…..Rudy lost 43, or 14.53%, pushing Amanda below the line with Liz.

So just like we hoped and expected, this will be a battle between Danny and Rudy, though Danny keeps losing just a bit more than Rudy each week. The third spot will be between Amanda and Liz, and they each pleaded their case to us all at the close of the show. Of course, Amanda did that whole “America voted me in, now vote me into the finale…blah blah blah.” I’m sorry Amanda, I’m voting for Liz. We need her to have a shot at the $250K to get her and Jimmy off that farm in the middle of nowhere in Tennessee (trust me, I live in TN…Chapel Hill is the middle of nowhere!). But either way, whoever loses that vote still has a shot at the $100K “at home” prize. So maybe we still get Liz and Jimmy off the farm. (Oh, and let’s also take up a collection to buy Rudy and his wife a new TV….it’s not 1989 anymore guys, and that screen was as big as my computer screen!).

So here we go, folks….the season finale is upon us next Tuesday night. I’m really pulling for Danny but would have no problem with Rudy or Liz winning. I don’t want Amanda to win….I’m not sure why, I just don’t….what do you all think? See you 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!

It’s hard to believe we’re just a few short weeks away from the finale of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” but there it is. Last night we went from six contestants to five, and either they are going to have a final 3 again, or they are going to throw us another curveball and let someone else back in….these tricky producers have done it before, and I have a funny feeling it’s coming.

Meanwhile, last night the six hopefuls were treated to makeovers, led by “Project Runway’s” Tim Gunn, and a TV Guide sponsored event that had each contestant share their personal journey wth their families and an audience of about 300. Most of them looked pretty good, but I’m not sure why they insisted on cutting Rebecca’s hair so short…both her and Amanda were made to look like ten years older.

Then came the challenge for the week, and host Alison Sweeney said something about telling them all at the start of this season that they would be “reaching new heights.” Well, they had to pull themselves across cables 200 feet in the air across a large ravine. No, thank you. Actually Liz really didn’t want to do this as she is afraid of heights, but she pressed on with her eyes closed. Meanwhile, the winner of the challenge was Rudy, and his prize was a two-week trip to the new Biggest Loser Resort and Spa in St. George, Utah. Afterward, trainer Bob Harper met with Allen and asked him why he wasn’t winning any challenges, especially since he is a burly firefighter who seems to be in excellent shape now. Allen admitted he’s sort of laying back, playing the game and trying not to make enemies. Hmmm, okay.

Then after cramming a week’s worth of workouts into one day, it was time to weigh in. Danny went first and lost 12 pounds, giving him six straight weeks of double digit weight loss, an amazing feat. But this wasn’t the only amazing feat. Rudy lost 16 pounds, and his 134 pounds lost was the most in a 10-week period in Biggest Loser history. Wow. Needless to say, these two guys were likely safe.

Allen was next and lost 5 pounds, a great accomplishment at this stage but not compared to Rudy and Danny. Rebecca was next and lost just 3 pounds, putting her, for the moment, in last place. Liz went next and also lost 3, putting her and Rebecca below the yellow line and keeping Allen safe. Then it was Amanda…..and she came through with a 9 pound loss, her best week yet, and it brought her under 200 pounds to 193 for the first time. Good for her, and don’t forget, America voted her in! (insert sarcasm).

So it was between Liz and Rebecca, and they each started to plead their case to the voters….but Liz had almost no fire in her plea and Allen told her she needed to show some fight quickly. Meanwhile, Rebecca pulled Allen and Rudy aside and begged them to keep her there, saying Liz had been below the yellow line many times while this was her first time.

Somehow you could just tell that Liz had more friends in the house, couldn’t you? Anyway, Amanda went first and voted for Liz, naturally, because her and Rebecca were teammates and buds from the start. Then Danny went and voted for Rebecca, and that was also no surprise because Liz was his teammate for a while. We all knew Rudy and Allen were the swing votes, but all it would take was one of them to vote off Rebecca because she also held the tiebreaker with the lowest percentage of weight loss.

So Rudy voted for….Rebecca. And then what ensued is sort of baffling. Rudy said it was because of trust issues, that Rebecca had given him reason to believe she couldn’t be trusted when they were blue vs. black…well not only did Rebecca feel blind-sided, but the other contestants, Alison Sweeney, me, Mrs. Mike and all of America are still trying to figure that one out. Me thinks Rudy has some issues of his own…remember that whole thing with Shay last week? Dude is just a gameplayer wrapped up in a large man’s body. Rebecca was pissed, but really, the guy had to vote off one person or another, and he thought Rebecca was a bigger threat, plain and simple. Issues or no, I have no problem with that.

Then they showed Rebecca going home to Des Moines, where she would run a half-marathon. She also has now lost 107 pounds, down from 276 to 169. Damn, that’s amazing. But she’s not going to win the big prize. That will be between Rudy, Allen, Danny, Liz and Amanda…..and maybe a mystery re-enter? I’m not spouting off about something I know that you all don’t, I just have a hunch. What do you think? And does anyone know what that whole Rudy/Rebecca thing was all about? Speak up! And thanks for reading!