Last week, the battle of the ages came to a end, as the remaining nine contestants were reshuffled in such a way that each team had one person under 30, one person over 45 and one person “in between” on it. Sparks flew between Anna and her new charges, but eventually they clicked and pulled off a tremendous victory, making it the first team-vs.-team weigh-in of the season that was not won by Bob’s Black Team. The victory was short-lived for the Blue Team’s Ramon, because he was forced to helplessly watch as his sweetheart Jessica was voted to go home by everyone except his former Red Team teammates.
From the previews and commercials, I was not looking forward to this episode, because it seemed that Ramon would go right off the rails and do something stupid in retaliation against his own teammates (Joe and Sunny) for “not having his back” and keeping Jessica on the Ranch over Bonnie. And to do that would just be wrong in pretty much every way. I’ll explain further as I go.
The first thing Alison did this week was to inform the three trainers that the weight loss of one specific player from each team would be represented at the weigh-in, and for the first time ever, the decision of who that person is is entirely up to the trainers themselves. Bob doesn’t really like that little twist, because stuff that impacts the game is never very prominent in his mind. Dolvett sure realizes the importance of it, however, given that he is down to only two players.
This week’s challenges: The contestants and trainers took a field trip to the International Culinary School, and were presented with a food challenge, under the supervision of last season’s winner Olivia Ward. Quite simply, the teams had to prepare the tastiest and healthiest meal they could in only thirty minutes, with the winning team receiving a one-pound advantage for their representative at the weigh-in. It was a close decision, but the winner turned out to be the Black Team’s “Slimmer Summer Slaw with Pork Medallions” (only 210 calories!), the recipe for which will be featured in the next Biggest Loser cookbook. Nice!
This week’s breakthroughs: Bob spent some quality time with Becky, who has been a complete stranger to him up until now, and she revealed that her weight gain stemmed mightily from the acceptance she failed to get from her father as a child, a father who would routinely mock her whenever she attempted to better herself. Yikes.
Another prize that the Black Team got was a poolside lunch with Olivia, who presented each of them with a scrapbook created by their families. All of them got very misty-eyed, especially Antone, who realized when he looked at several years’ worth of family photos that he tipped the scales at well over 400 pounds in every single one of them. All of the activities that he missed doing with his kids during their early years flooded him all at once, and we all know by now what a big crier he is.
Dr. H also dropped in, and he brought with him a very smart-looking man who described himself as a “brain scientist”, who has spent years studying the way the brain reacts to stimuli such as food. He revealed that healthier people tend to get less pleasure from seeing and smelling tempting food than overweight people do, but that, conversely, overweight people tend to get LESS pleasure from eating the same food. To compensate, overweight people eat more, in order to compensate for getting less stimulation of the pleasure centers. Interesting… who says this show can’t be educational, too? On a much happier note, Dr. H informed Ramon that the diabetes that he diagnosed him with two months ago is completely gone. That will brighten your day, for sure. Thankfully the blow-up I had been anticipating never happened.
All that’s left to reveal is the individuals chosen by their trainers to represent their entire teams. After much consternation, Bob chose Becky, Anna chose Joe, and Dolvett surprised no one by choosing John.
And now, this week’s numbers, starting with the people whose weight did not factor in:
Bonnie (Red) - lost 8 pounds (-41 total), -3.62%, now stands at 213.
Vinny (Black) - lost 10 pounds (-81 total), -2.82%, now stands at 345.
Ramon (Blue) - lost 6 pounds (-75 total), -2.10%, now stands at 280.
Antone (Black) - lost 5 pounds (-99 total), -1.44%, now stands at 348.
Sunny (Blue) - lost 2 pounds (-61 total), -0.92%, now stands at 216.
Here are the numbers for the players who were chosen:
Becky (Black) - lost 6 pounds (+1) (-52 total), -3.65%, now stands at 186.
John (Red) - lost 10 pounds (-126 total), -3.04%, now stands at 319.
Joe (Blue) - lost 2 pounds (-79 total), -0.74%, now stands at 269.
Well, if it’s any consolation to Anna, any different choice she could have made wouldn’t have mattered. Both John and Bonnie led the way for all players, and no one on the Blue Team could have beaten Becky for second place.
Kudos. To John, once again, for making it eight straight weeks of at least nine pounds lost; to Bonnie, who had her best week yet and proved that the decision to keep her in the game was indeed the right one; and to Ramon, for not only kicking diabetes but for letting all the garbage that could have destroyed the atmosphere at the Ranch roll off his back.
Elimination. With Ramon winning immunity, it came down to either Sunny or Joe… ironically, both former members of the Black Team. There was some concern shown by both Vinny and Ramon that the original Black Team now represented half of the field, and were likely to keep voting the others out, but with that possibility gone this week,
Standings. With Joe, who was in second place overall, gone, John’s astronomic lead grows even more. John is at 28.31% lost; Antone is a very distant second with 22.15%, followed by Sunny at 22.02% and Becky at 21.85%.
Update. Joe’s time at home has not been spent idly… he’s dropped another 39 pounds, making his total since the season started 119 pounds lost. Now a svelte 230, he is ecstatic at being able to ride the roller coaster at Dollywood with his teenage daughter Autumn.
Next week: No more teams, it’s everyone for themselves. The home stretch begins.
