Last week’s episode was abbreviated due to the State of the Union speech, but basically everything about it was that Dolvett was taken to his wit’s end by Conda, who complained nonstop and generally made me want to fast-forward through it all. Still, she put up a ten-spot, and Dolvett’s team emerged victorious despite her attitude. For Bob’s Black Team, the underperforming Gail was sent home one week after Dolvett’s team sent Gail’s daughter Lauren packing.
This week’s excuse du jour: “I’ll never reach my goal”. To illustrate this point, Alison starts the episode by bringing back the Aqua Team, Adrian and Daphne, who failed to earn a spot on The Ranch on the first day, but were promised that they could get back in the game if they could lose fifty pounds between them at home in exactly one month. None of the other contestants were privy to this little tidbit of information, so the reception was decidedly mixed. Naturally, the ones with the most negative attitude at their return were Conda and Kim. No surprise there.
I’ll cut to the chase. Adrian’s weight on Day One was 370, and his weight one month later was 336. Daphne dropped from 271 pounds to 245 pounds. That’s a combined total of 62 pounds lost, which was more than enough to earn them a spot back in the game. And I find myself really happy for them, but even though they earned themselves immunity this week, they are fair game next week. And, not having had the time to build a rapport with the other contestants, means they could be going home just as quickly as they arrived. (Adrian ended up on the Red Team, Daphne on Black.) The onus is truly on them to make a good impression, and that’s not going to be easy, especially for Adrian, who has to work out under the gargoyle-like stares of Kim and Conda.
Speaking of which, there was a scene between Kim and Conda in which Conda related something to Kim in which Adrian apparently said something disrespectful, and Conda being Conda, she naturally multiplied it by ten to make it sound so much worse than it probably was (whatever Adrian actually said was not known). They talk smack about him for a few minutes, and Kim concludes the conversation by saying that she “absolutely hates him”. Seriously, these two harpies need to get over themselves.
It wasn’t long before Conda and Kim’s attempt to poison the rest of the Red Team against Adrian came to a head. My respect for Nancy and Mark grew immensely when they called the ladies on their BS, telling them to their faces that gossiping like preteens in remote shadows of the Ranch serves no purpose. Yes, Adrian does talk a lot, perhaps even too much, but there’s no excuse for behaving like nine-year-olds. Dolvett called a team meeting to put a stop to this nonsense, and we’ll see in due course how effective it was.
Anyway, much of this episode was spent introducing us to the Adrian and Daphne, and my impression of them is very positive. Adrian related the story of how he and his wife, who was his high school sweetheart, lost their first child to a brutal miscarriage, and how he himself nearly died not long after that. He did, in fact, lose 50 pounds before being accepted to the show, and if that doesn’t show his resolve, I don’t know what does.
This week’s challenges/incentives: the challenge this week, which involved bouncing heavy medicine balls over a net, came with the prize that whichever team won would get to choose one person from each team whose weight would not count at the weigh-in. For whatever reason, young Chism was not medically cleared to participate in this challenge, and the Black Team sorely missed his strength, because the Red Team cruised to an easy victory.
Buddy, speaking for the Red Team prior to the weigh-in, announced that Megan’s weight would not count for the Black Team, and Nancy’s would not count for the Red Team. Here’s how the weigh-in went:
Black Team (Bob)
Megan (DNC) - lost 9 pounds (-30 total), -3.78%, now stands at 229.
Cassandra - lost 6 pounds (-39 total), -2.91%, now stands at 200.
Jeremy - lost 9 pounds (-51 total), -2.59%, now stands at 338.
Emily - lost 5 pounds (-34 total), -2.13%, now stands at 230.
Christine - lost 4 pounds (-29 total), -1.86%, now stands at 211.
Chism - lost 2 pounds (-43 total), -0.63%, now stands at 318.
Daphne - lost 1 pound (-27 total), -0.41%, now stands at 244.
Total - 27 pounds lost (-1.72%).
Red Team (Dolvett)
Kim - lost 5 pounds (-42 total), -2.272%, now stands at 215.
Buddy - lost 8 pounds (-58 total), -2.266%, now stands at 345.
Kimmy - lost 4 pounds (-26 total), -2.03%, now stands at 193.
Nancy (DNC) - lost 4 pounds (-21 total), -2.00%, now stands at 196.
Mark - lost 4 pounds (-40 total), -1.57%, now stands at 251.
Roy - lost 4 pounds (-38 total), -1.47%, now stands at 268.
Conda - lost 2 pounds (-31 total), -0.75%, now stands at 263.
Adrian - lost 2 pounds (-36 total), -0.59%, now stands at 334.
Total - 29 pounds lost (-1.53%).
It’s almost tragic that Daphne and Adrian had such miserable weeks, because this gave both of their teams all the ammunition they needed to vote them out. Thankfully, they both had immunity, but it’s virtually certain that one of them will depart next week unless they pull a monster number. I wish Adrian could at least have pulled a bigger number than Bigmouth Conda, if only just to shut her up.
I wasn’t sure before the season started whether I wanted to recap another season of The Biggest Loser, and now… well, I’m almost starting to regret the decision to do it. The numbers are way down from seasons past, there are more awful people than usual, and it just seems like the magic has started to dissipate. Hopefully the next month will turn things around, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
Kudos. To Nancy, for dropping out of the 200’s. To Kim, for being the highest percentage loser on the Red Team for the second straight week. To Megan, for finally turning it around. And to Cassandra, for… being Cassandra, easily the biggest ray of sunshine among the women this season.
Elimination. With Kim and Adrian having immunity, I was praying Conda would finally get her come-uppance, but no. Mark accused Adrian of sandbagging this week because he had immunity, and both Adrian and Nancy responded by voting for Mark. Everyone else piled their votes on poor grandmother Nancy (even fellow senior Roy), ostensibly because she’s lost the least amount of weight thus far. Which is true, but it sucks because she seemed to be the only voice of reason on the Red Team outside of Dolvett. Things can only deteriorate from here.
Standings. Cassandra maintains her lead, increasing her percentage to 16.32% lost. Kim (14.68%) and Buddy (14.39%) are still chasing her, and the top five is rounded out by Mark (13.75%) and Jeremy (13.11%).
Update. Since returning home, Nancy has dropped another eighteen pounds and currently stands at 178. She now has the energy to keep up with many of her 55 grandkids (how does she remember all their names?!), and vows to continue to work toward winning the at-home prize. Don’t think she’ll do it, but I wish her luck.
Next week: Conda continues to hound Adrian as being the source of all the drama on the Ranch. Kettle, the pot has you on speed-dial.
