Last week, Brett made a glorious return to the game by dropping in on the contestants (literally, like, from an airplane) while they were still adventuring in New Zealand. Kaylee and Jay overcame their weight gains from the previous week, and the Yellow Line victimized both Hannah and Ken, with Ken being sent home. Only seven contestants remain. (Note: because of the two-hour premiere episode of The Voice on this night, the normal two-hour length of this episode of The Biggest Loser was only one hour. Which is kind of a relief to me, because it means there won’t be quite as much to write about for a change.)
Their time in New Zealand over, the contestants shamble back to The Ranch, looking like jet-lag has taken more than a small toll on them. Olivia contemplates that coming back to The Ranch is like coming home after a long vacation, whereas Austin is slightly more pessimistic, it having finally sunk in that he’s alone now, maybe for the first time in his young life. (If you didn’t know, Austin still lives with his folks.) I think that this will be a very important week for him, and hopefully he can learn to stand on his own two feet, much like Kaylee did last week after her dad Moses was sent home. Irene is all smiles; not only did she have a blast in the NZ, but she knows she’s on the doorstep of losing 100 pounds on The Ranch – no mean feat for a woman – and she also knows full well that she’s the one to beat right now.
Alison joins the contestants in the living room and announces that they will be “celebrating the best of the best from seasons past”, which includes a visit from some of the more notable past contestants. Alison also promises the group “some surprises”, the first of which will be waiting for them in the gym.
As they stroll in to the gym, they are greeted by Season Five winner Ali Vincent (the first-ever woman to win TBL) and Sam Poueu from Season Nine. Ali relates that she is now a published author and tours the country as a motivational speaker, and Sam is now a bona fide personal trainer. Sam was also the first person in the show’s history to reach his goal weight mid-season, and his decision to bow out at that time was a move that earned Rulon’s deep respect. Rulon goes on to say that he is now within 15 pounds of his own goal weight, and that if he was to leave early, he’s be “okay with it.”
So it would seem that Sam and Ali are the group’s trainers du jour, which I’m sure is something none of the other trainers objected to. While they put the contestants through their paces, Jay notes with some irony that if he were to win, he and Ali would be the only players ever to win after being previously eliminated. Later on, the duo take the group into the kitchen to prepare from them two of their favorite dishes: Ali prepares a salad with quinoa and black beans, and Sam spreads some hummus on a whole wheat tortilla, stating that hummus is a spectacular substitute for mayonnaise, which Tongans tend to use to excess, much to their detriment. Then he adds turkey and cherry tomatoes. Looks delicious!
Challenge. This week’s challenge is the return of an oldie but a goodie: the half-mile car-pull. In Season Seven, Tara the Terminator shocked everyone by winning this event. The contestants stroll into the Auto Club Speedway and behold seven cars bearing their once-rotund likenesses on the hoods and painted in their original color. As they watch, a car comes tear-assing around the bend, goes into a spin, and screeches to a halt right near them, and NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer steps out. From their reactions, it would appear that both Austin and Rulon are huge NASCAR fans. Alison informs the group that they will indeed be repeating the car-pull challenge, but then she drops the bomb: Tara herself will be racing against them. She comes bounding up, and holy moly, she still looks incredible. In the last two years, she has started her own foundation (called the Inspire Change Foundation), which she started to help stamp out childhood obesity. She will also be competing in the World Championship Iron Man competition in Hawaii. And needless to say, if the guys are happy to see Clint, the ladies are super-psyched about competing against the biggest competitor the show has ever produced.
The prize for this event is a VIP weekend with Clint at a racing event in Richmond, as well as having their face on a Wheaties box and $5,000 cash. Pretty darn cool. Rulon relishes the chance to get his face on a Wheaties box, something he was denied even after he won a gold medal. After the gun, it becomes clear that this will be a race between Rulon and Tara. About halfway through, Austin makes a charge, but he ends up coming in third behind Rulon and Tara, who need to go to a photo-finish to determine a winner, who turns out to be Tara by mere inches. Bummer for Rulon, but Tara is happy about winning the prizes, especially the five grand for her foundation.
And just like that, it’s time for the last-chance workout, and all four of the regular trainers are back, even Jillian (who had to skip out on last week’s weigh-in because of a “family emergency”). Because of tonight’s shortened episode, I’m hoping that we didn’t miss anything truly noteworthy. Olivia and Hannah say that the Final Four is so close they can almost smell it, and are hoping to become the first all-girl team to make it to the end together. Austin says it’s been a life-changing week for him, because he now has to set his own standards rather than just living by his father’s.
Cara notices that while most of the contestants and trainers are working out in groups, Rulon has removed himself from the fray and is now working out on his own. Cara confronts him, and Rulon says that being on the show is not just about losing weight, it’s about finding one’s own path, and he himself is very close to finding his. In fact, he feels that he is ready to go home right now and begin the next phase of his life. Cara asks him straight-up if he will gain the weight back, and Rulon responds that it won’t happen. I thought for a moment that Cara would talk him into staying, but she backs him up, stating that she understands that being a former Olympic athlete, he’s been competing most of his life, and while the whole Biggest Loser circus is a life-changing experience, it’s also a competition, and Rulon’s had enough of that aspect of it.
Jillian has a heart-to-heart with Irene, who feels that the pressure of reaching that 100-pound milestone is getting to her more than it should. Jillian tells her to get out of her own head, and to acknowledge the amazing transformation she’s already undergone, because selling herself short is what got her to 255 pounds in the first place. Irene’s done the best of everyone this season, but she refuses to give herself credit, so Jillian does what Jillian does best: she shakes Irene by the shoulders and cranks her motivational speaker voice to 11. Finally, Irene breaks into tears and says the magic words, that she’s proud of herself and she’s worth all the struggle she’s put herself through.
That night, the contestants file into the gym for the weigh-in, but before it begins, Alison says that Rulon has requested to make an announcement to all assembled. So he climbs the stairs, mounts the scale and states that he has decided to leave the show for “personal reasons”. Everyone is thunderstruck, and are even more so when Rulon’s explanation for bowing out never comes. In interview, however, Rulon states that he feels that he has achieved every goal he set for himself on The Ranch, and now it’s time to tackle all the other problems and issues that he has at home. And without another word, he hugs all four trainers and exits the gym. Bob interviews that in all the years of doing the show, he’s never witnessed anything like this, and was convinced that Rulon was perfectly set up to win this season.
Well, given that there was one more person left to be eliminated than there were episodes remaining, I was anticipating the return of the Red Line and a double-elimination. I wonder: if Rulon hadn’t left, would there have been a Red Line? We’ll probably never know. But we are now officially back on track. After tonight there will be five, and after next week there the Final Four will be set. And here is how this week’s weigh-in went:
Olivia - lost 6 pounds, -3.57%, now stands at 162 (-99 overall).
Hannah - lost 5 pounds, -3.11%, now stands at 156 (-92 overall).
Austin - lost 7 pounds, -2.80%, now stands at 243 (-153 overall).
Jay - lost 7 pounds, -2.64%, now stands at 258 (-142 overall).
Below the Yellow Line:
Irene - lost 3 pounds, -1.91%, now stands at 154 (-101 overall).
Kaylee - gained 2 pounds, +1.23%, now stands at 165 (-68 overall).
What IS it with Kaylee? This is the third time she’s put weight back on! And despite losing three pounds, Irene is up for elimination for the first time since Week One (when her mother Ana was sent home). The elimination would seem to be a foregone conclusion: send home the heavy favorite to win and keep the girl who has been yo-yo-ing for the past two months and hasn’t a prayer of winning. That’s a no-brainer, isn’t it?
Kudos. To Irene, for losing three or more pounds in THIRTEEN consecutive weigh-ins, and for eclipsing the 100-pound-lost mark. To Hannah and Olivia, for having monster weeks despite having very little weight left to lose; and to Austin, for cracking 150 pounds lost this season and dropping below the 250 mark.
Elimination. Well, maybe not a no-brainer after all. With only four people casting votes, all Kaylee needed was two votes to send her home, and both Hannah and Olivia decided that their relationship with Irene outweighed game-strategy. That’s always nice to see, but I think that if Irene were to fall below the Yellow Line next week with either Hannah or Olivia, she won’t be so fortunate. Time will tell.
Standings. Irene continues to lead with 39.6% of her original weight lost, with Austin right behind at 38.6%. Olivia and Hannah are 3rd and 4th overall with 37.9% and 37.1% lost, respectively (and with, in all honesty, very little hope of catching Irene), and Jay trails the pack with 35.5% lost… but remember, he has the most still to lose.
Update. Today, Kaylee says that she has determined that the reason her weight has fluctuated so much is because she’s reached her goal weight. Really? She’s 5’5” and 165 is her goal weight? I mean, if she’s happy I’m happy, but I hope this is a mindset she can keep for years to come. She is also ecstatic that for the first time in her life, she’s finally “dating” material, and the man in her sights at the moment is none other than Vance, one-half of the White Team who got the chance to lose weight at home but weren’t able to win a spot back on the show. When he weighed in on Week 12, he had dropped 30 pounds and stood at 349. Since then, he’s dropped a further 44 pounds and now at 305. He looks a lot better, and they do make a cute couple. Best wishes to both of them. (No update on Rulon. I hope he’s not a no-show at the finale!)
Next week: It’s makeover week! With Tim Gunn! Get ready for fabulousness galore!
