The most recent episode of Biggest Loser begins with a horrifically transformed kitchen and Alison dressed as the bride of Frankenstein (Or rather Frankenstein's monster, but I'm splitting hairs here). She relates some interesting facts; there are 20 million pounds of candy corn sold every year and the average person eats about 24 pounds of candy a year. Of course these facts are related to a challenge / temptation for the week. If all three teams can lose a combined total of a 100 pounds, everyone will be guaranteed immunity for one more week. However, the trick to this challenge is a pot of candy hanging in the kitchen weighing 10 pounds. For each pound of candy eaten, they will receive a one pound advantage at weight in; up to ten pounds. Essentially, all teams are working as one. The trainers will still be available, and will be working with whomever they wish.
The red team explains to Dolvett how the week is going to work. Dolvett is excited and claims he's been waiting for this. There are a few people he wants to get his hands on.
Back in the kitchen, Joe and Sunny are looking at the candy in the pot. Joe explains him and Candy have recently 'broken up' but they've had some good times. Sunny decides to weigh a pound of the candy just to see how much it is. Joe proposes she eat one pound of candy and he can eat the other nine. She admits they don't need it and begins walking away slyly as Joe notices the pound of candy she weighed out is now missing. Of course, she's just messing with him.
Cue the gym, and the trainers are taking the opportunity to work with new people. Dolvett works with Antone, John and Joe as Bob works on Bonnie, Becky, Vinny and Ramon. Bob thinks Bonnie has been coddled and really wants to challenge her. Unlike Anna, she seems to take well to his approach. Finally, Anna is working with Sunny, Jessica and Jennifer. As they are working out by lying on the ground and using ankle weights, Anna detects Jennifer is too attached to Bob and hopes she will work as hard with the other trainers. As the day goes on, others begin to notice Jennifer is also pinning after Bob's attention.
As Dolvett works with John, he tries to get him to open up. Despite having his wife and two adopted children, he talks about the rough times he's had in recent years. They lost their house and had a failed adoption. What happened was after giving all their money to an adoption agency, it went bankrupt. On top of that, his father recently died. How did John deal with all this? Instead of expressing his emotions, he's bottled them up and turned to food. Dolvett then shares a few similarities between the both of them. Like John, he's a middle child and always felt like a peace maker, much like John. Also, Dolvett was adopted along with three others. So he can relate to most of what John's feeling. Dolvett encourages him to deal with problems and not hold everything in. Holding things in just creates more problems.
During a product placement moment for Jennie-O Turkey Sausage, Jessica, Ramon and Vinny are in the kitchen. Jessica gives Vinny a few links and he decides to eat them while being tempted. He sits in front of the pot of candy and does sit ups as he eats. Everyone has a big laugh about this, especially Ramon and Jessica who are showing signs up a budding relationship.
The challenge for the week can result in a 5 or 10 pound advantage. Outside is a maze filled with apples. In order to get a 5 pound weight advantage they need to collect 150 pounds worth of apples. If they can collect 200 pounds of apples they will get the 10 pound advantage. The trick is, there is a time limit and if anyone is still in the maze after the time has run out, they will receive a 5 pound disadvantage. Jennifer compares the collection of apples to an Easter Egg hunt. Within a few minutes of the challenge, they win the 5 pound advantage. Everyone opts to keep searching for more apple. With one minute left, they have still not made the 200 pounds, but very close. Instead of waiting, they decide to go back in and see if they can finish collecting the 200 pounds. The clock ticks down to 10 seconds and there are still a few people in the maze trying to collect apples. Everyone but Joe are finally out of the maze as the last few seconds tick down. Editing certainly makes it look as if they are going to lose the challenge but returning from commercial break shows Alison counts down to one as Joe runs out, just in time. The apples weigh over 200 pounds so they have won the 10 pound weight advantage at the weigh in.
When Bob stops by, the teams decide to play a dirty trick on Bob. They hide all the candy from the pot and tell him the 10 pound advantage they have is from eating all the candy. Joe realizes this is probably a bad idea stating "This is going to end ugly", but the group decide to do it anyway. After they tell Bob, he seriously looses it. He tells them that's pathetic and he hates 'that way of thinking' (eating candy to gain the weight advantage), and finds it disgusting. They finally tell him the truth, but he's still not amused.
As the group works in the gym once more, only Bob is there to train everyone. He is about to put them through one of his circuits, but tells them after his workout they will be moving to the tennis court where Anna is going to put them through her cardio tennis training. Once she's through with the group, they will move on to Dolvett. While Bob works the teams, he concentrates on Bonnie once again and has her both crying and laughing; she seems to be really drawn to his personality. Sunny realizes working with all three trainers is not going to be easy and calls them the 'Triangle of Death'. As Anna takes the court she has the contestants continually moving their feet as they smack tennis balls around as the sun beats down on them. Dolvett is last but not least and has designed a circuit he calls 'Pure Energy'. He's jazzed to give the best work out they've ever received. He wants the opportunity to touch the people he hasn't touched yet. Meanwhile, Jennifer claims she's 'spent', and others perceive she's not trying her hardest with any of the trainers outside of Bob. Vinny especially notices this, but opts not to say anything. Once the workout is done, Dolvett encourages them to hug themselves and think about what motivates each of them as it will fuel them. He yells out "Hard Work" and the group shout back, "Dedication". As he shouts "Dedication", they yell back "Hard Work". Most of the group do so loud and proud, but again Vinny thinks Jennifer is not as dedicated as the rest are; in fact she's actually crying.
Just before the last chance workout, Bob decides to have his own fun with candy. He brings Vinny, Sunny and Joe outside to show them just how funny candy can be. In a wheelbarrow full of candy, he has Sunny sitting while Joe and Vinny struggle to push her up a hill to where Bob is waiting.
It's time for the last chance workout, but before moving to the gym, Bob, Dolvett & Anna show up dressed as the Three Musketeers. As the theme for the week has been all for one and one for all, they decided to dress the part. As they are about to move to the gym, Bob tells everyone to grab buckets of candy as they will be part of their work out. Sure enough, Anna has the groups using the buckets of candy as dumbbells. As that's going on Bob has Antone climb on Jessica's back as Joe climbs on Becky's back. Antone is afraid of hurting Jessica but the girls agree they shouldn't be treated any differently. Once Bob is finished with Jessica, Anna decides to spend some time with her. She has Jessica explain how she gained her weight and Jessica admits she was in a six year relationship where she 'lost herself'. Because of this she began to feel ugly and fat. Suddenly Anna changes the topic and asks Jessica about her relationship with Ramon. This shocks Jessica, especially when Anna continues to warn her of not letting the relationship distract her from her fitness goals.
Weigh-In
Black TeamJohn -10 - "I didn't come to make or break records...I came to get healthy."
Antone -8 - "I feel like I fell short...but eight pounds is respectable."
Joe -8 - "I want to be biggest loser because I want immunity."
Sunny +5 - "No more feeling safe. I have to give everything I've got if I want to stay in this house."
Jennifer -4 - "I know everyone thinks I'm dependent on Bob, but at this point I am. He knows how to push me and I haven't really been with him in a couple weeks."
Blue TeamBonnie -1 - "One? That's a real shocker."
Becky -1 - "It's incredibly disappointing."
Red TeamVinny -5 - "I wonder if it's got something to do with the full moon."
Jessica -4 - "I'm happy."
Ramon -2 - "It seems like something new.... is happening with my body... I feel like I can come in here and do everything all day long."
Not having lost the 90 pounds needed to keep everyone safe. Someone will be sent home. Before they leave to deliberate who it'll be, Anna has some advice for Ramon and Jessica. She reminds the love birds it's not only in the gym they have to focus, they also have to keep attentive to what they do in the house, how much sleep they are getting and what they are eating. Jessica is upset with the advice and says just because they've been 'outed' as a couple, it doesn't mean the small weight loss between her and Ramon is a reflection of the relationship. Ramon see's Anna's point but still disagrees with how she brought it up while he's still on the scale. Alison finally sends everyone away, reminding them John in the biggest loser of the week and therefore immune from being voted out.
While everyone is apologizing for doing bad at this weigh in and promising to do better, Jennifer decides to speak to the group and apologizes for putting up 'walls'. She realizes she has a lot to work on. Vinny finally speaks up and says maybe she's not working well with the other trainers because she's not letting them help her, only Bob. He's also upset she had a silent look on her face when Dolvett was trying to motivate them earlier. She claims she was but Vinny storms out and calls her a liar. When Jennifer asks the others how they feel, everyone is silent. Joe thinks Jennifer's attitude was not 'one for all' and she's only brought tension to the group.
The Vote:
Vinny - Jennifer - Reason: She needs to discover her demons at home.
Jessica - Jennifer - Reason: I've come to change my life and not let other peopoe affect me.
Ramon - Jennifer - Reason: It's time to clean up the atmosphere, clean up the house. I can not be surrounded by negativity any more.
Jennifer - Ramon - Reason: He can pull big numbers.
John - Ramon - Reason: I know this person can do anything.
Joe - Jennifer - Reason: I need to base this decision on what's best for me.
Antone - Jennifer - Reason: Wants a clean conscious and surprised she told Bob she was an outsider. She's become a major distraction.
Sunny - Jennifer - Reason: In order to have a more cohesive team and less stressful house.
Bonnie and Becky's votes unrevealed.
Despite being voted out, Jennifer knows she can do this, even with her knee injury. But she admits there are things about herself that didn't mesh with others contestants.
Starting Weight: 330 - Current Weight: 228
As some of you are probably aware, I run not one, not two, but three blogs. Back in the day I only had one blog, but suddenly felt it was getting confusing with all my Health and Fitness posts mixed with my Science Fiction post. So I decided to launch a separate blog dedicated solely to Fitness. This left the other blog for everything else. However during the next few months I started to do more Doctor Who episode reviews. Because of that, any blog postings of my photography, poetry or other writings quickly got buried. So, I decided to split my blog once more. But I digress - As I did last year I've decided to create a cross-over blog. This will post on all three sites and highlight various postings of each. If you like what you see, please leave a comment.
