Biggest Loser S12E08 - It's Never Good When You're Here, Alison

Ramon is heartbroken and upset his team helped vote out Jessica. John tries to explain how she was a threat and needed to go. Right away, Vinny comes to Ramon's side and says he hates Johns thinking. Bonnie looks bewildered knowing it was her who 'should' have gone home. Joe add his two cents, but it just makes Ramon madder. He asks to talk to Ramon later, but Ramon is not having it. Joe suddenly realizes they are in a divided house. Ramon realizes this also and knows he can't trust Joe any more. Vinny and Ramon then discuss how Joe may have made the biggest mistake of his game.

Before the trainers go in to talk to their teams, Alison meets them to discuss how things are going to operate for the week. This week each team is going to have only one person represent them at the weigh in. Only their weight is going to count. And the decision of who is going to represent each team will be decided on by the trainers. Bob, who loves the show but hates the game, hates this new twist.

Dolvett is worried because if his team doesn't win, the person he has picked is going to automatically go home. He's torn between picking John or Bonnie. He knows John puts up big numbers on the scale, so he's worried this could be a plateau week. As he ponders who he's going to choose he has a chat with Bonnie. He reminds her the best wegiht lost she's had so far is seven pounds. He challenges her to do better this week. He inspires her by letting her know no one (including herself) expects her to pass that number and he wants her to prove them wrong.

Anna focuses her attention on Sunny who instead of being happy after a big weight loss, isn't very happy. Sunny mentions how tired she is, so Anna hopes she can push her to have another weight loss this week. As she's doing that, Bob is talking with Becky and trying to figure out what driving her. She blames a lot of her weight gain on her father, even though she knows it's truly her own fault. Bob has Becky tell him all the good points about herself. When she's finished, he tells her how glad he is she's on his team.

Another interesting thing takes place at the next challenge, the trainers are going to be able to help their teams. The teams will be playing a sort of 'Top Chef' type game where they are given a set of ingredients and must make a healthy and tasty meal. There will be two guest judges for the contest, Olivia (@BL11Olivia) - the winner of last season's Biggest Loser and Chef Devin Alexander (@ChefDevin), the author of every Biggest Loser cook-book. The prize for winning will be several things. Olivia will sit down with the group, giving them the opportunity to question a former winner. Chef Devin will include the winning teams recipe in her newest Biggest Loser cookbook. The final thing teams win, will be a one pound weight advantage.

Before the challenge begins, the teams are given five minutes to discus what they are going to work on. After which, the teams set out immediately, given 30 minutes to come up with a winning dish. Bob helps the team as they go 'shopping' for the ingredients they are going to use. Antone is excited, as this is a great challenge for him. He's been in the restaurant business for the past five years so he thinks this is going to be an easy task. All being from the South, their dish is going to be a 'Slimmer, Summer Slaw'.

The blue team are worried, as none of them are great at cooking. They ultimately decide to work on a 'No mess, Tex Mex lettuce fajitas with chicken'. Sunny is happy to help work on a low calorie version of a Tex Mex they would normally make with beef with no trimmed fat.

Dolvett and his team are making a 'London Bridge' with asparagus tips. Dolvett explains the name, it's a dish "bridging the gap between bad eating and good eating". Having worked in the kitchen since he was five years old, Dolvett is very excited. After the last ten minutes start to tick away, he's worried they may not have cooked the meat long enough. Bonnie isn't so certain either but knows her son and grandson likes to eat their meat as raw as theirs are.

Once the time has drawn out, Alison takes the food out to the judges. There is a monitor in the kitchen which will allow the teams to see the reaction of the judges as they try each dish. They start with the 'London Bridge' and Olivia loves the colors but Devin is unimpressed with how rare it is. Olivia takes a closer listen to the plaste and thinks she can hear the meat still moving. From the kitchen, Vinny exclaims "♫London Bridge is Falling Down.♪" In the end, Olivia thinks the sweet potatoes with ginger are the star of the plate.
Calories - 440 / Fat - 9g

Judges take a look at the Tex Mex next. Devin likes how they seasoned the chicken directly, before cooking. Something some people fail to do. She also likes the grilled tortilla chips, giving them extra points. Both judges are wowed by the size of the plate for the limited calories.
Calories - 300 / Fat - 11g

The final entrée is the black teams Slimmer Summer Slaw with Pork Medallions. Olivia likes how it looks right away, thinking it does not look like diet food. Devin thinks they cooked the pork perfectly, but does not like the cranberry chutney and thinks it does not compliment the 'Asian Slaw' well enough.
Calories -210 / Fat - 7g

Taking into account, the taste, the calories and the effectiveness as a Biggest Loser themed dish, the judges unanimously decide on a winner. Olivia says it was a hard decision, but declares the Slimmer Summer Slaw the winner, Bob's black team wins again. The next day Olivia sits down for lunch with the black team and has a special prize for them. She's contacted their family and they each have a special scrap-book prepared for them to help encourage them.

A few of the contestants next meet with Dr. Huizenga who has brought in David Linden, a brain scientist from 'John Hopkins'. He studies and has a video prepared which explains how food affects the pleasure center of the brain. The video illustrates how a lean person when seeing or smelling food has a nominal release of a neurotransmitter Dopamine, triggering a slight desire for the food item. But an obese person has a much bigger release, triggering a larger craving for the food. But when the lean person eats the food item, the pleasure center gets a strong response from Dopamine and the obese person gets a smaller reaction, which drives him to eat more of the food.

Weigh in.
Earlier in the episode, Alison gave the trainers the job of picking only one person to represent each team. Now has come the time for each of them to do so. Bob chooses Becky,
Anna chooses Joe and Dolvett goes with John.

Red Team
Bonnie - 8 - 3.62% - "Becky, I'm in the teens!"
John - 10 - 3.04% - "I'm not happy at all. I completely let the red team down. In my eyes, I have failed."
Total - 3.04%

Black Team
Antone - 5 - 1.42% - "Who get's a five when you're six pounds away from 100?"
Vinny - 10 - 2.82% - "That's huge, I feel great."
Becky - 6 - 3.65% - "It kinda seemed like a 'Mission Impossible' for the black team but you know the black team has a few good men and one good woman."
Total - 3.65%* With the one pound advantage won earlier in the episode.

Blue Team
Sunny - 2 - .92% - "I'm glad Anna didn't choose me."
Ramon - 6 - 2.10% - "I'm glad she didn't pick me."
Joe - 2 - .74% - "I don't know what happened. I was doing my exercises and getting my burn."
Total - .74%

Vinny - Joe - Reason: Had to write down Joe's name.
Bonnie - Joe - Reason: Close to Sunny and "Us girls are trying to stick together".
Antone - Joe - Reason: Question of loyalty. Joe being leader of blue team deserves to go home.

Joe is floored by Antone's vote and hurt Vinny voted for him, despite their friendship. Since beginning the Biggest Loser, Joe has gone from 348 to 230 pounds. He can now ride the rollar coaster with his daughter at Dollywood.

"I don't go home a different man, I go home a better man."