This year’s big (presumably lame) twist lopped the cast in half, as the 9 teams below the yellow line each sent one person home in The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 1. Shannon, Sione, Laura, Aubrey, Nicole, David, Carla, Cathy, and Estella all went home, being left with merely the hope that their teammates can last 30 days to bring them back.
The people who went home are all talking about how this is a lesson that anyone can do this at home. Granted, these people have all probably tried (sorta) and failed in the past at this. As far as gameplay goes, the wise thing here would be to just not bother so they can go back and drop a bunch of weight on arrival to remain in the game. David doesn’t seem to have learned anything from his stay at the ranch, ordering hot dogs and french fries when he gets back home. At least his portions look reasonable, though.
Allison greets them with a temptation. She offers them a piece of the grand prize to step across the line. Whoever agrees to this gets $5,000. If one person steps across the line, they are speaking for their partner as well. No takers on the first offer. She ups it to $10,000. And then a final offer of $25,000. As much as they play up Joelle wanting to take the money, it’s obvious nobody is going to grab the cash.
Bob and Jillian hate week two, but Bob claims he’s over it and thinks he can produce results.
Joelle’s struggling in the gym especially. She doesn’t enjoy being there and doesn’t hide it. If she doesn’t pick it up, she’ll have passed on the $25k for nothing. Meanwhile, it becomes more and more clear that she should have let Carla stay like she wanted. Should Joelle get eliminated, she might want to consider hiring a bodyguard to protect herself from Carla.
The challenge is to race sea kayaks and then climb a mountain on foot. Reward is immunity at the weigh-in and a phone call home. Second, third, and fourth place will also get the call. The last person to cross the finish line will be penalized with a one pound disadvantage. Dane and Ron will sit out for the teams with two people each (Blaine and Mike will sit out next week). Blaine takes the lead to start off with and retains it to shore. Helen’s doing surprisingly well and is keeping pretty close to him. Tara manages to pass her and is on Blaine’s heels. Mandi and Mike lead the middle of the pack. Kristin, Jerry, Dan, and Joelle follow them. On the way up the mountain, Blaine’s still in the lead, but Tara makes a move and passes him in the final stretch. He thinks he’s going to be able to catch up if he catches his breath a bit, but Tara ends up winning the challenge. A sore Blaine still gets the phone call home. Mandi comes in third, and the last phone call home goes to Helen. Mike is fifth. Damien is behind him. Kristin takes seventh, with Joelle in eighth and Filipe in ninth. The battle for last is between Dan and Jerry. Jerry crosses the finish line in tenth. Dan gets hit with the one pound penalty, but he still continues and manages to cross the finish line with the support of the others. Tara offers her phone call to Filipe.
Filipe tells his wife he’s down to using his inhaler every few days. Blaine uses his call home to talk to his wife, whose due date is right around the corner. Helen calls Shannon with her only phone call (like jail).
Jillian’s a little nutty in the last chance workout. She stacks about 600 pounds for Dane to leg press, then she has Blaine hop on top of the thing to make it more of a challenge. She’s impressed with Jerry’s heart but is concerned that he doesn’t have the stamina to keep up with the others. Dan manages to get up to 7 miles an hour on the treadmill, mostly because he wants Jillian to keep bumping up the speed so he can knock off the extra pound.
Joelle’s plan is to fake it until she makes it. That won’t fly with Bob. She keeps jumping off the treadmill every time at 20 seconds, which causes Bob to swear repeatedly. Jillian says she’s never seen him that mad before. After a lot of yelling that indicates Bob may quite possibly need a cruise or a massage, he has them start up again. This time Joelle makes it to 25 seconds instead of 30. He tells her to “shut the **** up” after this. Jillian’s team is happy to see Bob falling apart. After another uncomfortable to watch rant, we see Joelle hit the 30 second mark, but she doesn’t look overly happy about it.
It’s time for the weigh-in, which will be done in the order in which they completed the challenge.
Tara: 272 pounds (-1, 0.36%)
Good thing she’s immune.
Blaine: 335 pounds (-16, 4.56%)
Dane: 378 pounds (-14, 3.57%)
Total: 713 pounds (-30, 4.04%)
Mandi: 245 pounds (-6, 2.39%)
Helen: 237 pounds (-8, 3.27%)
Mike: 359 pounds (-7, 1.91%)
Ron: 386 pounds (-12, 3.01%)
Total: 745 pounds (-19, 2.49%)
Damien: 355 pounds (-9, 2.47%)
Kristin: 331 pounds (-10, 2.93%)
Filipe: 338 pounds (-9, 2.59%)
Joelle: 294 pounds (-2, 0.68%)
Jerry: 343 pounds (-1, 0.29%)
Dan: 421 pounds (-3, +1, 0.47%)
The challenge played a huge impact here. Had Tara not won immunity or had Dan not come in last, Dan would not be below the yellow line. Alongside him is the other person with the most desperate need to be there, Jerry. As for Joelle, she just barely limped through the week, and she knows it. Ron has a message for the others. Jerry can get back to his wedding weight, but Dan needs to be there because if he doesn’t, he’ll never lose the weight and keep it off. Despite a few hiccups, this was a pretty successful week two overall.
Kristin: Jerry
Filipe: Jerry
Damien: Jerry
Tara: Jerry
Ron: Jerry
Following an emotional vote, Jerry (and his wife Estella) has been eliminated so that the heaviest contestant ever can continue his journey. He wants all the seniors out there to get off the sofa and get going. He’s down from his starting weight of 369 pounds to 285 today. He’s no longer got diabetes or any of his other diseases from before. Estella is now down below 200 pounds from her starting weight of 242.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser 7 Episode 3, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.