The Biggest Loser is back for another season of second chances. The Biggest Loser 8 cast consists of 16 contestants, including one familiar face from last season, Daniel Wright, who weighed in as the heaviest contestant ever at age 19.
Bob and Jillian has a message for the people watching. These people aren’t like you. They are you.
Youth pastor Sean has two kids and another one on the way. He wants to be around long enough for his kids to remember him. College student Alexandra is unable to even fit into her college seat. Danny had a rock star dream 20 years ago and feels like somebody stole his life. With 9 grandchildren, Liz wants to start making the right choices. Coach Mo was a college athlete, but he’s no longer fit. Tracey blames loneliness from her husband being in the Marine Corps for her excessive eating habits.
The contestants see Allison. This isn’t the ranch, though. What’s up? She starts talking about the marathon from last season. They’re dropped off a mile away from where the marathon finished. It’s time for the first challenge. They will race the final mile of that marathon. The winner of the challenge will receive immunity. That person will also choose the partner for the remainder of the competition, and that person will also be immune. One more surprise. They’re greeted by contestant number 16, Dan from season 7, who weighed in at 312 pounds at the final weigh-in and is back to finish what he started.
Tracey takes off at the start with a sprint. Right behind her she sees the orange shirt, though. Unlike these others, Dan’s got some amount of workout experience behind him. In the back of the pack we see some immediate struggling with knee pain. Knee pain is your body’s way of telling you to lose weight (it’s not a hint to take an elevator). Dan ends up finishing the mile first in 14:07. Then a bunch of other people who I don’t know who they are yet cross behind him. Mo needs oxygen after his run. Tracey, who had done well and was close the lead, all of a sudden collapses with about 100 yards to go. She says she’s fine, but her legs are jelly. With the assistance of the other contestants, she manages to finish the race. Once that task is accomplished, the paramedics surround her. She is not responding and has to be airlifted out of there.
When they arrive at the ranch, the others are informed that Tracey and Mo are doing fine. They will stay in the hospital as a precaution, but they will remain in the game.
Allen is a firefighter who’s worried that he may not be able to rescue someone some day because he’s not fit enough to get to them. Rudy was a lineman in college. After school, he kept eating but stopped working out. Rebecca weighed 235 pounds at age 14. Shay grew up in foster care. She doesn’t believe in giving up, but she’s never tried to work on herself either. Danny’s age 39. He made a promise to his girls that when he turned 40, he’d change his life, so here he is. Abby lost her husband and children in a car accident two and a half years ago. She doesn’t know what she wants to do, but today she did a mile.
Now it’s time to pick teams. People will select their partners based on challenge finish.
Orange Team
Daniel
Shay
Green Team
Allen
Abby
Pink Team
Amanda
Rebecca
Blue Team
Rudy
Dina
Red Team
Antoine
Sean
Brown Team
Liz
Danny
Black Team
Alexandra
Julio
That leaves the two remaining in the hospital as the last team.
Purple Team
Mo
Tracey
Time for the first weigh-in. Last season was the most shocking yet, but I don’t think the shocks are over.
Amanda: 250 pounds
Rebecca: 279 pounds
Pink Total: 529 pounds
Allen: 325 pounds
Abby: 247 pounds
Green Total: 572 pounds
Alexandra: 309 pounds
Julio: 407 pounds
Black Total: 716 pounds
Rudy: 442 pounds
Dina: 253 pounds
Blue Total: 695 pounds
Liz: 267 pounds
Danny: 430 pounds
Black Total: 697 pounds
Antoine: 367 pounds
Sean: 444 pounds
Red Total: 811 pounds
Daniel: 312 pounds
Shay: 476 pounds (heaviest person ever)
Orange Total: 788 pounds
So who are they training with? Both of them. This time, Bob and Jillian will be working together rather than against each other. This should be a nice change of pace from last season’s whining about how it’s unfair that someone had to change from Bob’s team.
The first workout leads to plenty of crying, vomiting, and falling on the floor. It’s not long before we hear the words “I can’t.” Jillian tells Shay to go ahead and quit, but Bob doesn’t want her to have that option. Regardless, she still can’t. Out the door she goes. Jillian wants to give her some space so that she doesn’t get any attention for being a quitter. She doesn’t have a day. Bob suggests 10 minutes. They compromise on half an hour as Shay sits outside crying. After some time outside, Shay decides to return back inside. Jillian tells her if she quits on her again, she goes home.
That night, Mo returns from the hospital, and he’s recovered from his symptoms of dehydration, low blood sugar, and low blood pressure. No word yet when his partner’s coming back from the hospital, but he’ll workout until she does.
The contestants make their way to see Dr. H for what’s going to be bad news. This season the hope is to use the information to set guidelines for future weight loss research. Sean doesn’t think he has diabetes… he is informed he’s wrong. He needs to get out of his denial that he has no medical problems. At his weight, that’s just not possible. Mo’s biological age is 69, compared to his actual age of 55. He doesn’t think this is right for someone who spends his life teaching people. Shay’s got 55% body fat and is at the point where her fat is flowing over into her lungs. Her biological age is 45, as compared with her chronological age of 29. Her mom died at 48 years old and was also morbidly obese.
Bob can tell this group’s got a lot of baggage, and their lives are fragmented because of it.
After the last chance workout, it’s time for the weigh-in. Only one member of the team that falls below the yellow line will be going home.
Daniel: 300 pounds (-12, 3.85%)
Shay: 459 pounds (-17, 3.57%)
Orange Total: 759 pounds (-29, 3.68%, immune)
Amanda: 244 pounds (-6, 2.40%)
Rebecca: 261 pounds (-18, 6.45%)
Pink Total: 505 pounds (-24, 4.54%)
Rudy: 414 pounds (-28, 6.33%)
Dina: 253 pounds (-8, 3.16%)
Blue Total: 659 pounds (-36, 5.18%)
Antoine: 349 pounds (-18 4.90%)
Sean: 422 pounds (-22, 4.95%)
Red Total: 771 pounds (-40, 4.93%)
Liz: 257 pounds (-10, 3.75%)
Danny: 406 pounds (-24, 5.58%)
Brown Total: 663 pounds (-34, 4.88%)
Allen: 306 pounds (-19, 5.85%)
Abby: 232 pounds (-15, 6.07%)
Green Total: 538 pounds (-34, 5.94%)
Alexandra: 296 pounds (-13, 4.21%)
Julio: 394 pounds (-13, 3.19%)
Black Total: 690 pounds (-26, 3.63%)
Mo: 336 pounds (-19, 5.35%)
With his weight loss, Coach Mo has managed to keep himself there and give Tracey another shot. The black team has fallen below the yellow line. Alexandra’s angry at her partner, but Julio is also upset at himself. To be fair, she was close to the back of the pack as well, though. Do they take out the threat, or is this the point of the game where they have mercy?
Votes
Purple: Alexandra
Pink: Julio
Red: Julio
Orange: Julio
Brown: Alexandra
Blue: Alexandra
Green: Alexandra
By a vote of 4-3, Alexandra has been voted out. Having been granted another chance, Julio needs to step it up and maybe stop with his falling down routine in the gym. Since returning home, Alexandra has lost 60 pounds, and she hopes to be able to motivate her family to do the same. She says she had a crush on somebody on the ranch but didn’t have the confidence to talk to him. We’ll have to stay tuned to find out who that somebody is.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser 8 Episode 2, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.