The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 1 started off the season with the elimination of five people. First, the two last place teams in the opening challenge (Cherita & Victoria and Sunshine & O’Neal) were sent home for 30 days and will compete against each other for the right to return. Then, after the vote of which twin to eliminate, James was sent packing.
It’s week two, so now we’ve gotta hear about this week two curse for most of the next two hours.
Jillian asks John how somebody gets to 500 pounds. Comfort food. Oh really? He says he’s cursed, seeing as so many of his family members have died. That’s the path he himself is headed down of he doesn’t shape up.
Dr. H is there. This is the sickest group. Ever. Again. Patti was told 20 years ago that she had diabetes, which she chose to ignore. He hands out envelopes which he hopes will help eliminate some of this denial that has landed these people in their current positions. The white team’s task is to watch a normal weight man simulate his weight, meaning 303 pounds of excess hydrated fat. They toss the weights on Bob, who becomes miserable with the weight before he even reaches the full amount. The purple team gets to see a video in which the doctor makes a house call to their family, telling them how bad off they are. Red team finds out their true cost of being overweight (including that Lance lost his job by refusing to change, not to mention that their marriage is failing): over $3 million. The orange team gets to watch how their old diet affects a healthy person. Jillian must eat one of their meals. Calories (lots of them) coming from processed foods that are pure crap. Jillian has to pretend she’s repulsed by these meals. No doubt the size of the meals is ridiculous and more than any normal person can eat, but I find it hard to believe that they don’t taste good.
When they head to the challenge, they see a pool. Each team has a balance beam: 3.5 inches wide and 40 feet across. They will need to take 10 beach balls across the balance beam, put them in the tower, and get back safely. If they fall into the pool, they have to start at the beginning. The winning team will get immunity. The losing team will get a 2 pound penalty. Because of her diabetes, Patti has numb feet, which she says gives her horrible balance. Maria is terrified because she does not like water. Daris is the first one to put a point on the board, giving the orange team the lead. Pink, grey, and red also score. Eventually, black and red are battling for the lead. On the other side of the spectrum, with Maria having panic attacks, white scores its first point after some teams have put up 6 or 7. John follows the white team with his first point a long ways behind everybody else. Black team is the first to 9. Red ties it when Andrea falls in, but her next time across is successful. Red team wins immunity. Black team comes in second. Orange places third. Pink finishes next. Then green. Grey is after that, followed by purple. That leaves white against brown in the battle for last. Maria continues to panic, but as paranoid as she is of falling in the water, the real danger is land. Rather than falling in the water, she goes the other way face first toward cement. She falls and gets a bloody nose before being hauled away to the hospital. Mike wants to go with her, without concern that it will mean a loss and penalty, so the white team loses the challenge.
Maria gets out of the hospital with a sore nose, black eye, and fractured finger. Afterward, Bob tells Mike he didn’t have to take care of his mom. He’s there to take care of himself, and she had a whole medical team looking after her. For her part, Maria’s going to have to get in the pool, which Jillian will make her do whether she wants to or not.
Back to the doc for another wake up call. Andrea has a greater risk of heart attack than 98% of others in her age bracket. Darrell may well have won sickest man on campus. Maria’s risk of developing diabetes over the next 5 years is 33%. Michael’s body fat is potentially fatal. Cheryl’s inner age is 75, 24 years older than she really is. In addition to her obesity, she also smokes. Koli tosses and turns all night long because of his sleep apnea, so he never gets a good night’s sleep. Ashley’s inner age is 57, more than double her real age. Also, she’s a diabetic.
Melissa: 215 pounds (+1, 0.46%)
Lance: 336 pounds (-8, 2.33%)
Red Total: 551 pounds (-7, 1.25%, immune)
With immunity in hand, Melissa decides to play the game. Hard to blame her.
Sam: 345 pounds (-9, 2.54%)
Koli: 366 pounds (-8, 2.14%)
Grey Total: 711 pounds (-17, 2.34%)
Ashley: 345 pounds (-8, 2.27%)
Sherry: 196 pounds (-5, 2.49%)
Pink Total: 541 pounds (-13, 2.35%)
Migdalia: 245 pounds (-4, 1.61%)
Miggy: 219 pounds (-8, 3.52%)
Green Total: 464 pounds (-12, 2.52%)
Patti: 216 pounds (-4, 1.82%)
Stephanie: 243 pounds (-3, 1.22%)
Purple Total: 459 pounds (-7, 1.50%)
Cheryl: 210 pounds (-3, 1.41%)
Daris: 310 pounds (-7, 2.21%)
Orange Total: 520 pounds (-10, 1.89%)
John: 451 pounds (-10, 2.17%)
Andrea: 279 pounds (-5, 1.76%)
Darrell: 373 pounds (-10. 2.61%)
Black Total: 652 pounds (-15, 2.25%)
Maria: 258 pounds (-10, 3.73%)
Michael: 481 pounds (-11, 2.24%)
White Total: 739 pounds (-21, +2, 2.50%)
That puts the purple team Patti & Stephanie below the yellow line. Presumably the mom will fall on the sword for her daughter, which is exactly what happens. Patti says she’s ready to go, but Stephanie says she cannot do it at home.
Votes
John: Patti
Ashley & Sherry: Patti
Maria & Michael: Patti
Sam & Koli: Patti
Melissa & Lance: Patti
With 5 votes, Patti is not The Biggest Loser. She is down from her starting weight of 243 pounds to 200 pounds today. From a start of 9 medications, she’s down now to just a couple, hoping to be off all of them and no longer be a diabetic by the finale.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 3, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.