Following black team’s loss in The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 8, the younger group stuck together and voted out Cheryl.

With Cheryl’s departure, Daris is now momless for the remainder of his stay on campus.

For the pop challenge, they will answer trivia questions based on a Biggest Loser book. Reward is a visit to a hotel in Westlake Village with a “world class meal” (that probably means a lot of calories) and spa treatments. As a punishment, the losing team will have to clean the kitchen… and the gym.

How much fiber does 1 cup of brown rice have compared to 1 cup of white rice?
3.5 times. Ashley is incorrect. Daris is correct to take the lead 1-0 for blue.

Which is a source of omega-3 fatty acids?
Salmon. Andrea answers blueberries incorrectly. Koli is correct to take the lead 2-0.

What fruit contains the highest amount of ellagic acid?
Strawberries. Lance incorrectly answers pomegrantes. Sam answers correctly to make it 2-1.

Which grain promotes blood pressure control?
The answer is none of the above (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and flax seed). O’Neal answers flax seed incorrectly. Sherry is correct to tie them at 2-2. Oat fiber is unique in its effect in promoting blood pressure control.

How many calories does a 1 ounce serving of avocado have?
50 calories. Michael is correct. Blue team wins the challenge.

The guys head out to get a spa treatment, while the girls get stuck at home cleaning.

The following day, the blue team returns in their limo, and now the work begins. They realize they’ve missed some workout time.

Ashley says she’s getting frustrated. She’s more focused on her mom than herself.

Michael got a message from his mom that his grandmother’s health is not good, so he will be heading home for a while.

For the challenge, Curtis Stone, the guy from The Celebrity Apprentice, is there. They need to cook an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert, using only 12 ingredients. Once a team chooses an ingredient, it’s off the board. The food will need to be nutritious, and it will need to taste good. They will have 30 minutes to complete the challenge. The winning team gets a 5 pound advantage at the weigh-in, which could potentially be huge. With Michael at home, blue team will have to do without their best cook.

Black team chooses the shrimp, which quickly removes what the blue team had intended to make for their appetizer. In turn, blue team chooses tomatoes, thereby eliminating black team’s ability to make shrimp seviche. Black team picks salmon; blue team chooses pork loin. Then from there they just rush through a ton of random ingredients. Blue team is cooking salad, pork tenderloin, and raspberries with chocolate drizzle. Black team is cooking salmon, wild rice, and pear/goat cheese/strawberries (where else you gonna get that combo?). Curtis is giving Daris hints/warnings about pork. On the other team, Sherry said she was worried about the rice, and Curtis seems to think she had good reason. That takes the longest to cook out of all the rices.

Curtis likes the black team’s light appetizer. He’s also complimentary of the blue team’s appetizer, although they are wrong about their calories (135, not 25). With the high calories from the blue team, black team takes the 1-0 lead. Black team has left the skin on their salmon, where there may be a lot of fat. Their total calories for the entree is 557, a lot higher than the 250 they were aiming for. Curtis is having trouble swallowing the blue team’s pork, but he overall likes their dish and the 297 calories. It’s tied 1-1 and now down to dessert. Blue team’s dessert is 92 calories. As Curtis has shown us before, just because it has chocolate doesn’t have to mean it’s heavy. Black team’s dessert is only 60 calories, and they’ve won the challenge. Interesting considering black team’s massive entree puts their total meal at a higher calorie count.

Michael returns to campus with not good news. His grandmother’s not able to breathe on her own any more. But one of the last things she said to him was to kick some ass.

Heading into the weigh-in, black team has sizeable 5 pound advantage. That’s 0.42% before anyone gets on the scale.

Andrea: 238 pounds (-5, 2.06%)
Sam: 278 pounds (-8, 2.80%)
Ashley: 286 pounds (-7, 2.39%)
Sherry: 163 pounds (-3, 1.81%)
Stephanie: 208 pounds (-2, 0.95%)
Black Total: -25, -5, 2.50%

Lance: 282 pounds (-8, 2.76%)
Daris: 248 pounds (-10, 3.88%)
Koli: 297 pounds (-9, 2.94%) - second person to lose over 100 pounds
O’Neal: 302 pounds (-9, 2.89%)
Sunshine: 216 pounds (-9, 4.00%)
Michael: 397 pounds (-11, 2.70%)
Blue Total: -56, 3.11%

Despite the advantage essentially giving them an extra person, the black team is heading to the elimination room. With the highest percentage of weight loss on his team, Sam is safe. As the last remaining mom on campus, Sherry’s the clear target, although her daughter will obviously vote to keep her around. Stephanie begs to be kept around, despite her poor performance on the scale, or perhaps because of it.

Votes
Ashley: Andrea
Andrea: Sherry
Sam: Sherry
Sherry: Andrea
Stephanie: Sherry

With 3 votes, Sherry is not The Biggest Loser. From her starting weight of 218 pounds, Sherry is now down to 138. She doesn’t have enough to lose that she’s likely to win the at home prize, but she’s sure going to make a strong contender.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 10, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

After the split to blue and black in The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 7, Miggy was voted out.

O’Neal is now a member of the blue team, which lost last week in the most shocking elimination ever (that really wasn’t all that shocking). He’s being reunited with his daughter Sunshine.

Ali warns them that one day they will have to go home again and handle distractions. Darn. With that in mind, this is work week. They will have an 8 hour shift and will commute. They’ll have to squeeze in working out when they can because the gym won’t be open 24 hours either. Their job for the week will be to work alongside the volunteers at Feeding America.

To kick things off and not have to worry about it later, they will have to pull a semi, each of which weighs 33,000 pounds. Along the way, they will have to load puzzle pieces and then complete a puzzle at the end. Reward is groceries for a year. O’Neal is the puzzle picker upper for blue with everybody else pulling the truck, but despite the fact that he’s just going along for the run and they’re pulling a truck, he can’t keep up, no doubt raising concern among the rest of the team. Over on the slow to start black team, Sherry is the puzzle piece person. It goes without saying that black’s running behind on this challenge, but O’Neal’s giving them a fighting chance. At the third station of three, O’Neal’s pulled it together to allow the blue team to have the lead as they head into the puzzle. Spelling out the puzzle phrase first, blue team wins the challenge, leading to lots of screaming.

Bob’s shameless promotional tip of the week is The Biggest Loser Protein Powder. Hmm, I like this 2GO Pak idea of individually wrapped protein packets.

When they arrive at the LA Regional Food Bank, they have their choice of jobs. O’Neal and Andrea get desk jobs and call to thank people for their support. Sam, Koli, Ashley, Lance, and Sunshine opt for distribution, which will allow them to sweat while they work. Cheryl and Sherry do inventory together because they get along like sisters. Daris and Michael also join in on the inventory, finding out they’ve got a boring task.

While they’re at lunch, they get a visit from a guy whose dad died at 33 because he was overweight. Not having learned from that experience, he has now hit the size of these contestants, but he comes to talk to them and see if he can get some tips how to change, since he has just hit age 33 himself.

Having started the day off with a workout, they return home at 6:00, at which time they promptly head into the gym because it’s closing in less than an hour. I guess the lesson here is supposed to be that gyms at home are not open all day long. Not even 24 Hour Fitness? Granted, it forces the contestants into a schedule. The need for 8 hours of sleep a day is hard to fulfill if you’re working out at midnight and then waking up early in the morning.

On day 2, they head to a distribution site to distribute fresh vegetables in the rain. From there, the cycle continues. Fast forward to lunch day 3. Sam forgot his lunch. Perhaps he can buy from the vending machine. Perhaps not. Insisting there’s nothing healthy there, it appears his plan is to skip lunch. Surely that’s not more healthy than eating some junk food. Stephanie thinks she saw a Subway on the way there. How convenient.

Cheryl and Sherry get to talking. They’re both in fear that they’re at the top of the order to be cut if the black team loses.

For the first time since returning to campus, O’Neal does not have immunity. He’s there for his daughter, though, and he’d rather go home instead of her, should it come to that.

O’Neal: 311 pounds (-5, 1.58%)
Sunshine: 225 pounds (-7, 3.02%)
Michael: 408 pounds (-9, 2.16%)
Koli: 306 pounds (-10, 3.16%)
Daris: 258 pounds (-9, 3.37%)
Lance: 290 pounds (-10, 3.33%)
Blue Total: -50 pounds, 2.71%

Andrea: 243 pounds (-7, 2.80%)
Ashley: 293 pounds (-8, 2.66%)
Cheryl: 182 pounds (-5, 2.67%)
Sherry: 166 pounds (-5, 2.92%)
Stephanie: 210 pounds (-3, 1.41%)
Sam: 286 pounds (-4, 1.38%)
Black Total: -32 pounds, 2.27%

After a competitive start, the last two members of the black team fall flat, putting them below the yellow line. As the person with the most weight loss on her team, Sherry is safe. Andrea’s theory is that they should base it on how far everyone is away from their goal weight. Lame. But what it does is highlight Sam. He says he’s 50 pounds away from his goal weight. I don’t know. 235 pounds sounds like a lot still. At the end of the day, though, if he thinks that’s all he has left to lose, his usefulness to the team is at an end.

Votes
Sam: Cheryl
Stephanie: Cheryl
Cheryl: Stephanie
Sherry: Sam
Ashley: Cheryl

With three votes, Cheryl is not The Biggest Loser. From her starting weight of 227, she is now down to 164 pounds today. She now plans to live forever.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 9, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

Melissa fell below the red line and was sent packing in The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 6. Then the two people who fell below the yellow line, Darrell and Cheryl, were put head to head in an elimination challenge. The results of that were delayed three weeks until after the Olympics. Yeah, it was all quite lame.

In just under 10 minutes, Darrell is the first to budge, and he is not The Biggest Loser.

The temptation brings them chocolate chip cookies. The winner of the temptation gets to choose the teams of blue vs. black. They will also be able to pick one person to have immunity. So who would actually like control of the game? Michael and Andrea. Nobody else is interested in playing. Putzes. These two contestants will compete in a game of memory, picking two cards at a time and trying to find a match. Their goal is to find golden tickets. If they match, their opponent eats whatever they match. If they don’t match, they have to eat. Each cookie has 100 calories. Andrea is the first person to not match. She pretends like the cookie does not taste good. Michael mismatches next. Then Andrea. Then Michael. Then Andrea. Then Michael again. With Michael’s miss, Andrea is able to score the first match, a name brandless 80 calorie chocolate and peanutbutter treat. Her next pick is a miss. Followed by a Michael miss. Andrea manages to take advantage with a 360 calorie blueberry muffin match. Then she matches the 340 calorie giant pretzel. Then the 480 calorie fruit pie, which brings Micheal up to 1760 calories so far. Finally, Andrea locates a golden ticket card, but her next pick is not a match. Michael finally has a match with a 420 calorie peanutbutter and jelly sandwich. His next pick is a miss. Andrea scores a 90 calorie “crispy treat” match. This is followed by a 160 calorie glazed donut, bringing Michael to 2310 calories. Michael finally uncovers the second golden ticket, and then he finds the match. In her quest to a loss, Andrea ended up eating 1320 calories.

13 people remain. That will make for two teams of six and one person with immunity, who will join the losing team after this week.

Black Team (Jillian)
Sam
Cheryl
Andrea
Stephanie
Sherry
Ashley

Blue Team (Bob)
Koli
Daris
Lance
Miggy
Sunshine
Michael

The cousins are not happy. The mother and son are not happy. Andrea gets put with the trainer she does not want to be with. Lance, however, does not get put on Jillian’s team, which is good since he decided earlier in the season he hated her and/or her guts. Ashley and Sherry are on the same team, although it’s the underdog team. O’Neal is granted immunity, but it may end up meaning he’s not with his daughter and may get stuck on what is perceived as a weaker team.

Jillian walks into the gym swearing. She calls it the most unfair, impossible scenario ever. While she has a valid point, he’s well within his rights, not to mention smart, for trying to stack the deck.

Stephanie is already playing in an attempt to stay on the stronger side of the weaker team. She would like an alliance with Ashley and Sam.

Jillian breaks out some Larabars, which I discovered through the show’s promotional efforts last season. They’re actually quite good.

At the challenge, each team will lift their team-colored banner from the roof. The winning team will get letters from home. O’Neal bets on the blue team. Koli calls it four guys against Sam, who says it’s just about technique. The blue team has the lead the whole time and retains it to win the challenge.

Now it’s time for a visit to Dr. H, and typically at this point it is not a scare visit. Ashley has dropped down to 49 years, an 8 year improvement. Having stopped smoking, drinking, and overeating, Sam’s dropped to 46, a 5 year improvement, and has also improved to a 24% risk from a 51% risk.

After a last chance workout, they head to the weigh-in.

O’Neal: 316 pounds (-9, 2.77%, immune)

Michael: 417 pounds (-15, 3.47%) - 109 pounds in 7 weeks
Sunshine: 232 pounds (-7, 2.93%)
Lance: 300 pounds (-5, 1.64%)
Miggy: 195 pounds (-4, 2.01%)
Daris: 267 pounds (-7, 2.55%)
Koli: 316 pounds (-10, 3.07%)
Blue Total: -48 pounds, 2.70%

Andrea: 250 pounds (-5, 1.96%)
Cheryl: 187 pounds (-4, 2.09%)
Sherry: 171 pounds (-6, 3.39%)
Sam: 290 pounds (-8, 2.68%)
Stephanie: 213 pounds (-8, 3.62%)
Ashley: 301 pounds (-10, 3.22%)
Black Total: -41 pounds, 2.82%

Despite the horribly unfair worst situation in the history of the world scenario, black team has pulled out a win. Certainly surprising results, but hardly as unexpected as they would have liked us to believe. With the highest percentage of weight loss on his team, Michael is safe. O’Neal will be joining the blue team after the vote.

Votes
Lance: Miggy
Daris: Miggy
Miggy: Lance
Michael: Lance
Sunshine: Miggy
Koli: Miggy

With 4 votes, Miggy is not The Biggest Loser, but at least she managed to somewhat redeem herself in the wake of her daughter’s departure. She is down from her starting weight of 240 pounds to 179 pounds today. She says she has learned through meditation to better release her stress, and she’s changed her energy from negative to positive.

Darrell, who was eliminated at the top of the show, has dropped from 413 pounds to 293 pounds today. His wife is also getting into better shape alongside him. He can now fit into the jacket he wore when he first met his wife 27 years ago.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 8, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

John fell below the yellow line and was eliminated in The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 5.

They go to the Olympic Training Center, where they’re informed that they will be competing as individuals. Oh, and two players will be eliminated at the end of the week. The person with the lowest percentage will be eliminated automatically, and two more will go below the yellow line.

Everything there is healthy and has a purpose. The food for each sport is designed with the specific requirements of that sport in mind, not just calories in and calories out.

They’re not just meeting with Olympic athletes… they’re going to be working out with them. Jeret “Speedy” Peterson eventually asks Bob if these guys need a break. No, no break for them.

Koli is struggling, a fact not lost on Bob. He doesn’t think he deserves to be there, whereas John should be there instead.

The pop challenge is to slide back and forth on a slide board 500 times. The first three finishers will get advantages in the main challenge, although Ali will not be revealing any more just yet. Darrell, Miggy, and O’Neal sit out due to medical reasons. Daris is the first person to fall, but he will not be the last. Melissa is the first one to 100. Sam is behind her. Daris, Lance, and Sunshine are battling for third. Melissa is the first to reach 250, with Sam about 7 behind her. As they go toward 500, it’s a tie between Melissa and Sam. Melissa stumbles at 490, allowing Sam to win the challenge. Sunshine is up by 5 over Lance in the battle for the bronze, and she ends up taking third place by 3.

From the pop challenge, we head right into the main challenge at the Garden of the Gods. The challenge is based on the biathlon. They will run around the field, and every time around, they will be able to take a shot. Once their target is hit 5 times, they’re out. Sunshine will receive the opportunity to hit one target right away, Melissa will be able to hit two targets, and Sam will hit three targets. Sunshine assigns her point to Sam. Melissa, likewise, assigns both of her points to Sam. Sam opts to return the favor, giving one to Sunshine and two to Melissa. Ironically, they’ve all three screwed each other over. So much for an advantage. With that out of the way, the prize for the challenge is announced: immunity.

Sam’s the first to shoot and hit Lance. Daris also hits Lance. Lance targets Andrea. Everybody else aims for Lance, and he is out quickly. Ashley strikes Miggy. Sherry hits Koli. Melissa’s the next target on the chopping block, and she is the next one out. Miggy is next, followed by Daris. Andrea has taken the final shot against three people in a row. Realizing he’s about to be eliminated, Michael asks Stephanie to let him get one more shot. Nope, she eliminates him. Andrea is the next one out, and then Sunshine and Koli. Then O’Neal finishes off Sam. Darrell eliminates Stephanie. Cheryl eliminates Sherry, then Ashley eliminates Cheryl. Darrell has a choice between O’Neal and Ashley. He chooses to eliminate Ashley. In the end, Darrell and O’Neal line up their final shots at the same time. O’Neal wins immunity.

During the last chance workout, Bob has a moment with O’Neal that he lives for. He has him stand on a bosu ball and do squats.

Tonight they will weigh in as individuals.

O’Neal: 325 pounds (-8, 2.40%, immune)

Michael: 432 pounds (-11, 2.48%)

Stephanie: 221 pounds (-4, 1.78%)

Sunshine: 239 pounds (-6, 2.45%)

Koli: 326 pounds (-9, 2.69%)

Andrea: 255 pounds (-7, 2.67%)

Darrell: 338 pounds (-5, 1.46%)

Sam: 298 pounds (-12, 3.87%)

Sherry: 177 pounds (-3, 1.67%)

Ashley: 311 pounds (-6, 1.89%)

Daris: 274 pounds (-9, 3.18%)

Cheryl: 191 pounds (-3, 1.55%)

Miggy: 199 pounds (-7, 3.40%)

Lance: 305 pounds (-9, 2.87%)

Melissa: 199 pounds (+1, 0.51%)

Hard to chalk that one up to gameplay. Having gained a pound, Melissa has fallen below the red line and is eliminated. In parting, she asks for the others not to send Lance home before he hits 250.

That leaves Darrell and Cheryl below the yellow line. Since this is Olympics week, there is no vote. Instead, they will go head to head in an elimination challenge. They will each balance a torch stem on their heads. First one out goes home.

To be continued…

The Olympics will run on each of the next three Tuesday nights, which means we have to wait until March to find out how this challenge turns out. Really, NBC?

Melissa has dropped from her starting weight of 233 pounds to 175 pounds today. She says Lance is still out there, which I take to mean he’ll last at least a few more weeks.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 7, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

Miggy and Migdalia had a competition to see who could be the nastiest in The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 4. In the end, Migdalia was narrowly voted out.

When she goes to her room, Miggy’s an emotional wreck. At 2:51AM, we hear someone from production say they’ve called 911. Miggy is suffering from acute abdominal pain.

It’s been a month. What that means is that the first two teams eliminated are back. Having placed last in the first competition, the yellow and blue teams were booted in a cruel twist, but they have a second chance based on what they’ve done while they were at home.

They’re not heading right to the scale. Instead, Bob and Jillian will get their hands on them first for a last chance workout. This is what they need because their home workouts were nothing compared to this.

The team that has the highest percentage of weight loss will return to the house, get immunity, and have the only vote this week.

Cherita: 253 pounds (-24, 8.67%)
Victoria: 319 pounds (-39, 10.89%)
Blue Total: 572 pounds (-63, 9.92%)

Sunshine: 250 pounds (-25, 9.09%)
O’Neal: 338 pounds (-51, 13.11%)
Yellow Total: 588 pounds (-76, 11.45%)

O’Neal’s huge number is 6 pounds better than the campus average. With that, the yellow team is returning to campus. The blue team will be heading back home again.

During a workout, Melissa breaks down crying, but despite saying she can’t do these leg presses Bob is making her do, she does them anyway. He tells her he’s impressed because he didn’t think she was playing the game last week since she lost so much weight even though she was immune. Granted, Jillian still thought she was playing.

Daris is not hitting his burn. Why not? Is he willing to continue being just the fat funny guy?

The challenge is to hit a tackling dummy 1000 times. The winner will get immunity; the last place finisher will get a 2 pound penalty. Each team must pick one person to represent them in the challenge. Michael, Stephanie, and John are on their own. The other teams select Lance, Sherry, Andrea, Sunshine, Sam, and Daris. Michael has figured out a way to not move his feet much at all. Andrea hopes her softball background will help. Lance and Sam are in the early lead. As they head toward the halfway mark, Michael’s creeping up on them. Sherry is leading the battle for last at this point. Eventually, Michael finally overtakes the lead around 900, and he wins immunity. Sam and Lance come close. Sherry ends up finishing last to get the penalty.

Miggy returns, having had an appendectomy. Since she has had surgery, she is only allowed to walk. So she walks and walks and walks: 13 miles the day after surgery. When she goes to see the doctor, she’s allowed to get back to business, but will have to be careful. He has bad news, though. They poured salt water into her, probably 8-9 additional pounds. Her odds of surviving the week may have just gone down to slim to none.

John has switched from the pool to the gym and is now working out with everybody else.

At the last chance workout, Ashley’s just taking it easy, whether she has the disadvantage or not. After Jillian beats her up, she reveals that her problem is that she lost her father, who treated her badly because of her weight. Rather than dealing with her emotions, she’s ballooned up to 374 pounds (and she also drinks and smokes)

O’Neal intends to be a game player. He’ll do whatever it takes to get to the end.

Sunshine: 245 pounds (-5, 2.00%)
O’Neal: 333 pounds (-5, 1.48%)
Yellow Total: 578 pounds (-10, 1.70%, immune)

Michael: 443 pounds (-13, 2.85%, immune)

Ashley: 317 pounds (-9, 2.76%)
Sherry: 180 pounds (-6, 3.23%)
Pink Total: 497 pounds (-15, +2, 2.54%)

Melissa: 198 pounds (-5, 2.46%)
Lance: 314 pounds (-4, 1.26%)
Red Total: 512 pounds (-9, 1.73%)

Cheryl: 194 pounds (-3, 1.52%)
Daris: 283 pounds (-12, 4.07%)
Orange Total: 477 pounds (-15, 3.05%)

Stephanie: 225 pounds (-5, 2.17%)

Sam: 310 pounds (-10, 3.13%)
Koli: 335 pounds (-6, 1.76%)
Grey Total: 645 pounds (-16, 2.42%)

Andrea: 262 pounds (-5, 1.87%)
Darrell: 343 pounds (-8, 2.28%)
Black Total: 605 pounds (-13, 2.10%)

Miggy: 206 pounds (-5, 2.37%)

John: 421 pounds (-6, 1.41%)

As the only member of the brown team, John has been eliminated, so there is no need for the yellow team to deliberate. From his starting weight of 484 pounds, he’s now down to 380. He wasn’t too crazy about the gym when he got home, but he has since discovered jiu jitsu.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 6, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

After the white team fell below the yellow line in The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 3, the contestants reluctantly eliminated Maria, despite her son’s lack of effort.

Michael claims that he’s making an effort, but that it’s a learning experience. He calls the rest of the house childish, seeing as how they gave him another shot.

D’oh. Damn Comcast. Internet connection went down in the middle of a post, so I’ll have to settle for a summary from memory for the first half of the show.

In the pop challenge, teams ran up and down the hill gathering cards in a dumb luck attempt to see who could get three green checks first. Red team won the challenge, which granted them immunity. In addition, they had to make three choices.

No gym access: brown team (John does about 80% of his workout outside)
No vote this week: white team (in case Michael’s bitter)
2 pound disadvantage: green team (which led to much whining from Miggy and Migdalia)

After the confrontation last week at the weigh-in and the screaming match about how Melissa’s 0 pound weight loss over the course of two weeks was just gameplay, Bob decided to talk to them about it. He’s 99% sure they’re lying, but he’s willing to move on anyway. Jillian, however, is 100% convinced there’s no possible way they’re not playing the game. That said, Lance has no respect for her and refuses to work with her the rest of the game. It was at this point that I decided that the red team needs to go home. After thinking about it, Melissa has decided that she is willing to move on, and Lance agrees, although he was perfectly happy to continue pouting the whole game.

In the final challenge, teams had to hoist their cages up 120 feet using ropes. In a battle between grey and red teams, grey team won. Their reward was a phone call home. They were also able to give calls to three teams: red team, green team, and brown team.

The last chance workout is a trek to the top of the mountain. Well, that’s part of it anyway. Once they go to the top of the hill and back with Bob, Jillian’s waiting for them with news that they’re only half done, as she’s got a course out in the yard with rocks and wheelbarrows.

Starting off the weigh-in, Miggy says it’s been gameplay since day 1 with Melissa, so the red team decision was all about gameplay.

Melissa: 203 pounds (-11, 5.14%)
Lance: 318 pounds (-6, 1.85%)
Red Total: 521 pounds (-17, 3.16%, immune)

For someone who supposedly had so much trouble losing weight, Melissa put up a pretty good size number. Granted, she had immunity again, so it can’t be argued that she was just losing it because she was in danger.

Michael: 456 pounds (-15, 3.18%)

Andrea: 267 pounds (-5, 1.84%)
Darrell: 351 pounds (-10, 2.78%)
Black Total: 618 pounds (-15, 2.37%)

Cheryl: 197 pounds (-6, 3.00%)
Daris: 295 pounds (-6, 2.00%)
Orange Total: 492 pounds (-12, 2.38%)

Ashley: 326 pounds (-7, 2.10%)
Sherry: 186 pounds (-4, 2.10%)
Pink Total: 512 pounds (-11, 2.10%)

John: 427 pounds (-10, 2.29%)

Sam: 320 pounds (-14, 4.20%)
Koli: 341 pounds (-12, 3.40%)
Grey Total: 661 pounds (-26, 3.79%)

Stephanie: 230 pounds (-6, 2.54%)

Migdalia: 233 pounds (-4, 1.69%)
Miggy: 211 pounds (-1, 0.47%%)
Green Total: 444 pounds (-5, +2, 0.67%)

Migdalia steps down off the scale swearing, but at the end of the day, the green team put up such bad numbers that the disadvantage is irrelevant. They can blame whoever they want, but the finger should be pointing the other direction. Miggy tells Migdalia that she can’t cry. As Jillian sees it, this is their problem. They keep their emotions bottled up.

Whichever member of the green team sticks around, they’re going to need to change their attitudes if they wish to not only perform better but also make sure in the future that the other teams are not gunning for them. Migdalia makes it simple: she wants to go home. Then she yells at everybody letting them know they’re going to have to live with an increasingly miserable bitch if they keep her there. Melissa’s comment is that the drama and the negativity is coming mostly from Miggy. I agree, not that Migdalia’s pleasant. However, I say vote out Miggy and watch Migdalia quit. Two birds with one stone.

Due to the pop challenge, Michael will not have a vote.

Votes
Melissa & Lance: Miggy
Cheryl & Daris: Migdalia
Ashley & Sherry: Migdalia
Stephanie: Migdalia
Sam & Koli: Miggy
John: Miggy
Andrea & Darrell: Migdalia

By a vote of 4-3, Migdalia is not The Biggest Loser. During the voting, Migdalia finally defends her position, which she did not do originally when she yelled at everybody and demanded they vote for her without explaining. She feels her mom needs to be there more. Despite saying she’s learned everything she needs to succeed at home, she says that she’s only learned how to deal with her issues a little bit. Migdalia is now down to 219 pounds from her starting weight of 265. She gained about 10 pounds when she first got home but is back on the right track.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 5, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

Patti & Stephanie fell below the yellow line in The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 2, and Patti decided to go home so that her daughter could stay.

This is student/teacher week. One person will be the teacher, while the other is the student. The student is the only one who will represent the team on the scale. The students will not be allowed to train with the trainers. Instead, the teachers will train and must pass on what they’ve learned. Since they don’t have teammates, John and Stephanie will be together. To win their first temptation, all they have to do is eat more than anybody else. Each piece of candy has 5 calories. The person who eats the most will be able to decide who are the teachers and who are the students. Sherry and Michael are the only ones to eat in round 1. Michael decides to hand the power to Sherry, who wins after only having eaten 10 calories.

Black Team: Andrea is the teacher; Darrell is the student
Brown/Purple Team: Stephanie is the teacher; John is the student
Grey Team: Sam is the teacher; Koli is the student
Red Team: Melissa is the teacher; Lance is the student
Orange Team: Cheryl is the teacher; Daris is the student
Green Team: Migdalia is the teacher; Miggy is the student
White Team: Michael is the teacher; Maria is the student
Pink Team: Sherry is the teacher; Ashley is the student

Migdalia is angry about the choice that was made, though she denies it after Bob pushes her multiple times. With Bob not making a dent, Jillian takes on Migdalia next. Jillian’s worried that if she screams like a crazy person, Migdalia will walk out. Well, when has that stopped her before? Bob tells her to just be mean. So Jillian lays into her about her 9 year old daughter and refusal to show emotion. Jillian keeps pushing and tries to get Migdalia to answer questions about why she’s there. She just answers with vagueness. Then she says she’s done. If Jillian doesn’t smack this girl, I hope her mama does. Jillian begs and pleads but is unable to get past the wall. Migdalia wants to go home. Go then. There are plenty of people who would willingly take your spot. After this, Jillian approaches Miggy instead. Perhaps she could talk some sense into her daughter.

From there, Jillian sends in the good cop. Bob wants to know what the hell happened. Migdalia is there to learn to eat healthy and exercise. She doesn’t need anybody to tell her she’s got problems. Oh boy. Bob tells her he cares about her, and she agrees not to quit. Then Miggy chimes in with excuses. They won’t change the way they are. That’s a problem. Their attitudes haven’t helped them in their weight loss goals previously. Healthy eating and exercise are all well and good, but it’ll be so easy to quit those if you can’t work on the personal issues behind the weight gain.

Curtis Stone pays them another visit. His lesson is about portion sizes. He reveals restaurant dishes with thousands of calories. Then he prepares a 4 ounce chicken dish that contains only 300 calories per serving.

Miggy seems to be getting somewhere with Migdalia. Slowly. Miggy suggests that Migdalia needs to learn to express herself, rather than getting angry and fighting. Maybe she does need help. Maybe she is willing to get help.

The teacher from each team will unwind 1000 feet of ribbon through a playground. Students will then draw for which ribbon they will have to untangle. The first team to unravel the ribbon and return it back wins immunity. Additionally, they will be able to choose one team to switch student and teacher. After the teachers are done, everybody’s hoping they just don’t get the white ribbon. Mike made an extra effort to twist and tie it up and make it as difficult as possible. Remember that whole random drawing thing? Yeah, that was just a joke. Students will be bringing in their own colored ribbon. Blindfolded.

Lance is looking forward to this. As a commercial diver, he’s been in black water plenty. Daryl, however, is not. He starts to struggle right away. 15 minutes in, pink team is still on their first obstacle, with communication that’s just not working in a blindfolded scenario. Mike’s plan, meanwhile, has backfired. After half an hour, the pink team’s still on the first obstacle. Red is looking to win their second immunity in a row, while the grey team makes a dash toward the finish line. Grey team wins in a close race.

Ashley’s having second thoughts about the choices they made earlier. Pink team seems to have stacked the deck against themselves by putting Ashley up against mostly big men. It’s hard to argue that their choices were bad ones, though.

At the weigh-in, the grey team has decided to switch the white team, putting Michael in the hot seat.

And then… election coverage. Coakley has conceded. Well, that should get interesting. Meanwhile, the weigh-in continues off screen, which leaves me with having to pull the numbers from the scoreboard.

Darrell: 3.22%

John: 3.10%

Lance: 3.57%

Daris: 2.90%

Miggy: 3.20%

Michael: 2.08%

Ashley: 3.48%

Jillian says that Melissa threw the weigh-in again this week, like she did last week. Lucky thing the grey team didn’t switch them. Jillian and Bob confront Melissa, who continues to deny it. This evolves into a silly argument where everybody starts screaming.

That puts the white team below the yellow line. The grey team’s switch had no impact (except it may cause some animosity from Michael toward them) since Maria also would have been at the bottom. This early in the game, it’s hard to imagine them voting out a 481 pound person. Maria wants to leave and says that sending Michael home will kill him. Correction: 30 years of bad habits would be the cause here, not a vote on a reality show. Nonetheless, I don’t think he has anything to worry about. John, however, views Michael still being there as an insult. He knows what it’s like to be 500 pounds, too, but at least he’s putting in the effort.

Votes
Cheryl & Daris: Maria
John & Stephanie: Michael
Andrea & Darrell: Maria
Sam & Koli: Maria
Melissa & Lance: Maria

With 4 votes, Maria is not The Biggest Loser. The contestants have, reluctantly, voted to keep Michael here, with a message that he needs to try harder.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 4, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

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.

The Biggest Loser is back for season 9 (Couples 3) with a new cast of 11 teams of two.

Their first test is going to be to weigh-in in front of their hometowns. Apparently, this is some big deal, as compared to taking their shirts off in front of 10 million people.

Daris: 346 pounds
Cheryl: 227 pounds
Orange Total: 573 pounds

Patti: 243 pounds
Stephanie: 264 pounds
Purple Total: 507 pounds

John: 484 pounds
James: 485 pounds
Brown Total: 969 pounds (heaviest team ever)

Ashley: 374 pounds
Sherry: 218 pounds
Pink Total: 592 pounds

Andrea: 298 pounds
Darrell: 413 pounds
Black Total: 711 pounds

Cherita: 277 pounds
Victoria: 358 pounds
Blue Total: 635 pounds

Migdalia: 265 pounds
Miggy: 240 pounds
Green Total: 505 pounds

Melissa: 233 pounds
Lance: 365 pounds
Red Total: 598 pounds

Koli: 403 pounds
Sam: 372 pounds
Grey Total: 775 pounds

Sunshine: 275 pounds
O’Neal: 389 pounds
Yellow Total: 664 pounds

Maria: 281 pounds
Mike: 526 pounds (heaviest contestant ever)
White Total: 801 pounds

The teams arrive at the gym and get on their team-colored mats. The first challenge starts now. Well, we know one thing for sure. They won’t be doing a one mile run that hospitalizes more than one of them. They will be biking instead. Their challenge will be to cover the distance of a marathon, 26.2 miles, between them. The first nine teams earn a spot in the house. The two last teams will be asked to leave immediately. The team that wins will get immunity.

They are starting off as the sickest group of contestants ever (again), so the medical staff is on hand. Green team hits 9 miles with grey on their heels. They are miles ahead of everybody else. Grey is hoping that green will run out of steam, but they just keep going. Migdalia & Miggy win immunity. Koli & Sam are right behind them. The other teams are as much as 14 miles behind them. Andrea & Darrell finish third. Daris & Cheryl place fourth. Yellow and blue are bringing up the rear. Cherita says this is worse than child birth pain. She wants to keep going regardless, but Dr. H insists she stop and pulls her off the bike. Ashley & Sherry place fifth. Lance & Melissa are behind them. Michael & Linda are next, followed by John & James. That leaves one spot left, which will obviously go to the purple team, just about a mile away. Patti & Stephanie take the final spot.

Cherita & Victoria and Sunshine & O’Neal place in the bottom two. It’s time for Allison to say goodbye. So what’s the twist? Surely they’re not going home already. Bob and Jillian tell them they’re going home for 30 days, but they will be coming back after that. During that month, Jillian and Bob will help them. The catch: the team that loses the most will be coming back to compete.

Bob and Jillian are going to train together again. Before they even touch anybody, they’ve already got various stuff coming out of their bodies.

James is limited in what he can do due to a bad knee from an old football injury (not that the 300+ pounds of excess weight has helped that any).

At the weigh-in, one team will fall below the yellow line, and one person from that team will be eliminated.

Migdalia: 249 pounds (-16, 6.43%)
Miggy: 240 pounds (-13, 5.73%)
Green Total: 489 pounds (-29, 5.74%, immune)

Sam: 354 pounds (-18, 4.84%)
Koli: 374 pounds (-29, 7.20%)
Grey Total: 728 pounds (-47, 6.06%)

Cheryl: 213 pounds (-14, 6.17%)
Daris: 317 pounds (-29, 8.38%)
Orange Total: 530 pounds (-43, 7.50%)

Andrea: 284 pounds (-14, 4.70%)
Darrell: 413 pounds (-30, 7.26%)
Black Total: 667 pounds (-44, 6.19%)

James: 462 pounds (-23, 4.74%)
John: 461 pounds (-23, 4.75%)
Brown Total: 923 pounds (-46, 4.75%)

Melissa: 214 pounds (-19, 8.16%)
Lance: 344 pounds (-21, 5.75%)
Red Total: 558 pounds (-40, 6.69%)

Patti: 220 pounds (-23, 9.47%)
Stephanie: 246 pounds (-18, -6.82%)
Purple Total: 466 pounds (-41, 8.09%)

Patti has set a new record for any female contestant in one week.

Ashley: 353 pounds (-21, 5.62%)
Sherry: 201 pounds (-17, 7.80%)
Pink Total: 554 pounds (-38, 6.42%)

Maria: 268 pounds (-13, 4.63%)
Michael: 492 pounds (-34, 6.46%)
White Total: 760 pounds (-47, 5.82%)

Michael has set a new record for any contestant in one week.

That puts John & James below the yellow line. Well, this is an unusual scenario. Typically, they will keep around somebody over 460 pounds. This time, they’ve got a pair of twins at that weight within 1 pound of each other. How do you choose? John offers to sacrifice himself because he doesn’t think his brother can do it at home seeing as he’s got a bad knee. James responds that John will go further, and James won’t have to worry about a job and a baby.

Votes
Migdalia & Miggy: John
Andrea & Darrell: James
Melissa & Lance: James
Ashley & Sherry: James
Patti & Stephanie: James
Maria & Michael: James

With 5 votes, James is not The Biggest Loser. From his starting weight of 485 pounds, James is now down to 385 pounds in two months. His wife has also started a weight loss program since he’s returned home and has lost 24 pounds.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 9 Episode 2, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Biggest Loser 9: Couples 3 returns to NBC on Tuesday January 5, 2010. 11 couples will be competing to be The Biggest Loser.

Cheryl George & Daris George
Orange Team
Mother/Son
Ardmore, OK

Darrell Hough & Andrea Hough
Black Team
Father/Daughter
Ann Arbor, MI

John Crutchfield & James Crutchfield
Brown Team
Twin Brothers
Orlando, FL

Maria Ventrella & Michael Ventrella
White Team
Mother/Son
Chicago, IL

Melissa Morgan & Lance Morgan
Red Team
Married
Aspermont, TX

Migdalia Sebren & Miggy Cancel
Green Team
Mother/Daughter
Sanford, NC / Pemberton, NJ

O’Neal Hampton, Jr. & SunShine Hampton
Yellow Team
Father/Daughter
Minneapolis, MN

Sam Poueu & Koli Palu
Grey Team
Cousins
Roehnert Park, CA

Sherry Johnston & Ashley Johnston
Pink Team
Mother/Daughter
Knoxville, TN

Stephanie Anderson & Patti Anderson
Purple Team
Mother/Daughter
West Hollywood, CA / Lafayette, CA

Vicky Andrews & Cherita Andrews
Blue Team
Mother/Daughter
Houston, TX