Producers are looking for couples for the sixth season of NBC’s The Biggest Loser and will be doing a casting call in 13 cities across the country.

With the exception of Miami’s casting call, which will be held from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., all casting calls will be held at the following locations from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.:

FEBRUARY 16
BOSTON, MA
FELT
533 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02111

DALLAS, TX
UPTOWN BAR & GRILL
2523 McKinney Avenue
Dallas, TX 75201

CHICAGO
CHICAGO HOME FITNESS
1555 N. Halsted
Chicago, IL 60622

ATLANTA, GA
WILD BILLS
2075 Market Street
Duluth, GA 30096

FEBRUARY 23
NEW YORK CITY, NY
NBC EXPERIENCE STORE
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

NASHVILLE, TN
THE WILD HORSE SALOON
120 2nd Avenue N
Nashville, TN 37201

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK
BRICKTOWN BREWERY
1 N. Oklahoma Avenue
Oklahoma City, OK 73104

MIAMI
FESTIVAL FLEA MARKET MALL
2900 West Sample Road
Pompano Beach, FL 33073
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

MARCH 1
COLUMBUS, OHIO
BUCKEYE HALL OF FAME CAFÉ
1421 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, OH 43212

SUFFOLK, VA
SUFFOLK FAMILY YMCA
2769 Godwin Blvd.
Suffolk, VA 23434

MARCH 8
LAS VEGAS, NV
Location TBA

MESA
SUPERSTITIONS SPRINGS MALL
6555 E. Southern Avenue
Mesa, AZ 85206

LOS ANGELES
Location TBA

NBC has announced that The Biggest Loser will be returning for its sixth season, and it will again be a couples edition. Producers will search for contestants in America’s fattest cities.

Even with competition from American Idol, in no small part due to the now over (pending tomorrow’s vote, which is just a formality) writers’ strike, The Biggest Loser Couples has been one of most successful editions of the franchise.

The twist of all vs. one led to some intense gameplay in The Biggest Loser Couples Episode 4, but after all the planning and a group effort to throw the weigh in, Mark & Jay’s first place finish (and immunity) allowed them to be safe, causing Paul & Kelly to choose to eliminate Bette-Sue & Ali.

Maggie & Jenn are upset that they were told previously that they don’t work hard enough, so they go to Paul & Kelly to take their frustration out on them. Way to make allies. They’re lucky to even still be there. The next day, Jenn’s still whining about it, this time to Bob.

Brittany uses food as a crutch to escape sad events in her life. At an early age, her abusive father died, and she immediately started gaining weight following that. She has a talk with Jillian, which helps to bond them.

This challenge isn’t for the teams. It’s for the trainers (this is supposed to be shocking, but it was obvious from a mile away). Whichever trainer wins the challenge can choose which teams they’ll train with. Harsh. The challenge is running up escalators. The first to do it 10 times wins. Bob takes an early lead and never looks back, finishing three ahead. Hardly seems like a fair challenge, but I wonder what would be a fair challenge between these two without giving one the edge. The logical thing to do here is to pick the teams who picked him, but there are only actually two of them. Jillian gets the most emotional of anyone during the pick ‘em.

Bob’s blue team:
Jackie & Dan
Mark & Jay
Roger & Trent

Jillian’s black team:
Bernie & Brittany (one of the two teams who picked Bob)
Paul & Kelly
Maggie & Jenn

Bob’s stacked his deck pretty nicely with top teams, and he’s also got the two most blatant weigh in throwers from last week, giving them a big edge this week. Such a poorly planned twist, and it gets even sillier considering the partners will vote in blocks. Despite his suggestion that Brittany and Jillian are close and should work together, Brittany, like Bernie, considered it a slap in the face. Jillian looks at this as an opportunity to help the underdogs win.

So now that the challenge is over… it’s time for another challenge. The teams must stay on the escalator for as long as they can. The winning team splits $10,000, regardless of which members are actually left standing in the end. Trent and Paul are told to not bother and just get off right away. Kelly’s out at 3 minutes, followed closely by Jenn. Jackie’s out at 5 minutes. Roger’s out at 8 minutes. Maggie’s out at 10 minutes. Bernie’s next out at 12:30, leaving Brittany to fend for herself against three competitive guys. After a tough fight, at the 24 minute mark, though, she’s finally off the escalator. Blue team wins the challenge.

Bob starts with yoga. Jillian wants people to punch stuff.

When they walk into the kitchen, there’s soda everywhere. They’re amazed by just how much empty sugar calories they drank in a year. One of the cups has a star on the bottom. Whoever picks the star, on the bottom of one of the 240 cups, can pick one player on the other team and make their weight not count for the next weigh in. Not worth it, but preventing the other team from getting it may be. Nobody budges. Alison narrows down the odds, telling them the star’s not in the orange cups. When there’s no interest, it’s also not in the grape soda, making the odds even better, down to 110 cups. Still no takers. Alison shows them the cup with the star is one of the ones in front, which probably would have been grabbed quickly. As Jillian says, who cares about soda? They may have gotten them with food, or perhaps a prize that sucked less.

They will weigh in as a team. Of the team that’s below the yellow line, one person will have to say goodbye to their partner. Brittany points out at the weigh in that she’s upset by Bob not choosing her and that he should have stuck with them.

Jay: 253 pounds (-5)
Mark: 230 pounds (-5)
Trent: 366 pounds (-9)
Roger: 309 pounds (-10)
Jackie: 206 pounds (-8)
Dan: 251 pounds (-13)
Total: -50 pounds, 3.00%

Jenn: 223 pounds (-6)
Maggie: 211 pounds (-7)
Bernie: 236 pounds (-5)
Brittany: 199 pounds (-2)
Kelly: 240 pounds (no change)
Paul: 263 pounds (+3)
Total: -17 pounds, 1.22%

It’s a bigger blowout than I had expected. Jillian believes they’re having some food issues and will need to focus on that next week. As the biggest loser for his team, Dan is The Biggest Loser player of the week; as the biggest loser for her team, Maggie has immunity. Despite her numbers this week, Jenn’s the obvious target here.

Votes
Kelly: Jenn
Paul: Jenn
Maggie: Kelly
Jenn: Kelly
Brittany: Jenn
Bernie: Jenn

After some disappointing weeks, Jenn’s finally eliminated on one of her better weeks, and Maggie is the first person in the game to lose a partner. Jenn leaves on a positive note and wants her team to keep fighting. From her starting weight of 254 pounds, Jenn is now down to 201 pounds, for a total loss of 53 pounds.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser: Couples episode 6, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

Yet another team with only one person’s heart in the game was eliminated in The Bigest Loser 5 Episode 3, as despite Amanda’s best efforts, Neill slacking off irritated the rest of the teams. At the end of the episode, Alison posed a question: if they could vote out one team, right now, who would that be?

She gives them an hour to think about it. They can only discuss it with their own teammates. Maggie and Jenn feel guilty because everybody voted for them to stay, which means they have to vote against someone they feel helped save them. They decide they want to go for the strongest team. Jackie wants to target Mark and Jay, but Dan suggests this is a risky strategy as it sends too strong a signal considering they may not actually go home. Her response, which is equally worth considering, is that if they don’t vote for them, they risk getting the most votes themselves. Mark & Jay and Roger & Trent employ a similar strategy, considering the teams who have been below the yellow line. Paul wants to vote for Mark & Jay. Kelly wants to at least consider Roger & Trent, an argument that Paul can’t really debate, so he says he cares more about the fact that Trent needs to be there.

Votes
Paul & Kelly: Mark & Jay
Bernie & Brittany: Mark & Jay
Maggie & Jenn: Paul & Kelly
Mark & Jay: Paul & Kelly
Roger & Trent: Maggie & Jenn
Jackie & Dan: Maggie & Jenn
Bette-Sue & Ali: Paul & Kelly

With three votes, Paul & Kelly have been chosen. I’d like to say I can understand the logic behind these votes, but the majority of them don’t make a great deal of sense. That’s probably because there are alliances on both sides who are more concerned about voting out people not aligned with them than people who are going to put up bigger numbers. Kelly gives what is essentially a goodbye speech, but Alison tells her she’s not going home. It’s all vs. one. For the next week, everybody else’s only competition is the yellow team. If they have a greater percentage of weight loss than all the other teams combined, they can choose who goes home. If they don’t, they go home. A lot of power but also a lot of danger, particularly considering how big a week they had last week as The Biggest Loser team of the week. Then again, last week was a big week for everybody following a bad week two. They can pick one trainer to focus exclusively on them. They pick Jillian. Paul’s ready for battle. Game on.

Now they get a bit of good news. They hike up the hill to choose what they want as their reward for winning last week. Paul has a one track mind focused on gameplay. She’s going on and on about sheets and phone calls and other stuff that’s not going to make as big a difference as a gameplay option, especially in a week where they either win or go home. He repeatedly insists on gameplay. She comes up with a compromise, where if they win and get a reward next week, he’ll have to consider one of the other options, which won’t make any sense then either, but whatever. The reward is an additional two pounds at weigh-in of their choice, which obviously will be this week.

Jillian tries to talk some sense into Paul and his warrior spirit. While he should definitely fight to stay, she’s concerned that they’ll run the risk of alienating everybody else. Not taking the hint, when asked by the other teams what they won for a prize, they say they can’t tell them.

Aside from being a paid advertisement, the breakfast segment has a point: don’t skip breakfast, or your metabolism will pay the price.

The challenge is running across balance beams above water, grabbing pegs, and filling in a board. Every player must get at least one peg. If this were about running, Paul & Kelly would be in big trouble, but since the key is balance and multiple people on the other team have little balance, they have a shot. They are playing for letters from home. Mark gets across with relative ease. Paul’s a ways behind, but Bernie struggles, allowing Paul to get a good lead. Roger does a decent job but is unable to come close to the gap Bernie’s created. However, Jackie goes faster than anybody else, but even still is only able to bring their team behind by one. Trent’s struggling even more than Bernie did. A 400 pound guy and a balance beam don’t mix well. It’s pretty clear the gap is now too big to close, as Paul is now two ahead. Kelly’s on the sidelines waiting for her one turn, and he has absolutely no interest in letting her go. Trent gets to the middle and falls. He must return to the start. By the time Jay starts, he’s behind by five pegs. Paul & Kelly win the challenge. Kelly’s thrilled to get the letters, but Paul couldn’t care less. He’s more concerned about what he’s there to do, which he should be. As an interesting gesture, they agree to forego the letters in exchange to allow the other team to all get letters. Not only does it keep them focused, but it’s a chance to earn some points with the other teams.

Now things are starting to get interesting. Dan & Jackie, Paul & Kelly, Bernie & Brittany, and Maggie (but not Jenn) form an alliance. The plan is to throw the weigh in because this represents the best opportunity to get rid of Mark & Jay, who if left in the game are one of the biggest threats and unlikely to go below the yellow line. Bob not so subtly suggests that gameplay would suggest throwing the weigh in but says he doesn’t want to be blindsided.

We then switch gears from the gameplay aspect of things to the warm fuzzy tearful letters from home. But it’s not long before it’s time to get back in the game and head to the scales. Before the weigh in starts, it’s revealed that Mark & Jay have one last hope. The team with the highest percentage of weight loss this week will be immune. Since half of the teams, including two of the stronger teams, planned to throw the weigh in, they have a good chance.

Bette-Sue: 224 (-7)
Ali: 198 (-8)
Total: -15 pounds, 3.43%

Roger: 331 (-12)
Trent: 375 (-13)
Total: -25 pounds, 3.48%

Bernie: 241 (-7)
Brittany: 201 (-2)
Total: -9 pounds, 2.00%

Bob gets suspicious, but Brittany pulled a -1 in week two when she was trying. Not sure where Bernie learned to throw a weigh in, though.

Mark: 235 (-14)
Jay: 258 (-10)
Total: -24 pounds, 4.64%

Maggie: 218 (-3)
Jenn: 229 (-7)
Total: -10 pounds, 2.19%

No suspicions seem to arise here.

Jackie: 214 (-2)
Dan: 264 (-1)
Total: -3 pounds, 0.62%

If ever there were a dead giveaway, this is it. Nothing like Neil gaining 17 pounds last season, but this has been such a strong team that it’s not like some of the girls whose low numbers can just be dismissed. Mark wants revenge.

Group Total: 2.81%

With the 2 pound weight prize, Paul & Kelly need more than 12 pounds lost to survive.

Paul: 260 (-9)
Kelly: 240 (-8)
Total: -17 pounds and -2 pounds, 3.39%

Without the group effort to save them, Paul & Kelly probably would have been toast. Mark & Jay are safe, though, throwing the original plan out the window. With that said, there is one team that is not in the alliance with them and also voted for them at the top of the show: Bette-Sue & Ali. Logically, though, Roger & Trent are a bigger threat.

They vote out Bette-Sue & Ali. They go out on a pretty sour note at the table, but their confessional after that almost makes up for it. Bette-Sue is now down 49 pounds to 212 pounds from her starting weight of 261. Ali is now down to 173 pounds from 234 for a total of 61 pounds.

Next week, it becomes an individual game. Someone will lose their partner.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser: Couples episode 5, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

Curtis & Mallory, who seemed like one of the stronger teams, were eliminated in The Biggest Loser 5 Episode 2, in what was really a rather bad showing by most people considering it was only the second week.

Paul & Kelly, the other team below the yellow line last week, have an interesting relationship. She left the marriage and wants no part of him. He still wants her back, though, or so we’re hearing from the other contestants.

Jay & Mark and Jackie & Dan openly acknowledge that they’re there to play the game.

Jackie & Dan are The Biggest Loser team of the week. To earn their reward, they must perform the first challenge again, hiking up to the top of the hill. At the top, they must choose between luxury, family, and gameplay as their prize. Jackie’s initial worry was just about surviving, but now she’s focusing on how they can win. Dan thinks they’re due for some luxury. Jackie goes with gameplay because she’s concerned that since they had such good weeks they’re both going to have a target on their back and may hit a wall this week. It’s not extra pounds like she’d hoped. However, it is an extra vote at the next elimination. With only seven votes now available, this gives them a good amount of power. The family choice would have been a visit from the family member of their choice for 24 hours, a lot better than the letters they were expecting. The luxury choice was free massages for them and another team of their choice for the week, potentially very good but also very dangerous.

Neill & Amanda are trying to convince us Neill’s not lazy any more. Jenn’s not buying it.

Ali eats because she has a fear of abandonment. Following her parents’ divorce, she can now use being fat as the excuse for people leaving her. Jillian wants her to confront Bette-Sue about this.

The challenge is a dirty one, in more than one sense. Alison hopes by now they’ve formed friendships and hopefully some alliances. One team member will race through muddy water, grab a medicine ball, race back, and put the ball in another team’s rack. When a team’s rack is full, they’re out of the game. A little early to be playing the pecking order challenge, but it’s normally pretty revealing. One player will run, while the other player will help decide where to put the balls. In addition to all this, the reward will be immunity.

Mark & Jay, concerned people will target them first, start plotting. They go to Ali & Bette-Sue for an alliance, and decide to make it a three-way alliance with Roger & Trent. They want to target Bernie & Brittany. Bernie & Brittany are looking at targetting Mark & Jay, as are Jackie & Dan, and the next target for these two teams is Roger & Trent. These alliances are strange. People are pretty much just joining up with whoever’s standing next to them. Beyond that, they’re being overly vocal about their plans, and it’s no secret what’s going on.

Elimination order:
Jackie & Dan
Neill & Amanda (odd… do people just want Neill gone?)
Mark & Jay (their elimination causes an argument… between each other)
Paul & Kelly
Bette-Sue & Ali
Bernie & Brittany (Maggie chooses she’d rather see Roger & Trent be safe than these two)
Maggie & Jenn

Roger & Trent win the challenge and immunity.

Amanda’s worried that Neill’s personality is getting them in trouble.

Unlike the others, Jackie & Dan don’t want to go back to their room to discuss what happened at the challenge. They’ve decided instead that they’re going to discuss things but will do so on the treadmill.

All the teams are getting more concerned about the black team (mainly Mark because he yelled at his brother). Mark couldn’t care less. He just wants to stay above the yellow line and says he acts obnoxious like that at home, too, so it’s okay. But he apologizes anyway, quite reluctantly. Not that it matters since this meeting that’s supposed to be them getting in everybody’s good graces just blows up into a big argument between everybody.

During the workout, Neill’s warned not to touch the treadmill, or the entire group will be punished by an additional 5 minutes on the treadmill. With less than 10 seconds left, he just can’t resist the temptation, hoping Jillian’s looking at her watch instead of at him. She catches him, and the group is angered that they have to keep going. This is how Neill operates. If he thinks someone’s not looking, he’ll try to take the lazy route. He does it again but doesn’t get caught.

After the workout, Jillian pulls Bette-Sue aside to tell her about what she discussed with Ali. Following their chat, she goes to get Ali and helps the two of them talk and start to get over the past.

Bob hopes this week sucks less worse than last week.

Roger: 331 (-9)
Trent: 388 (-13)
Total: -22 pounds, 2.97%

Jackie: 216 (-7)
Dan: 265 (-12)
Total: -19 pounds, 3.80%

Maggie: 221 (-6)
Jenn: 236 (-4)
Total: -10 pounds, 2.14%

Mark: 249 (-12)
Jay: 268 (-7)
Total: -19 pounds, 3.54%

Bette-Sue: 231 (-8)
Ali: 206 (-6)
Total: -14 pounds, 3.10%

Bernie: 248 (-13)
Brittany: 203 (-7)
Total: -20 pounds, 4.25%

Neill: 292 (-6)
Amanda: 185 (-5)
Total: -11 pounds, 2.25%

Paul: 269 (-14)
Kelly: 248 (-9)
Total: -23 pounds, 4.26%

By .01%, Paul & Kelly are the team of the week. Not so good news for Neill & Amanda or Maggie & Jenn, though, as they are below the yellow line, Maggie & Jenn for the second time. The thing the girls have going for them is that nobody likes Neill, and nobody really sees them as a threat either. Amanda’s very emotional about staying, but Neill can’t muster the same level of concern. At the voting table, he tells one of his jokes that Amanda warned us about, saying she spoke because she can turn on the tears, which draws looks of shock/disgust/nothing good from others.

Votes
Mark & Jay: Neill & Amanda
Bernie & Brittany: Neill & Amanda
Roger & Trent: Neill & Amanda
Jackie: Neill & Amanda

It’s unanimous. People like Amanda, but Neill’s gotta go. We saw this week one as well with Lynn. It doesn’t end there, though. Alison poses the question: if you could vote off one more team, right now, who would it be? Let’s hope this isn’t a lame twist, but we’ll find out the answer next week.

Neill has lost a total of 48 pounds. Amanda, meanwhile, has lost a total of 43 pounds. Despite being half his size, she continues to kick his butt.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser: Couples episode 4, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Biggest Loser 5 Episode 1 saw the elimination of someone who stole the spot of someone who actually wanted to be there, Lynn, with his daughter Jenni being dragged down with him. 8 teams weighed in with losses of over 5%, with half of them above 6%.

Remember last week when the first challenge was a competition to get the trainer the teams preferred? Yeah, never mind that. Jillian and Bob have teamed up and will train people together. Partly because none of us could tell who was on which side anyway (seriously, which trainer’s team went home last week?). Partly because they plan to gather ’round the campfire and sing Kumbaya.

The biggest drama of the first training session besides that is Bette-Sue falling on the treadmill and yet still getting back up and continuing.

Now it’s time to disgust the players by showing them how much fat/sugar/calories/etc. they eat.

The difference between Neill and Amanda continues to be a topic of discussion. It was no surprise that she lost more weight than he did last week. As before, Jillian gets on his case. She asks why he’s there. He says to get thin. Wrong answer. True but wrong answer. This time, she won’t let anybody else leave the gym until he walks for an hour.

For the challenge, the teams get massive seesaws, on which they must go up and down 100 times. The reward is calling cards for calls home. After about a dozen reps, Trent is out to avoid being injured. As with last week, Jay & Mark are going head to head with Bernie & Brittany for the win, with Jay & Mark a bit ahead. Jay & Mark manage to pull out the win, a bit ahead of Bernie & Brittany, and Curtis & Mallory a bit behind them. The second and third place teams continue until they hit 100. After they get their prize, Alison tells them they can choose three other teams who will receive calls home as well.

Curtis & Mallory, Trent & Roger, and Amanda & Neill are their choices. While I get their reasoning about picking people with young kids, it’s a low blow not to give one set of cards to the team that was right behind them, while giving two of the sets of cards to the teams that performed the worst (granted, Trent & Roger at least had a reasonable excuse for performing poorly, while Neill just simply doesn’t try). Allegedly, giving the card to Neill is supposed to give him a wakeup call. Demonstrating that he’s been awakened, Neill tells Jillian he’s going to use his call in the middle of the workout. She pulls him outside to talk to him one on one, taking a kinder, gentler approach than she normally does. I say just slap him upside the head.

Damn local NBC affiliate decided to waste about 10 minutes of my time with something I didn’t care about. Apparently there’s an election going on or… something. So I missed a few minutes before finally deciding I had to switch to the other NBC to see if they were back on or not.

Alison asks one member from every team to get up and leave. It’s time for the first temptation. There’s a feast, and they’ll have 4 minutes to eat as much as they want. The first set of people will go first, then the second set will go later. The team that eats the most will win $5,000.

Of the first set, most people just walk around sniffing stuff. Amanda says she’s not going to eat and hopes Neill does the same. Paul says he’s got about 900 calories left in his daily allotment that he hasn’t eaten yet. Should have kept it to himself because he convinces Mark to do the same. Mallory grabs some M&M’s.

Mallory ate 210 calories, while Curtis didn’t eat anything.
Paul ate 912 calories, while Kelly didn’t eat anything.
Mark ate 925 calories, while Jay didn’t eat anything.
None of the other teams ate anything.

Paul blew it, giving Mark the win. Needless to say, Jillian and Bob are upset.

Roger: 340 (-3)
Trent: 401 (-6)
Total: -9 pounds, 1.20%

Bernie: 261 (-5)
Brittany: 210 (-1)
Total: -6 pounds, 1.26%

Paul: 283 (-3)
Kelly: 257 (-1)
Total: -4 pounds, 0.74%

Jay: 275 (-5)
Mark: 261 (-7)
Total: -12 pounds, 2.19%

Maggie: 227 (-2)
Jenn: 240 (-2)
Total: -4 pounds, 0.85%

Bette-Sue: 239 (-6)
Ali: 212 (-3)
Total: -9 pounds, 1.96%

Jackie: 223 (-8)
Dan: 277 (-8)
Total: -16 pounds, 3.10%

Curtis: 356 (-3)
Mallory: 204 (+1)
Total: -2 pounds, 0.36%

Neill: 298 (-6)
Amanda: 190 (no change)
Total: -6 pounds, 1.21%

Brutal second week. 6 of the remaining people lost two pounds or less, up to and including one who gained weight, something we normally don’t see for at least a few weeks. The women in particular had a pretty disastrous showing. There were some bright spots, though. Jackie & Dan are proving to be a force to be reckoned with. Mark & Jay continue to be very strong. A very surprisingly strong team is Bette-Sue & Ali.

The two teams below the yellow line are Curtis & Mallory and Paul & Kelly, two of the three teams with members who gave into temptation. While they may try to play this up, they didn’t spend much time on the fact that Mark lost 5 pounds, regardless of having won the temptation. Curtis & Mallory seem to be the more dangerous team of the two, and it would be smart to get rid of them while they can, though I’d expect most of the teams to be closer to them than Paul & Kelly.

Votes:
Neill & Amanda: Paul & Kelly
Bette-Sue & Ali: Curtis & Mallory
Roger & Trent: Paul & Kelly
Mark & Jay: Paul & Kelly
Maggie & Jenn: Curtis & Mallory
Jackie & Dan: Curtis & Mallory
Bernie & Brittany: Curtis & Mallory

The message seems to be that Paul & Kelly aren’t yet ready to go home, whereas Curtis & Mallory are much stronger and more likely to succeed should they go home. An accurate assessment. A classy team to be getting booted, though.

Curtis is down now from 381 pounds to 298; Mallory is down from 217 to 184.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser: Couples episode 3, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

With the new year upon us, NBC isn’t wasting any time getting us some new episodes. Tonight marks the premiere of The Biggest Loser 5, which for the first time is a couples (teams of two) edition. While waiting for the show to start, check out The Biggest Loser 5 Cast.

Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels will be returning to train the teams. Alison Sweeney returns as host. After two seasons, it doesn’t look like Kim will be back. Unlike previous seasons, it’s no longer black against blue. Rather, it’s every team for themselves.

Mallory and Curtis are married parents. Curtis is unable to get approved for health insurance due to his weight.

Maggie and Jennifer are ironically fat camp counselors, who say they don’t hire fat people in their camp.

Paul and Kelly are ex-husband/wife. Paul’s grandfather and father died in their 40s.

Jackie feels responsible for allowing her son Dan to get as overweight as he has.

The tenth and final team, Brittany & Bernie, has been selected from The Biggest Loser Club online. They have never met before.

The first challenge is a race up a hill and back down. They will be able to choose whichever trainer they want as they finish. They can only go as fast as the slowest member of their pair, and each trainer can only take 5 teams, so if they don’t get there fast enough, they’ll have to work with the other one.

Most of the teams seem to have already picked out who they want for a trainer. Jay and Mark are the first ones up the hill, and they’re the first ones down as well. Brittany & Bernie are next, working quite well together despite having just met. Before getting to the top, Bette-Sue drops to her knees and starts crawling. With this, they’re obviously the last to finish, and they’re probably the least happy about which trainer they’ve gotten.

5 of the first 7 teams pick Jillian.

Jillian:
Mark & Jay (black team)
Trent & Roger (grey team)
Curtis & Mallory (brown team)
Neill & Amanda (white team)
Maggie & Jenn (purple team)

Bob:
Brittany & Bernie (blue team)
Jackie & Dan (orange team)
Paul & Kelly (yellow team)
Lynn & Jennifer (green team)
Bette-Sue & Ali (pink team)

It’s time for the first weigh in. Teams will weigh in together.

Maggie: 239 pounds
Jenn: 254 pounds
Total: 493 pounds

Mark: 285 pounds
Jay: 293 pounds
Total: 578 pounds

Curtis: 381 pounds
Mallory: 217 pounds
Total: 598 pounds

Bette-Sue: 261 pounds
Ali: 234 pounds
Total: 495 pounds

Jackie: 246 pounds
Dan: 310 pounds
Total: 556 pounds

Lynn: 409 pounds
Jenni: 267 pounds
Total: 676 pounds

Neill: 317 pounds
Amanda: 204 pounds
Total: 521 pounds

Bernie: 283 pounds
Brittany: 221 pounds
Total: 504 pounds

Paul: 303 pounds
Kelly: 271 pounds
Total: 574 pounds

Roger: 363 pounds
Trent: 436 pounds
Total: 799 pounds

Jillian obsesses over the team twist. She wants to be their teammate and doesn’t like that their enablers are with them. She’s really impressed with Amanda, who didn’t quit or complain. Neill, however, needed to be slapped upside the head, which is why he initially wanted to be trained by Bob. Paul collapses, while one of the others training with Bob is throwing up.

They take a trip to the emergency room to meet with the doctor. 3/4 have high blood pressure. Half have obstructed sleep apnea. While there, they go to the morgue. Very subtle.

While discussing the pregnancy risks, it hits home with Kelly, who’s had multiple miscarriages. Bette-Sue’s having difficulty taking the fat discussion seriously.

In the next challenge, teams must drag giant balloons around a course. The team that comes in first will subtract two pounds. The team that comes in last must add two pounds, which displeases Bette-Sue most of all. Bette-Sue & Ali jump out to an early lead, but they’re too quick about it and fade early. Mark & Jay have the strategy of letting somebody else set the pace, then taking over once that other team tires. Jenn & Maggie likewise don’t want to start off too quick, but the problem is they can’t pick up the pace anyway. Curtis & Mallory set the pace and lead most of the time. Mark & Jay take a big lead toward the end. Bernie & Brittany give them a run for their money toward the end (despite the fact that Bernie’s puking as they head toward the finish line), but Mark & Jay still win. Bette-Sue & Ali manage to finish fairly well, with Maggie & Jenn losing the challenge and taking the 2 pound penalty.

Jenni’s upset with her father, who refuses to run with her. He’s quick to come up with excuses about how he has blisters on his feet (she responds that she does, too). When she confronts him, he repeatedly denies her request because his feet hurt. Suck it up. These excuses are why he’s the second heaviest person on the show. Despite his refusal to workout the prior night, however, he wakes up early the next morning and gets on the treadmill so he doesn’t disappoint her.

Bernie heads to the hospital because he can’t keep any food down. They tell him to just take things easier.

Now it’s time to see how the teams have done during their first week.

Paul: 286 (-17)
Kelly: 258 (-13)
Total: -30 pounds, 5.23%

Mark: 268 (-17)
Jay: 280 (-13)
Total: -30 pounds, minus 2 from the challenge, 5.54%

Curtis: 359 (-22)
Mallory: 203 (-14)
Total: -36 pounds, 6.02%

Roger: 343 (-20)
Trent: 407 (-29)
Total: -49 pounds, 6.13%

Jackie: 231 (-15)
Dan: 285 (-25)
Total: -40 pounds, 7.19%

Lynn: 390 (-19)
Jenni: 260 (-7)
Total: -26 pounds, 3.85%

Neill: 304 (-13)
Amanda: 190 (-14)
Total: -27 pounds, 5.18%

Maggie: 229 (-10)
Jenn: 242 (-12)
Total: -22 pounds, plus 2 from the challenge, 4.06%

Bette-Sue: 245 (-16)
Ali: 215 (-19)
Total: -35 pounds, 7.07%

Bernie: 266 (-17)
Brittany: 211 (-10)
Total: -27 pounds, 5.36%

This puts Lynn & Jenni and Maggie & Jenn below the yellow line. Lynn put up big numbers even though his heart’s not in it, but his daughter put up particularly low numbers despite a strong effort. He tells the others to go ahead and get rid of him, and he willingly packs his bags. He blames her for their loss. The two girls are probably less threatening, but the fact that Lynn can’t care less suggests he should be sent home regardless. The teams are being given an hour to make a decision of who to send home.

Paul & Kelly: Maggie & Jenn
Neill & Amanda: Lynn & Jenni
Bernie & Brittany: Lynn & Jenni
Jackie & Dan: Lynn & Jenni
Curtis & Mallory: Lynn & Jenni
Bette-Sue & Ali: Lynn & Jenni

I’m surprised they even got one vote in their favor. Jenni may have had a bad week with the scale, but Lynn gave up before he even got there. After six weeks, Lynn has lost 30 pounds, while Jenni has lost 20.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser: Couples episode 2, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Biggest Loser 5 will premiere on NBC on January 1 and will be a couples edition. As always, stay tuned to dingoRUE for recaps.

Bette-Sue & Ali
Mother & Daughter
Bette-Sue: 53, Mesa AZ
Ali: 32, Mesa AZ

Brittany & Bernie
No Relationship
Brittany: 22, San Jacinto CA
Bernie: 27, Chicago IL

Curtis & Mallory
Married
Curtis: 35, Los Angeles CA
Mallory: 36, Los Angeles CA

Jackie & Dan
Mom & Son
Jackie: 49, Frankfort IL
Dan: 21, Frankfort IL

Jay & Mark
Brothers
Jay: 31, New Bedford MA
Mark: 35, Dartmouth MA

Lynn & Jenni
Father & Daughter
Lynn: 60, Elyria OH
Jenni: 31, North Ridgeville OH

Maggie & Jenn
Best Friends/Camp Counselors
Maggie: 23, Denville NJ
Jenn: 22, River Edge NJ

Neill & Amanda
Husband & Wife
Neill: 28, Oklahoma City OK
Amanda: 29, Oklahoma City OK

Paul & Kelly
Ex-Husband & Wife
Paul: 43, Rockledge FL
Kelly: 38, Titusville FL

Trent & Roger
Former Football Teammates
Trent: 39, Endicott NY
Roger: 40, Enterprise AL

The Biggest Loser 5 Winner

Despite losing 10 pounds last week, Neil was the last person to be eliminated in The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 14, completing what red and blue teams started several weeks ago: their own destruction. Even though they were obviously the weakest team, the black team played this game smarter than the other teams. That gameplay has left us with a final four of all black team members: Bill Germanakos, Julie Hadden, Isabeau Miller, and Hollie Self.

Amy’s still happy she stabbed Kim in the back.

Neil’s faced mixed reactions, largely negative, about what he did the week he gained 17 pounds and says it obviously wasn’t his proudest moment from the show.

The 14 eliminated contestants will weigh in one last time for a prize of $100,000.

Amber: 211 pounds (-84, 28.47%)
Lezlye: 200 pounds (-55, 21.57%)
Jerry: 187 pounds (-110, 37.04%)
Patty: 216 pounds (-64, 22.86%)
Jim: 175 pounds (-186, 51.52%)
Phil: 258 pounds (-145, 35.98%)
Jez: 195 pounds (-150, 43.48%)
David: 228 pounds (-140, 38.04%)
Ryan: 241 pounds (-133, 35.56%)
Amy: 171 pounds (-126, 42.42%)
Kae: 128 pounds (-97, 43.11%)
Bryan: 224 pounds (-122, 35.26%)
Nicole: 174 pounds (-105, 37.63%)
Neil: 210 pounds (-211, 50.12%)

Once we saw Jim’s numbers, it became pretty obvious what the results of this were going to be. Like his brother, he kicked ass. That said, the others put up some impressive numbers as well. Neil lost over half his body weight, too. Amber, who was ready to quit week one, put up decent numbers considering her short stay on campus. Jerry’s very inspirational for a 62 year old. Kae did quite well, but since she started out at such a relatively low weight to begin with, there was only so far she could push. Amy, despite being perhaps the whiniest contestant of the season, also put up strong numbers.

Next month, Julie will be speaking in front of Congress about what she’s learned on the show. Hollie’s moved to LA as part of a whole new healthy lifestyle. Isabeau is now a personal trainer.

Now it’s time for the final four to weigh in. All of them look impressive, but I think we all know what’s going to happen here. At least we can hope anyway. Any chance of getting through four whole weigh ins without commercial interruptions?

Isabeau: 185 pounds (-113, 37.92%)

So apparently no. We can only get through one weigh in before going to a commercial.

Hollie: 150 pounds (-105, 41.18%)
Julie: 121 pounds (-97, 44.50%)

And of course one more commercial still.

Bill: 170 pounds (-164, 49.10%)

As we could have expected, Bill is the winner of The Biggest Loser 4. Finally an episode with a good ending.

Black team continued to extend its dominance due to having largely non-threatening players in The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 13 by voting out Nicole, this season’s second most successful female. We’re now down to the final 5, so it’s just a question of whether Neil can stay above the yellow line for one more week.

It’s the last challenge. Will Neil finally win one? It’s time to bury their lost weight forever. At each stop, they must load scales with the weight they lost for each week. They’ll go from station to station dragging the weight behind them. May prove easier for the people who haven’t done very well. Isabeau is the first one to the halfway mark, but Bill, despite his 121 pound weight loss, is on her heels. Julie’s right behind them. Not close enough, though, as Isabeau wins the challenge, with a reward of $10,000.

Jillian’s still hearing “I can’t” in the episode leading up to the finale, this time from Isabeau.

Neil: 278 pounds (-10, 3.47%)

Neil’s total weight loss is 143 pounds, with 11 of 14 of these weeks being double digit losses.

Hollie: 191 pounds (-5, 2.55%)
Bill: 204 pounds (-9, 4.23%)

With his total weight loss of 130 pounds, Bill continues to be particularly dominant. As I’ve said before, they dropped the wrong brother.

Julie: 160 pounds (-8, 4.76%)
Isabeau: 217 pounds (-7, 3.56%)

Isabeau, who has been the strongest of the black team women (whining notwithstanding), has lost a total of 81 pounds, which is a new record for female competitors.

Despite the fact that he lost 10 pounds, Neil’s still below the yellow line, along with Hollie. The odds of a Neil boot are about as good as the odds of a Nicole boot were last week.

Here are the final standings of those who remain:

Bill 334 204 -38.92%
Neil 421 278 -33.97%
Isabeau 298 217 -27.18%
Julie 218 160 -26.61%
Hollie 255 191 -25.10%

Votes
Bill: Neil
Isabeau: Neil

Isabeau’s still whining about Neil’s weight gain that one week? Oh please. She’s been playing this as a game just as hard as he has, if not harder. I guess tonight’s vote just shows that, at the end of the day, this is a game show.

So now that Neil’s out, here’s hoping Bill’s the winner. He’s certainly earned it. Not to take anything away from the other three in the final four, who have definitely come a long way, but they’ve taken the spots away from three others who are more deserving.

Neil now weighs 256 pounds, down 165 pounds from his starting weight of 421 pounds.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser 4 episode 15, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on NBC.