Category: biggest loser 17

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

Michael Ventrella
Age: 30
Height: 6’3″
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Occupation: Deejay
Partner: Maria (Mother)

NBC Bio
Growing up around his father’s band, Michael was inspired by music and became a mobile deejay at the very young age of 11. This exposure to large crowds allowed him to feel comfortable as the center of attention. Starting at a young age, Michael has always struggled with his weight. In recent years he has tried everything he could to lose weight, including dangerous over-the-counter and prescription pills, trendy diet plans, expensive nutritionists, starvation and, at his most desperate attempts, forcing himself to be bulimic. Michael’s biggest goals are to pursue a career in advertising and public relations, and to eventually meet the love of his life and start a family.

Maria Ventrella
Age: 51
Height: 5’4″
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Occupation: Corporate Travel Agent
Partner: Michael (Son)

NBC Bio
Maria’s responsibilities to care for her disabled husband and chronically ill elderly mother have left her with absolutely no time for herself. Maria’s weight has been an ongoing issue as the latter years of her life have progressed. This is especially true after the passing of her father, who was the family’s core foundation. Maria has come to a point in her life where her weight is now hindering her capability to not only help and care for others, but also for herself. Maria hopes to set an example for all her family and friends, helping them realize how important good health is not only to oneself, but also to better care for loved ones.

Andrea Hough
Age: 24
Height: 5’7″
Hometown: Ann Arbor, MI
Occupation: Executive Assistant
Partner: Darrell (Father)

NBC Bio
Andrea has always been overweight, but did not start gaining weight consistently until after high school. Andrea played competitive sports all her life and now coaches softball. Family means everything to Andrea. However, at every family event, there is an enormous amount of food — it is how her family shows their love. Andrea is ready to show people that health matters. She has never been able to lose the weight on her own, but is finally ready to take the bull by the horns and shed the weight.