Category: biggest loser 17

Nicole returned to the ranch in The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 13, the same episode in which she was also voted off again. The good news is that she’s kicking some serious butt and is doing better at home than almost everybody else is doing at the ranch. Filipe & Sione, meanwhile, clearly drew the battle lines with Ron & Mike, in their unsuccessful attempt to vote out Ron.

Ron thanks those who kept him there. For those who didn’t, may they get struck down and die.

Sione says he’s playing for himself, rather than for anyone else. Logical, but all you’re doing in that case is alienating yourself from the rest of the house. Filipe keeps quiet during this discussion because otherwise he would have gotten loud. Hard to imagine that happening.

However, Ron has not escaped this entirely unscathed. The rest of the house knows just how competitive Ron is. At some point, a player like that may well lose the trust of his allies.

Allison’s got something covered underneath trays. Trays of slow but delicious death. Under some trays are food that’s bad for them. Under some trays are advertisements for Extra Sugar Free gum, worth up to $5,000. Under one tray is a golden ticket with the ultimate reward. A visit to a chocolate factory perhaps? No, it will give them “total control over this game.” The one and only vote at this week’s elimination. That could be huge. Ron & Mike and Sione & Filipe hate each other so much that they’re probably going to keep eating until they vomit.

Laura: 100 calorie soda
Tara: 520 calorie cupcake
Kristin: 366 calorie pretzel
Filipe: 270 calorie donut
Helen: 520 calorie cupcake
Mike: 150 calories of chips
Ron: $500
Sione: 270 calorie donut
Ron: $1000
Tara: donut
Ron: soda
Kristin: cupcake
Sione: chips
Tara: another cupcake
Laura: $5000
Helen: pretzel
Mike: chips
Filipe: Peanutbutter and jelly
Laura: soda

They’re halfway done and already getting sick.

Tara: PB&J

Kristin’s hanging out, not bothering to eat. The person with the golden ticket votes out who’s below the yellow line. How do you not go below the yellow line? Don’t eat crap food.

Ron: donut
Tara: yet another cupcake

Is this golden ticket real?

Filipe: $500

Laura: golden ticket

After the group piles on close to 20,000 calories (Tara alone ate 4,600), Laura finally finds that golden ticket.

Laura wants Tara to fall below the yellow line. Tara’s concerned about playing the game, and she’s even more concerned that they both fall below the yellow line, putting both of them in danger. Only having one choice who to vote out is not that smart. It’ll make the decision easier and make sure you don’t make any enemies, but you’re stuck with that choice whether it’s good for your game or not.

After Bob and Jillian give their lecture, Bob’s figured things out when he hears how the votes went.

Kristin has made Laura breakfast in bed. She’s also adjusting her bed to make it softer.

Jillian takes her team to Subway. Jerry and Coleen from season 6 are there waiting for them.

The contestants head to the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, CA. They will play a game there. That game is not what you would call football. Rather, it’s seeing who can run up and down every step in the stadium, all 2156 of them, fastest. The first two people to finish the challenge get to do it all over again. The winner will get a two week trip for four at Fitness Ridge Resort & Spa in St. George, Utah. The first heat is boys competing against each other and girls competing against each other. Tara and Sione reach the half way point around the same time. Mike’s right behind Sione. Tara doesn’t have any competition. Sione and Tara are the first two to finish, so then they get to compete against each other. Sione starts off taking two steps at a time, but it’s not long before he’s in pain. Tara eventually catches up to him after he takes a wrong turn. In the end, Tara’s the first one to grab the flag, and she wins the challenge. Sione’s not happy. Not winning is not enough for him.

Sione asks Kristin a question: if Ron falls below the yellow line, would she vote for him? Why would she say anything before knowing the results of this week? She’s smart enough to know not to fall into that trap.

Helen warns Laura: having Tara fall below the yellow line is a stupid idea. Then she sticks her foot in the mouth. She asks whether she would consider voting off Tara. After all, they’re just friends.

Tara takes this last chance workout as an opportunity to just relax a bit.

Jillian can’t get any of her folks to stop focusing on the game. Bob’s not having any more luck with that.

Mike: 248 pounds (-5, 1.98%)

Ron: 308 pounds (-9, 2.84%)

Tara: 186 pounds (-3, 1.59%)

Kristin: 245 pounds (-6, 2.39%)

Helen: 169 pounds (-2, 1.17%)

Filipe: 252 pounds (-7, 2.27%)

Sione: 256 pounds (-4, 1.54%)

Laura: 205 pounds (-8, 3.76%)

That puts Sione and Helen below the yellow line, and Laura will be picking between the two of them. It would be fair to say that, if they had not eaten at the temptation, they probably would not be below the yellow line. This is a no brainer. Granted, I’ve thought that before and found there to be a lack of brains on campus.

Vote
Laura: Sione

With the only vote, Sione has been eliminated. Sione is down from his starting weight of 372 pounds to 235 now. He has decided to change careers and become a trainer.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser 7 Episode 15, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

Aubrey was voted out in The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 12 and immediately fell right off the wagon before recovering and starting to lose weight again.

Despite the fact that Ron & Mike considered voting for Filipe, Sione still believes he’s got an alliance with them. Granted, they did stick with them, even if it was a bad gameplay move.

Ali Vincent, the season 5 winner who’s still in great shape, will be filling in for Allison, who had a baby the night before. Like Ali’s season when she came back to win, some people will be getting a chance to come back. Three people who were eliminated earlier in the season because their partners were unable to bring them back will be returning for another chance. Nicole, Estella, and David are those three. One of them will earn their way back to the campus based on percentage of weight loss.

Estella: 197 pounds (-45, 18.60%)
David: 347 pounds (-46, 11.70%)
Nicole: 182 pounds (-87, 32.34%)

For such a young guy with such a large amount of weight to lose, it was looking like David may well have just thrown away a quarter of a million dollars. Nicole, however, quite obviously has been kicking but at home, and it’s no surprise that she put up the top numbers when looking at the before and after images. She’s not just the best of the three, but she’s actually ahead of everybody else on the show except for Tara. Not to be forgotten is Estella, who’s done an impressive job considering her age.

Everybody knows Nicole’s a massive threat. She’s done better at home by herself better than most of these people have done with world class trainers, nutritionists, and working out 6 hours a day.

The other players are already trying to get into her head. She could very well be a valuable vote, but she has yet to build up any alliances.

Nicole wakes up and wants to go for a jog. Of course, she bumps into Tara on her trek. She doesn’t think she can trust her because of the frantic nature of their discussion.

Nicole will be training with Bob.

As afraid as Tara hopes everybody else is of Nicole, Tara, too, is afraid of Nicole, perhaps more than the others. Jillian fears that Tara’s becoming obsessed with the game. Tara knows that she needs to figure out what caused her to gain 100+ pounds in a year and a half, or otherwise she’ll just go back and gain it all again.

Ron’s having chest pains during his walk, so he will be getting checked out by the medic. They immediately send him to the hospital because they take chest pains seriously. They rule out a heart attack, but they do find out that he had blood loss, although they’re not sure how that happened. This is a side effect of his gastric bypass surgery. After some more tests, they’ve determined that he will be fine. His ulcers are in the healing process and do not require intervention at this point. He is the first contestant who will be going on a medicine while on the ranch instead of going off it, but he’s given the okay to go back to campus.

Now Michelle Aguilar, season 6 winner, will be filling in for Allison at the challenge. Each player will get on a platform 6 feet above the pool. One at a time, they’ll release a rope, making it harder and harder to keep their balance. The winner will get a 1 pound advantage at the weigh-in. For Nicole, if she wins, since she has immunity, she can give a 1 pound penalty to any player. They start off on 40 ropes. Mike is the first one to fall. Filipe follows. Laura drops at 20 ropes. Her partner Tara is next, followed by Helen. Nicole drops at 15 ropes. That pits Sione against Kristin. Kristin falls at 9 ropes, and Sione wins the challenge.

Ron worries that he’s going to be below the yellow line since he’s spent three days in the hospital. Mike doesn’t want him to fall on the sword for anyone, though he will fall on the sword for his son.

Allison’s back for the weigh-in.

Nicole: 187 pounds (+5, 2.75%)

This definitely falls under the wow category. She’d have been better off staying at home, or at least that’s how it appears for now. Since she gained weight, Nicole’s immunity has been removed. Bob says that stress was the problem. Presents a good opportunity for people to get rid of a big threat.

Kristin: 251 pounds (-4, 1.57%)

Laura: 214 pounds (+1, 0.47%)

Tara: 189 pounds (-6, 3.08%)

Tara has hit the 100 pound mark and says that now she gets it and is worth it.

Helen: 171 pounds (-6, 3.39%)

Sione: 260 pounds (-6, -1, 2.63%)

Filipe: 259 pounds (-4, 1.52%)

Mike: 253 pounds (-11, 4.17%)

Ron: 320 pounds (+3, 0.95%)

Combined with his big week last week, Ron knew he was going to gain weight this week because he was pumped full of fluids at the hospital.

The two people who gained the most weight this week are below the yellow line: Nicole and Ron. This is a no brainer, and it looks like Nicole’s return to the ranch was short-lived. However, considering how well she did when she went home before (a lot better than she’s done since returning), she still looks to be a threat for the at home prize. She asks the others to consider what they said before when they approached her upon her return.

Votes
Mike: Nicole
Filipe: Ron
Laura: Nicole
Sione: Ron
Tara: Nicole
Helen: Ron
Kristin: Nicole

Ron narrowly escapes, but he and Mike should have dumped Filipe when they had the chance. It’s pretty obvious that alliance is officially dead. With 4 votes, Nicole has been eliminated again, but she’ll go home with the knowledge that she can keep going on her own. She looks forward to a healthy life with her new husband and future babies. She’s down now to 164 pounds from her starting weight of 269 pounds, putting her at 39% lost already.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser 7 Episode 14, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

After the blue team lost yet again, Cathy volunteered to go home in The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 11.

Black team’s shocked that Aubrey’s still there.

Ron says he would do the same thing if it meant keeping his son safe, although Cathy actually kept Aubrey safe rather than Kristin. Whether that was the wisest move to protect the team is hard to say.

Not that there are teams any more. They’re going to singles. Mike finds out that his original shirt fits over both himself and Aubrey.

The first thing they will do as individuals is pick who will train them for the rest of their time. They have half an hour to think about it. Mike has made an effort to get to know Jillian as well as he knew Bob, so he’s got a tough choice. Filipe, however, being the whiner he’s been, is jumping up and down that he gets to pick Bob. Not that he listened when they told him he was with Jillian. The others seem pretty split as well if they’ve been on both sides. Laura, though, has been training with Jillian since day one, although Jillian did throw her under the bus and got the others to say (the truth) that she was the weakest link.

They will pick in order of percentage of weight loss so far.

Tara: Jillian
Mike: Jillian (by coin toss)
Helen: Jillian
Kristin: Bob
Filipe: Bob
Sione: Bob
Ron: Bob
Laura: Jillian
Aubrey: Bob

Having just chosen Bob as her trainer, Kristin’s already worried that he won’t be able to focus on her and instead will be focused on Sione and Filipe.

The challenge will consist of two parts. In part one, they have colored blocks with the exact amount of weight they’ve lost, which they can divide amongst their opponents. The total amount of weight that each player has will be added in part two. What’s part two? That will remain a mystery for the time being. However, immunity is up for grabs.

Aubrey splits between Tara and Helen. Ron splits between them as well. Sione and Filipe mostly target Tara. Mike continues the Tara onslaught. They all find this quite amusing, but Tara is having trouble handling this. Helen splits her weight between all the people who targeted her. Tara goes for her biggest competitor. Tara ends up with the most weight on her scale at 257 pounds, and she doesn’t want to talk to anyone. She just wants to be left alone. She’ll talk to her partner Laura, though. She’s decided to throw the next weigh-in and send herself home. Laura wants to return the favor from all those times earlier in the season and get her to stay strong through the stressful times.

So here comes part two. They see a bunch of cars with all their colors. We all know this challenge will not involve driving. NASCAR Cup driver Clint Bowyer is there as a special guest, and he’s got a message to set goals and keep going to meet them. In addition to immunity, the winner will be a VIP guest at a NASCAR race. Each of them will be pulling a car that weighs over two tons nearly half a mile. The extra weight from part one will be added to the cars.

Ron: 37 pounds
Mike: 63 pounds
Filipe: 67 pounds
Aubrey: 72 pounds
Sione: 92 pounds
Helen: 215 pounds
Tara: 257 pounds

Ganging up on Tara makes sense, but this whole ganging up on Helen thing really didn’t. Mike and Sione get off to a quick start. Tara’s got them in her sights and is trying to catch up. She catches up to Mike and takes second place. Now she just has to go for Sione. From the corner of his eye, he sees Tara coming up on his tail. Despite the efforts of the others to give this challenge to Sione, all they did was anger Tara, who easily walks away with the challenge win and immunity. Mike crosses in second. Sione wore himself out early and finishes third. Filipe, Helen, and Aubrey follow. Mike and Aubrey return to help Ron finish. As another part of her reward, Tara will be going for a ride with Clint.

Going into the weigh-in, Kristin and Tara have the same goal: to lose 4 pounds and be the first woman ever to lose 100 pounds on campus.

Tara: 195 pounds (-3, 1.52%, immune)

Kristin: 255 pounds (-8, 3.04%)

Aubrey: 191 pounds (-4, 2.05%)

Mike: 264 pounds (-6, 2.22%)

Laura: 213 pounds (-7, 3.18%)

Helen: 177 pounds (-5, 2.75%)

Sione: 266 pounds (-7, 2.56%), over 100 pounds

Ron: 317 pounds (-10, 3.06%)

Filipe: 263 pounds (-4, 1.50%)

Once again, immunity has played a role in saving its holder, with Tara being safe because of it. That puts Sione and Aubrey below the yellow line. Now that we’re down to singles, the choice here is pretty simple and obvious, although based on the prior ganging up on Tara and not at all on Sione, they’ll probably keep the bigger threat around.

Votes
Tara: Filipe
Mike: Aubrey
Laura: Filipe
Helen: Aubrey
Kristin: Aubrey
Ron: Aubrey

With 4 votes, Aubrey has been eliminated. While she was gone, her father has lost 26 pounds, so perhaps he’s finally accepted that he either needs to lose some weight or else. In her first three weeks after returning home, Aubrey gained 9 pounds. That’s… not good. Most contestants fall off the wagon eventually, but this has to be a record. Last time she went home, she only lost 2 pounds in a month. However, she’s starting to get back into her routine and has lost 10 pounds since leaving the ranch.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser 7 Episode 13, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

Despite black team’s reckless disregard for their trainer and their goals at the ranch, blue team still fell below the yellow line in The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 10. It came down to a choice between Mandi and Aubrey, and although black team foolishly planned to support Aubrey’s boot instead of Mandi’s, Mandi decided that it was her turn to go home so her sister could stay.

After elimination, Allison asks the black team to join them. They’re probably going on a trip. Yep, everybody’s going home for the week. Typically a bad week because, while it’s a time to reenergize, they normally get knocked off the wagon and start eating poorly. If last week was any indication, the black team is not ready for any temptation whatsoever because they buckled quickly and ridiculously.

As they go home to see their families, it’s pretty obvious there’s some enabling going on there. Most of them have family members who are at least 100 pounds overweight. Perhaps the most visible example of this is Mike’s brother Max, who is about the same size his father and brother were before they went on the ranch.

When they arrive home, they hear the doorbell and see tins sitting on their porches. Mmm. Cookies the size of their heads. As if they really need any more temptation. Their challenge while at home, in addition to overcoming the family distractions, is to run half a marathon. I wonder if any of them will get a ride part of the way from one of the producers. In addition to that, they will be facing a temptation. For every cookie they eat, they can add 5 minutes to the player of their choice’s time. The player with the fastest time wins $10,000. Not worth it when you’re this close to a quarter of a million. Tara’s considered the biggest threat, along with Sione. Aubrey is chowing down. Helen is also eating, with the encouragement of her family that she’s allowed to have a high calorie day.

At the 20 minute mark, Tara and Sione are tied at 2.0 miles each. By the 1:12:00 mark, Sione’s opened up a slight lead 7.8 to 7.5. Helen is at 5.3 miles, Aubrey 5.1 miles, Cathy 4.6 miles, Mike 4.1 miles, Laura 4.0 miles, Filipe 4.0 miles, Kristin 3.5 miles, and Ron’s walking the whole way but nonetheless giving it a go at 2.2 miles. Mandi’s also running alongside Aubrey. Mike, Laura, and Filipe begin struggling around the 5 mile mark. Helen’s also hitting a wall around 8 miles. The top prize is still up for grabs between Sione and Tara. Sione’s extended his lead a bit 12.6 miles to 12.2 miles. A couple hundred yards away from the finish line, Sione’s quad tightens up, and he can’t even take another step. He drops to the ground. Hell of a place to drop. I’d roll the rest of the way myself. He’s up on Tara 12.9 miles to 12.5 miles with a total distance of 13.1 miles to go. After stretching his leg, Sione gets back up and continues going.

Tara – 2:24:19
Sione – 2:25:57
Helen – 2:49:19
Aubrey and Mandi – 2:53:02
Cathy – 3:15:21
Mike – 3:19:38
Laura – 3:24:00
Filipe – 3:24:05
Kristin – 3:43:45
Ron (4 miles) – 1:52:34

So now it’s a question of who ate cookies, and how they decided to apply those minutes.

But before we get to that, it’s time to take a look at the contestants and how they’re doing at home. Aubrey’s trying to juggle her litter of kids and a workout schedule. Ron and Mike go to one of their favorite restaurants. Pizza, beer, and cookies, all they want on the house. Could they pick a worse restaurant? It looks like they’ve managed to behave themselves, though. Filipe actually has to think about what he plans to put in his mouth, asking the waitress a bunch of questions. Tara’s being the food nazi with her family. She’s also teaching her brother about their Extra sugar free gum commercials. Filipe sees some calamari. He smells it, but you don’t get fat by smelling it. Helen pays a visit to a Polish supermarket, and she insists on shopping for the healthy stuff.

Like Mike, Aubrey’s also got an extremely overweight relative. Her father is in the neighborhood of 500 pounds, and she wonders if she’ll be lucky enough to get another 20 or 30 months out of him. He’s in denial about his life threatening disease.

When they return to the ranch, Allison’s there and waiting to reveal the results of the marathon challenge.

Nobody penalized Sione, so his time stands. Tara, however, is not going to be so lucky. Helen ate a 370 calorie cookie to penalize Tara, which means that Sione wins the challenge and the $10,000. So we don’t get to find out who else ate what else?

Now it’s time to find out how well the contestants did at home.

Mike: 270 pounds (-8, 2.88%)
Laura: 220 pounds (-6, 2.65%)
Tara: 198 pounds (-2, 1.00%), Jillian warns her that she’s overtraining, so her body’s fighting back
Sione: 273 pounds (-4, 1.44%)
Filipe: 267 pounds (-7, 2.55%)
Helen: 182 pounds (-7, 3.70%)
Black Total: -34 pounds, 2.35%

Aubrey: 195 pounds (-5, 2.50%)
Ron: 337 pounds (-10, 2.89%), over 100 pounds total
Kristin: 264 pounds (+1, 0.38%)
Cathy: 241 pounds (-1, 0.41%)
Blue Total: -15 pounds

Blue team loses. Again. It’s pretty apparent that the mother/daughter duo still has a lot to learn. Aubrey’s outnumbered once again. However, Cathy volunteers to go home and says she feels strong enough to go home.

Votes
Aubrey: Cathy
Ron: Cathy
Kristin: Cathy

With three votes, Cathy has been eliminated. She is down to 215 pounds from her starting weight of 293 pounds. Her other daughters, Karri and Stephanie, are also participating in the weight loss program.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser 7 Episode 12, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 9 was a to be continued episode. We left off with Mike weighing in, and he needed to lose 10 pounds to keep everybody immune. If he failed to do so, one person from each team would be voted off, and it would be all his fault (only not really since Sione and Cathy only lost 3 pounds).

Mike: 286 pounds (-11, 3.70%)

With Mike’s 11 pound weight loss, nobody will be going home. So I’ll ask this: they couldn’t have showed us this 30 seconds of footage last week?

Week 10 starts 5 minutes after the weigh in. The teams will be matched against someone from the opposite team. If they beat their opponent, they get a point. The first team to three points will win the weigh in. The person who can sit against a wall the longest will win the pop challenge. Kristin is sitting out for medical reasons. Sione and Helen will sit out for the black team. Ron is out in about 20 seconds. Cathy is gone pretty soon after. Aubrey drops at 2 minutes, leaving just Mandi representing the winless blue team. Filipe is out at 2:25. Mike drops right after. Laura drops at 3 minutes, which leaves Mandi against Tara. Mandi drops, and Tara wins. With that painful victory, Tara will be able to structure the match ups for this week’s face off.

The matches are:

Mike (102 lbs, 26% lost) against Cathy (47 lbs, 16% lost)
Sione (89 lbs, 24% lost) against Mandi (68 lbs, 26% lost)
Filipe (89 lbs, 24% lost) against Kristin (90 lbs, 25% lost)
Helen (64 lbs, 25% lost) against Ron (87 lbs, 20% lost)
Laura (59 lbs, 21% lost) against Aubrey (46 lbs, 18% lost)

Mike should be able to crush Cathy, although she did have a pretty poor showing last week that should allow her to bounce up. Based on his numbers last week, Sione should have Mandi beat. Filipe and Kristin’s a toss up that should prove interesting. Helen is likely to beat Ron. Laura against Aubrey could go either way. Definitely was not expecting Tara to either have faith in her partner or sit herself out, but with her 5.21% weight loss last week, Tara’s likely to have a poor week. If she’s smart, she’ll have a bad week on purpose so she can dominate the scale next week.

Jillian doesn’t want her team to be complacent because the underdog always has his day.

Filipe’s frustrated with Jillian. Yeah, yeah, still. Now he’s mad that she worked out with everybody but him.

The challenge is a relay race that starts off in the pool. The first person will take 24 six pound medicine balls across the pool. The next player will take them to the first stopping point and run them up the stairs. The third person will go under a series of obstacles with them. The fourth team member will take them down the basketball court to do 24 squats every trip down the court. Everyone on the winning team will get 24 hours of luxury. Kristin is sitting out again due to medical concerns. Laura and Mike sit out for the black team.

Ron and Filipe are doing the swimming. Or rather, Filipe’s swimming while Ron’s walking. Black team gets about a 3 lap lead. Sione and Cathy will be running up the stairs. Sione’s taking the stairs two at a time, while Cathy’s going at a slow but steady pace. Tara and Mandi are going under the obstacles. Mandi’s starting to catch up. Helen and Aubrey are on the final leg with the squats (they have to do two balls at a time and 24 squats each of the 12 times). Based on this match up, it appears blue may actually have a shot at winning something, but it’s not to be. Black wins.

Black team’s now preparing themselves for 24 hours of luxury. While it will be relaxing, that kind of environment is not exactly conducive to weight loss. As for the blue team, they’re all still working out, rather than having a big screen TV, taking a bubble bath, or getting a massage. It doesn’t end there, though. The meal is obviously a big derailing waiting to happen. Unsurprisingly, their calories climb and climb and climb. Total for the 6 in one meal: 12,952 calories. So far. Then they head to the bar. They continue drinking, and Helen proceeds to smoke. Then Sione eats some more, as if his meal weren’t enough to begin with. New total after the bar: 15,563 calories (2600 each). Blue team: 1,612 calories. After this display, black team deserves to lose.

Jillian’s been tipped off that her team won luxury, which she knows is not a good prize to win there. Helen swore everybody to secrecy, but Jillian’s no fool. What’s the point? The second they leave, they immediately lose control. To make matters worse, half of them don’t even trust her because they were previously with Bob. Filipe is not even sure any more whether he wants to work out. Now it’s his turn to scream and shout and pound things and then leave the room. Yeah, that temper tantrum ought to patch things up. Can this whiny guy go home already? He and Sione go pout to Bob because their wicked stepmom Jillian was a meanie. Bob’s going to let them have their way and train with him.

While Jillian partially thought Bob should have sent Filipe and Sione back to deal with their issues rather than running away from them, she’s largely relieved that she doesn’t have to deal with this nonsense any more.

Jillian doesn’t think her team deserves to win the weigh in, and she’s right.

Because there was no elimination last week, Laura still has an extra vote, and she will be able to vote regardless of who loses.

Tara: 200 pounds (no change… the start of a train wreck)

Mike: 278 pounds (-8, 2.80%)
Cathy: 242 pounds (-4, 1.63%)
Black team leads 1-0

Aubrey: 200 pounds (-3, 1.48%)
Laura: 227 pounds (+1, 0.44%)
Tied 1-1

Filipe: 274 pounds (-1, 0.36%)
Kristin: 263 pounds (-7, 2.59%)
Blue team leads 2-1

Filipe’s question: why did I let my trainer affect my week? Are you freaking kidding me? His trainer made him go out and eat a few thousand calories, at a time when he wasn’t working out enough? Take some responsibility for your own actions, dude.

Helen: 189 pounds (-4, 2.07%)
Ron: 337 pounds (-6, 1.75%)
Tied 2-2

Sione: 277 pounds (-6, 2.12%)
Mandi: 197 (+2, 1.02%)

Black team wins the weigh in. Not the result I expected, or was hoping for. Black team should have lost for going back to their old ways at the flick of a switch.

As The Biggest Loser for her team, Kristin has immunity. Laura will have the extra vote, which could come into play in the event of a tie.

Ron says that it’s Mandi’s turn to go home, and the people who have been with him since the beginning (Cathy and Kristin) agree. Aubrey, however, is ready to go home. She won’t vote for her sister, and she’d rather go home instead.

Votes
Laura: Cathy
Ron: Mandi
Kristin: Mandi
Cathy: Mandi
Aubrey: Cathy
Mandi: Ron

That goes against the plan to let the black team decide who to leave (from anyone, regardless of whether they received any votes or not, a lame rule). Mandi knows she can do it at home, whereas she believes her sister Aubrey can’t, so she wants her to stay there. With 3 votes, Mandi has been eliminated. She’s brought her new energetic lifestyle home to share with her family and is now down 84 pounds from her starting weight of 263 pounds.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser 7 Episode 11, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The blue team fell below the yellow line, and Dane was voted out of the house in part two of The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 8.

Bob’s old team is happy with this result, though Tara’s very emotional.

The contestants end up in a cooking school called Chefs Inc, which means a visit from Rocco DiSpirito. He’s going to talk to them about the worst kind of food, fast food. The first lesson is just how horrible pizza is for the body, with 4000 calories for the whole thing. Stuffed burritos? Over 1100 calories each. A triple cheeseburger has 1230 calories. If you add fries, the fat spikes to 110 grams.

Both teams will make healthy versions of each of the foods they’ve seen, to be judged on taste and calorie content. The winner will get dinner cooked by Rocco, and one random person on the winning team will get an extra vote. They have just 30 minutes. Bison can be used in place of beef. No fat yogurt mixed with sweet chili sauce will have 1/4 the calories of regular sour cream. The burrito can be reduced using lean turkey.

Ron’s pizza wins (despite not being fully cooked), and his son Mike is not surprised. The reduced calorie version has 276 calories compared with 470 for the original. Black team reduced their burrito from 1100 calories to 417, so they win despite their equally bad presentation and flavor with the other team. That means it’s down to the burger. Black team’s burger tasted much better. Black team’s had 303 calories, compared with 525 calories for the blue team (the ketchup and mustard are the downfall). Black team wins the challenge. Whoever gets the right fortune cookie gets an additional vote. Laura draws the extra vote. Because they won, Rocco will be cooking the black team fried chicken (except it’s unfried). It’s made crispy with whipped egg whites and toasted panko bread crumbs. They also get mashed sweet potatoes. Blue team? They get to do the dishes.

Bob’s team will be doing some shadow boxing, and they’ll get some assistance from Sugar Ray Leonard. Former amateur boxer Aubrey is a big fan. Sugar Ray still works out as a boxer at age 52. He just doesn’t get hit any more.

It’s time for a visit from Dr. H. This is the time of the season that he gives good news. Mike has lost 134 pounds of hydrated fat, while gaining about 20 pounds of muscle in 3 months, which is a new record. Tara also has set a record, 29% weight loss in 3 months. When she first did the treadmill test, Mandi (Aubrey?) matched up with a fit 68-69 year old woman. Now, compared to fit 31 year olds, she was off the charts. Ron had stomach surgery 13 years ago, which didn’t work very well and has made his stay more difficult than normal. He was losing a bit of muscle, a rarity on this show, but he’s been improving over the last couple weeks. He also now needs less insulin.

Jillian pulls Sione aside to hopefully make the best of the situation with his whole Bob temper tantrum, but he says he’s good now and is past it now. Later, he’s having a good workout, but in the middle of it, he missteps and twists his ankle. He’s got a level 1 sprain, the best case scenario for a sprain.

The contestants now go to a food bank, an ironic place to visit considering how gluttonous they’ve been. Their challenge is to take the donated food, assemble it into a kit, and then take the kits across the warehouse to load them on trucks. This is the same thing the volunteers who work there do. They will load enough food to feed 1,200 people. Each member of the winning team will receive free groceries for a year. They will also be featured in a national Cheerios campaign. The cherry on top is letters from home. Laura will sit out for the black team. Black team gets off to an early lead, and they’re building on it. Black lets their 15-20 kit lead go, though, and at 109 the teams are tied. Black retakes the lead briefly, but blue manages to take their first lead at 124 kits. It’s anybody’s game as the lead bounces back and forth. Black team ultimately wins 150-141. Mandi and Aubrey are especially upset by this loss.

Having watched Aubrey cry, Mike gives his year’s supply of groceries to her. A nice gesture from Mike, but I’m not overly thrilled about this people with kids deserve it more trend we’ve been seeing this year.

Jillian wants to know why Laura sat out. Helen’s almost 50, and Sione’s got an injured ankle.

Mandi starts crying during the last chance workout. What if she works this hard and still goes home? Well, what if she works this hard and is The Biggest Loser?

Jillian asks Laura why she’s always last, and why she doesn’t believe in herself. To prove a point, she asks everybody else on the team who the weakest link on the team is, and they all willingly volunteer Laura’s name. Laura goes outside to cry, and Jillian says she gives up, though she admits what she did was mean. Tara believes Jillian went too far, although she agrees with her point. Nonetheless, Laura still thinks she’s giving it 100%. That night when they talk about what happened, Jillian is at least able to get some baby steps.

They will not be weighing in against each other. Instead, they will be weighing in with each other. They have the chance to win immunity for everyone. By losing a pound a day for the last week, everybody will be safe. With 11 people, that means they’ll need to lose a combined total of more than 77 pounds. If they don’t, one person from each team will go home. Regardless of what happens, for every pound they lose, The Biggest Loser will donate 100 pounds of food.

Helen: 193 pounds (-5, 2.53%)

Mandi: 195 pounds (-8, 3.94%)

Sione: 283 pounds (-3, 1.05%)

Aubrey: 203 pounds (-8, 3.79%)

Laura: 226 pounds (-7, 3.00%)

Ron: 343 pounds (-6, 1.72%)

Tara: 200 pounds (-11, 5.21%)

Kristin: 270 pounds (-9, 3.23%)

Filipe: 275 pounds (-8, 2.83%)

Cathy: 246 pounds (-3, 1.20%)

That leaves 10 pounds left to lose. It’s Mike’s turn to weigh in. To be continued…

Bloody hell.

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

Last night on The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 8, the teams were shuffled, and most people were sent to opposite teams. The new black team won the challenge, giving themselves a 3 pound advantage at the weigh-in. Then the President interrupted, so here we go with a special Wednesday Biggest Loser.

The contestants will participate in a pop quiz, which means it’s time for a special guest, Liz Vaccariello of Prevention Magazine, for no apparent reason. The winning team will win a fountain of youth vacation package to Florida.

True or false? Switching from regular cola to diet cola will help you live longer?
False. Regular and diet both carry similar health risks. So what about the extra calories?
Mandi and Helen are both correct.

Which change in your diet is believed to help you live longer? Cutting fat or cutting calories?
Cutting calories.
Sione is correct.

Which exercise is believed to help you live longer? Push ups or squats?
Squats. Lower body strength will improve flexibility, balance, and endurance, which will help prevent falls later in life.
Filipe is correct. Black team wins 3-1.

It’s time for the weigh-in.

Dane: 312 pounds (-13)
Aubrey: 211 pounds (-5)
Mandi: 203 pounds (-7)
Ron: 349 pounds (-5)
Kristin: 279 pounds (-10)
Cathy: 249 pounds (-14)
Blue Total: -54 pounds (3.26%)

Dane has now lost 100 pounds faster than anybody has before, in 8 weeks.

Helen: 198 pounds (-7)
Laura: 233 pounds (-8)
Tara: 211 pounds (-11)
Mike: 297 pounds (-10)
Filipe: 283 pounds (-8)
Sione: 286 pounds (-10)
Black Total: -57 pounds (3.65%)

With the highest percentage of weight loss on the blue team, Cathy is safe, but someone else will be going home. Blue team’s 50/50 for the old trainers. Ron suggests Dane. Dane responds that he’s a huge threat, so they should keep him for now. Mandi wants to get rid of Ron because he can’t put up the big numbers. They pretty much have no choice because if they vote for someone else, it would be either Mandi or Aubrey going home.

Aubrey: Kristin
Dane: Ron
Mandi: Ron
Ron: Dane
Cathy: Dane
Kristin: Dane

So has Aubrey not seen this show before? With three votes, Dane has been eliminated. With the encouragement of his wife, Dane ran a marathon when he got home.

Update: NBC has issued an apology and confirmed that Dane did not finish the marathon. Because he would not be able to finish in the 6 hours allotted, a producer gave him a ride for a few miles so that he could cross in just under 6 hours (not the 4 hours originally reported). He did end up running probably about 20 miles, which is impressive all things considered.

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

The pink team fell below the yellow line in The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 7, and Helen and Shanon asked to let Shanon be sent home, which they did.

Helen’s questioning herself whether she made the right decision. So are a lot of people.

When they arrive at the challenge, the contestants are told it’s blue versus black. This year, there’s a twist, though. No one is guaranteed to keep their trainers. The winner gets to choose their trainer, the loser gets split up, and all the others will have their trainers chosen for them by the flip of a coin.

They will be doing up downs in the mud. First to 100 wins. Dane and Helen are automatically in this because they are singles. Everyone else will choose who represents them. Sione, Tara, Mike, Kristin, and Mandi are competing for their teams. Blue and green take the early lead. When they hit 66, Sione finally loses his lead to Tara. Tara maintains her lead and wins the challenge by 1. Sione finishes next. Mandi, Dane, and Mike are next. Pink and purple are quite a ways behind. They battle pretty closely, but Kristin ends up edging Helen out by 1. Because she came in last and does not have a partner, Helen will automatically switch trainers. Because the black team fills up so quickly, as a reward for coming in third, if the coin doesn’t land on blue, Mandi & Aubrey will be separated. If it does land on blue, they switch trainers. Dane’s next, so he just goes wherever the coin lands. Then Mike & Ron run the risk of being split up. The coin lands black, so they will be split up. Since that decision has been made and the black team is full, purple team gets to stay together and with their trainer, despite having come in next to last.

That leaves the new teams as follows:

Black (Jillian)
Tara & Laura (no change)
Helen (changed from Bob)
Sione & Filipe (changed from Bob)
Mike (changed from Bob)

Blue (Bob)
Mandi & Aubrey (changed from Jillian)
Dane (changed from Jillian)
Ron (no change)
Kristin & Cathy (no change)

On the black team, only Tara & Laura remain the same, but they are now with all old Bob team members. On the blue team, Ron and Kristin & Cathy stayed the same, with a 50/50 split of old Bob and old Jillian.

Sione doesn’t feel like he’s pushing himself any more now that he’s lost Bob, and he doesn’t care to either. Mike, however, welcomes Jillian’s assistance and is willing to do whatever he needs to succeed.

Sione tells Bob and Filipe he’d rather go home. I say go ahead. Others still want to be there.

Bob’s more upset than he’s ever been before on this show, but he realizes that he’s got a job to do, so he pulls it together and begins working with his new team.

They’re greeted by Alison with a bunch of bikes for what she informs them is the longest challenge in Biggest Loser history. The bike challenge will last for 24 hours. The team with the most miles wins a 3 pound advantage, and every member of the winning team gets their own bike, which they may never want to ride again. Mike starts for black up against Mandi for blue. While Mike’s racing, Tara immediately goes back to the house to get whatever they need to make it through the next day. Black team plans to do 30 minutes and then rest for 2 and a half hours. Blue team doesn’t seem to have a plan, but Mandi goes for an hour. As it goes through the middle of the night, black appears to be sticking to their plan, while blue doesn’t appear to plan to have a plan. With 9 hours left, Ron, Cathy, and Mandi realize they’re not going to win, and they want to call a truce to rest for a while. Sione says he has to finish it because he doesn’t want to be a quitter. Aubrey says she’s with him, and they can handle it and need to keep going. Although it’s a foregone conclusion that black is going to win this challenge, everybody keeps going and finishes. Blue team rode 264 miles. Black team rode 301.9 miles to win. Tara went the furthest of all, 58.8 miles by herself.

Due to tonight’s Obama coverage, this week is split half today and half tomorrow. American Idol has, likewise, been preempted. For the conclusion of this episode, check out The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 8B.

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