Season 7, Episode 12
Biggest Loser Recap: The Switch to Singles
Blue and Black became a thing of the past this week, as the remaining players put their original team colors back on and it became every man for himself. Here's how it all went down.
Trainer vs. Trainer: At the beginning of the week, the players met Alison in the gym, where she informed them that they were switching from two teams to singles from now on. She gave each player a shirt of their original team color, and many of the shirts were a LOT smaller than the ones the contestants had worn when they first got to the Ranch. Everyone was pretty psyched to put their former colors back on…and then Ali told them about the twist. Because as you know, there is ALWAYS a twist. Each contestant would have to choose which trainer they would stick with until the end. For some of them, the choice was a no-brainer…for example, it was no secret that Filipe and Sione were dying to get back with Bob. But for people like Mike and Helen, who'd trained and made connections with both me and Bob, it was a pretty cruel position to be in — almost like choosing between their parents. To make matters worse, they had to make the decision with me and Bob in the room. Talk about pressure! In the end, Filipe, Sione, Aubrey, Ron, and Kristin went with Bob, and Tara, Laura, Helen, and Mike stayed on my side of the gym. When Kristin made her choice, her explanation was that "this is Bob's year." Yeah…we'll see about that, honey.
Targeting the Threats: After the question of who would train with whom was settled, the players met Alison in the courtyard for what would turn out to be Part One of this week's challenge. Each player stood before a table, on which sat a pile of blocks representing how much weight that person had lost. Across the courtyard sat a row of scales, one for each player. Alison explained that each person could take their blocks and distribute them among the other players by placing them on their scales. Exactly what that would mean was unclear, since Alison would not explain what Part Two of the challenge would be. She did reveal, however, that the person who won the challenge would win immunity. Figuring the extra weight was a handicap, most of the players ganged up on Tara, who had the highest percentage of weight loss to date, and Helen, who was also doing well. Those two ended up with 257 and 215 pounds, respectively, while everyone else got less than 100. Tara felt targeted and contemplated quitting the whole game until a pep talk from Laura reminded her why she was there.
Pulling Their Weight — and Then Some: For Part Two of the challenge, the players were brought to a racetrack, where a line of beat-up cars, one with each person's name on it, awaited them. Then up pulled NASCAR champion Clint Bowyer, who shared some words of inspiration and explained that the winner of this challenge would receive not only immunity but also VIP status at an upcoming NASCAR race. Alison explained that the players would have to race half a mile down the track on foot…pulling their two-ton cars behind them. The weight that had been piled onto the scales in Part One would be added to the cars, so Tara and Helen had a lot more weight to pull than anyone else. The players got into their harnesses, and the race began. Sione got out to an early lead, and Mike pulled out into second place behind him. Struggling with the extra weight, Tara fell pretty far behind, but she made herself keep moving. About halfway through, Sione and Mike lost steam and slowed, and Tara, who just kept plodding ahead, eventually overtook them both to win the challenge. I guess it's true what they say about slow and steady winning the race! When Tara told me what she accomplished — coming back from behind when everyone was out to take her down — I was SO unbelievably proud of her. Talk about guts and determination!
Milestones and Disappointments: This week, Kristin and Tara were competing to see which of them would be the first woman to lose 100 pounds on the Ranch. Tara fell just short, losing 3 pounds when she needed 4 (it was a really good thing she had immunity, or she would have fallen below the yellow line). Kristin pulled a better number — 8 pounds — and was psyched to bring her total weight loss to 105 pounds! It was a really sweet moment to watch. Sione also topped the 100-pound mark this week, with a 7-pound loss that brought his total to 106. His cousin Filipe also met that milestone, bringing his total loss to 101 pounds…but unfortunately, his 4-pound loss for the week was not enough to keep him above the yellow line. Aubrey fell below with him, and the other players faced a tough choice. Filipe had great relationships with so many of them…but he was also the bigger threat. In the end, Aubrey was the one they voted off. At first, she had trouble adjusting to life at home, and her family obligations got in the way of her time at the gym. After three weeks of gaining weight, she put herself back on track and has now has lost 10 pounds since leaving the Ranch.
Next Week: Lots of drama…Ron has a health scare that threatens to send him home from the Ranch, and the eliminated players come back for their second chance. You don't want to miss this one — tune in to NBC next Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET to see what happens!