From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Season 9, Episode 3
This week the roles were reversed at the Ranch. Before joining The Biggest Loser most of the contestants had never even attempted to work out on their own. At the Ranch they depend on Bob and me to teach them how to lose weight. But how well were they learning? Could the students become the teachers? We were going to find out. This week one of the teammates would become the "teacher" who takes everything learned so far and teach a "student" teammate how to lose enough weight to stay in the game. Oh, and no trainers were allowed — Bob and I couldn't work with any of the students all week! It was entirely up to their teachers to get them ready for the weigh-in! Here's how the interesting teacher-student twist played out.
Checking In: With 16 contestants safe at the Ranch, we got to see the Blue and Yellow Teams, who were in Houston and Minneapolis. Both teams had been sent home in the first week, with 30 days to prove that they could lose weight on their own. At the end of the 30 days, both teams would return to the Ranch to see which team had lost the most. The winning team would be allowed to remain at the Ranch, and the other would be sent home for good. We got to see both teams trying their hardest. The Blue Team's Cherita had tried spinning and loved it, and the Yellow Team's O'Neal explained he was doing whatever it took to get "down and dirty" to get back on the Ranch. I'm really rooting for both teams, and can't wait to see them back at the Ranch!
Who's Got the Power? Ali explained the teacher-student twist for the week. This week's temptation challenge would help decide who was going to be a teacher and who was going to be a student because the winner would have control of picking who was who from each team. Only one member of each team played and that person was presented with a plethora of candy-coated chocolates. In each round, the teammate only had to eat one piece of candy to keep playing. After the first round, the only two people to take a piece of candy were the Pink Team's Sherry and the White Team's Michael. In the second round, only Sherry ate a piece, so by doing so the Pink Team won the power to decide the teachers and students on each team — for only 10 calories! At the end of the week, only the students would weigh in — without having received any help from Bob and me all week. Bob and I could only work with the teachers to prepare them to teach!
Emotions Run Deep: One of the teachers, the Green Team's Migdalia, was clearly upset by this week's twist. Bob kept pushing her to tell him the reason why, but she refused to show any emotion or to express herself. I finally decided to step in to try to get her to open up. I pushed her to explain how she felt about her 9-year-old daughter, back at home, having her same habits as her and her grandmother (Migdalia's mom, the Green Team's Miggy) and growing up to be overweight too. Instead of giving me answers about why she was doing this, she gave up and walked out. After some pleading from Miggy and Bob, Migdalia decided not to quit. Later on, Miggy talked with Migdalia some more. She's glad her daughter does recognize she need helps and in time will be willing to get it.
Knowledge Is Power: It was time for the teachers to take notes, because Bob and I had to teach them what to tell their students — what to eat and how to work out this week. We had to convey all the information they could possibly need to them to help keep their teams around another week. The "teachers" also went to the California Health and Longevity Institute for a cooking lesson with celebrity chef Curtis Stone. He taught them about portion size and showed them several fat-laden and calorie-filled dishes. Believe it or not, the White Team's Michael admitted that he used to eat most of the dishes all in one meal — that would have been a grand total of 8,894 calories! Curtis showed the teachers how to be more aware of portion sizes. He cooked up a Chicken Cacciatore that was delicious and was only 300 calories per serving.
Unraveling the Problem: For this week's challenge, each team had a 1,000-foot spool of ribbon in their team's color. The teachers had to thread the ribbon through a playground. Going over and under through slides, bridges, and jungle gyms, they tried to twist it up as much as possible, since Ali told them the students would have to draw for which color ribbon they unraveled. The teachers made it as tough as possible — but then came another twist: The students would unravel own their teacher's ribbon...oh, and they'd be blindfolded! They had to rely on their teachers to talk them through bringing the ribbon back onto their spools. The Red Team and the Gray Team went head to head. The Gray Team won, as Koli was the first student to unravel the ribbon and get back to the start. As their prize, Gray won immunity and also chose which team would switch teacher and student at the weigh-in.
Did They Teach Them Enough? Bob and I were barred from the gym, where the teachers led the last-chance workouts. Then it was time for the weigh-in, where we'd find out if the teachers had taught their students enough. Since the Gray Team had won the challenge, they got to choose which team had to switch places. They chose the White Team, so Michael had to weigh in instead of his mom. They chose him because they felt Michael hadn't truly taken advantage of being on The Biggest Loser and needed to step it up. He lost 10 pounds, which wasn't enough to keep up against the rest of the contestants. The Red Team's Melissa only lost one pound, so of course Bob and I confront her about throwing the weigh-in...again — whole other story!
In the end, the White Team fell below the yellow line and the contestants chose to send Maria home instead of Michael. It was Maria's wish to keep her son there, but the contestants want to see more out of him to prove that he deserved the spot. Back at home, she's now down to 230 pounds from 281 pounds when she started on The Biggest Loser. She is also getting over her fear of water by taking swimming lessons. In fact, she invites all of her friends and family to come see her face her fear of the water. Nobody can believe it, because they know that fear had paralyzed her for so long — not any more, buddy. I'm SO proud of her!