From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Season 9, Episode 6
This week the contestants left the Ranch and headed to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. While there, they met several amazing athletes preparing for the Vancouver Olympics and Paralympics — and they got to eat, train, and live like Olympians too. Week Six wasn't one big happy team-bonding experience, though; the contestants had to "go for the gold" alone! As in the Olympics, everyone had to compete individually in the challenges. The stakes where high because two members were going to be eliminated this week. Which Olympic special guests did they meet? Who took home the Biggest Loser gold, silver, and bronze medals? Which two contestants went home? Have I got a lot to tell you!
We Are the Champions: Bob and I have been training the contestants to become athletes in their own right. What better way for them to experience what that truly means than to see how our country's top athletes live? When we arrived at the Olympic Training Center, Alison Sweeney explained that the contestants would learn what it's like to be an Olympian by meeting a few extraordinary ones. The first was Allison Jones, a four-time member of the U.S. Paralympic Alpine Skiing and Road and Track Cycling teams, who's won four gold medals despite having only one leg. She inspired them with her life story and allowed each of them to carry the torch up to the center's Olympic flame. Later, they worked out with two Olympians; the male contestants worked out with U.S. Olympic freestyle Aerial ski team member Jeret "Speedy" Peterson, while the females worked out with gold medal Alpine skier Julia Mancuso. It was tough, but they made it through and earned the respect of the athletes. They also went to the cafeteria and met two Olympic Training Center nutritionists, who explained that food is more than just "calories in, calories out" for Olympic athletes. Olympians also check out the nutrition facts! They use healthy foods as fuel for their bodies, and each ingredient is necessary so they can achieve the right mix of nutrients to maintain weight, boost their energy, and sustain their strength for their training.
Slide to Slide: The teammates took part in a pop challenge that was demonstrated by short track speed skater J.R. Celtski. Each player had to get on a slippery "slide board" and slide from side to side. Each time they touched a side with their foot, they earned a point. The first three contestants to reach 500 points would win advantages at the main challenge. The Gray Team's Sam just barely edged out a win over the Red Team's Melissa and earned a gold medal. Melissa took home the silver for second place and the Yellow Team's Sunshine took home the third-place bronze.
The Biathlon Battle: This week's main challenge was based on an Olympic event called the biathlon, which is a combination of cross-country skiing and shooting. Kelly Underkofler, a Paralympic Biathlon cross-country skier, demonstrated the challenge. Instead of skiing, however, the contestants were supposed to race around the field. For every trip the players completed around the field, they received an opportunity to shoot at a target with a laser gun. If they hit one of their opponents' five targets, it would light up. If a contestant's targets were hit five times that player was out of the challenge. The pop challenge winners, Sam, Sunshine, and Melissa, won chances to get to deliver "shots" to the contestants of their choice before the challenge started. Sunshine and Melissa used their early shots to hit three of Sam's targets — but their strategic moves to get him out of the game early backfired. Sam returned the favor by using his three shots to hit two of Melissa's targets and one of Sunshine's targets. The players all aimed for each other's targets during the challenge, but in the end it came down to Yellow Team's O'Neal and Black Team's Darrell. O'Neal fired the final shot into Darrell's target and clinched the win — and received immunity for the week!
Survive Above the Line: Back at the Ranch, the contestants weren't sure how their week at the Olympic Training Center would affect their weight loss. Alison explained that the player with the lowest percentage of weight loss this week would fall below a red line and would automatically leave for home without an elimination meeting or vote. The next two contestants with low percentages of weight loss would fall below the yellow line; both would face elimination and one of the two would be sent home.
The Yellow Team's O'Neal weighed in first and lost 8 pounds, but he was already safe since he had immunity from the challenge. His teammate and daughter, Sunshine, dropped 6 pounds. The White Team's Michael had another double-digit drop this week with an 11-pound loss. (He's on target to match last season's record-setting 100-pound loss in 7 weeks.) The Purple Team's Stephanie dropped 4 pounds. Gray Team's Koli lost 9 pounds and his teammate Sam lost 12 pounds — and fell below the 300-pound mark for the first time since he was 16 years old. The Black team's Andrea lost 7 pounds, but her father's 5-pound loss left his future on the Campus in doubt due to his low 1.46 percentage. On the Pink Team, Sherry's future also looked shaky with her 3-pound loss, or 1.67 percent total weight loss, but her daughter Ashley lost 6 pounds and ensured her safety. On the Orange Team, Daris lost 9 pounds, or 3.18 percent — the highest percentage of total weight loss of anyone on the campus. His mom, Cheryl, wasn't as lucky. She needed to lose more than 3 pounds to stay safe, but lost exactly 3 pounds. The Green Team's Miggy lost 7 pounds, or 3.4 percent, and was ecstatic to finally be below 200 pounds! Finally, the Red Team's Lance dropped 9 pounds, but his wife Melissa gained one pound! Her fluctuating weight dropped her under the red line and immediately sent her home.
The Torch Twist: Alison surprised everyone at the weigh-in when she explained that this week's elimination wouldn't be settled by a vote, since Olympic events aren't. Cheryl and Darrell both fell under the yellow line and they would have to go head to head in yet another challenge — an elimination challenge — to decide who would go home. They all headed outside to two blazing torches. Cheryl and Darrell were each given a torch; their job was to keep their flames lit by balancing a torch stem on top of their heads. If their stem fell the torch would go out and that contestant would go home immediately. Cheryl's son, Daris, and Darrell's daughter, Andrea, looked on as their parents struggled to remain on the Ranch for another week. So who won and who went home? I know, but I'm not telling! You'll have to wait until Tuesday after the Winter Olympics to see the individual teams go down to just two teams — Blue and Black — and for the winner of the elimination challenge to finally be revealed. So, stay tuned!
Back at home: The Red Team's Melissa dropped 58 pounds — she went from 233 pounds to 175. She said that she's faced some challenges while adapting to her new lifestyle while Lance is still on the Ranch. She's continued with taking boxing lessons after I had her step into the ring on the Ranch. Now she's "addicted" to boxing at home and is working hard to get her kids to eat healthy and exercise too. She hopes to complete a marathon and be at her 145-pound goal weight by the finale.