From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Season 9, Episode 7
After two weeks of Olympics coverage, The Biggest Loser was back on TV last night. We picked up where we left off — with two contestants literally going head to head in an elimination challenge at the Ranch. The Orange Team's Cheryl and the Black Team's Darrell had to balance torch handles on their heads for as long as they could. Their chance to stay at the Ranch was on the line and they did all they could to outlast each other. However, Darrell's torch was the first to fall and he was the contestant headed for home. After tearful goodbyes from his new friends and his daughter, Drea, Darrell left the Ranch. Would the rest of the week be as drama-filled? Here is how the rest of the week went down.
Find Me a Match: The contestants walked into a room to find a table filled with cookies, which could mean only one thing: a temptation challenge. Ali told them that from now on there would only be two teams: Blue and Black, and the winner of the temptation challenge would be the one to choose the teams. The White Team's Michael and the Black Team's Drea were the only ones who wanted to compete. They faced off in a variation of the classic game of memory. (You know the one where you have to find matches?) They had to pick one slot from a giant memory board to see which food item it contained and then pick another slot to find its match. If they remembered correctly and made a match, their opponent had to eat that food item. If they didn't match, they had to eat a cookie. If they matched the "golden tickets," they would win the challenge. Drea was on a roll matching items, which forced Michael to consume more than 2,300 calories from a soft pretzel, muffin, fruit pie, peanut butter cup, and cookies. Both of them were feeling nauseated (eventually Drea consumed 1,320 calories as well), when she found one "golden ticket," but didn't find the match. Michael found the other golden ticket and matched it with the one that Drea had previously found. Therefore, the power was in Michael's hands to pick the teams! He also won the chance to give himself or someone else immunity this week.
Picking Teams: Michael weighed his options and ultimately made his decisions with gameplay in mind. I'd be training the Black Team (Sam, Cheryl, Drea, Stephanie, Sherry, and Ashley). Bob was training the Blue Team, of course (Koli, Daris, Lance, Miggy, Sunshine, and Michael). Instead of giving himself immunity, Michael chose O'Neal. Whichever team lost the weigh-in, O'Neal would join. The Blue team was stacked with the heaviest players and was completely unfair, but it was Michael's call to make — and he did. Would those decisions work to his advantage? Well, the 2,310 calories he ate at the temptation challenge certainly wouldn't help — ridiculous! I definitely had my work cut out for me too to get the ladies (and Sam!) ready to weigh in against Big Blue.
Who Can Pull Harder? The Black Team was clearly the underdog going into the Challenge, but they showed heart when they took on the Blue Team. On the roof of the Sheraton Universal hotel, the two teams had to race to see which one could pull their rope and raise their banner to the top first. O'Neal had immunity, and chose to be a cheerleader for Sunshine and her Blue teammates. In the end, the Blue Team pulled the fastest and won the competition. For their prize, the Blue Team (along with O'Neal) received heartfelt letters from home.
Last-Chance Workout and Weigh-In: It was my first last-chance workout with my Black Team and the odds were definitely stacked against them. I had to pull out all of the stops, so of course I gave them some beatings to help get their numbers as high as possible. Was the Blue Team truly unbeatable? Well, when they got to the scale their numbers were mixed — some low and some high. As a result the Black Team had to pull 39 pounds to win the weigh-in and stay safe. Andrea lost 5 pounds; Cheryl lost 4; Sherry dropped 6; Sam and Stephanie both dropped 8; and then it all came down to Ashley — who lost 10 pounds! That's right, kids, the Black Team pulled off a 41-pound weight loss. It was pure heart beating that Blue Team. Their win also meant that O'Neal would join the losing Blue Team.
Who Headed Home? Michael's plan backfired! He had the highest percentage of weight loss though, so he earned immunity and got to stay around another week. Unfortunately, his friend Miggy wasn't so lucky. The majority of the Blue Team contestants chose her over Lance to leave the Ranch.
And the end of the show, we got to see both eliminated contestants, Miggy and Darrell, back at home. Miggy has dropped from 240 pounds to 179 pounds. She's also learned to meditate to reduce her stress levels and to focus on positivity, instead of negativity. She hopes to be a size 5 by the finale. Nicole from Season 7 of The Biggest Loser also gave her a surprise visit to offer her support and motivation — and to work out. We also got to check in with Darrell in Michigan. He's lost 120 pounds. Along with a new view on life, he is working out with his wife to stay healthy. He can now fit back into the black leather jacket he wore when he first met her 27 years ago.