From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Biggest Loser: Season 8, Episode 10
The remaining six contestants joined Alison at the Ranch. She reminded them that they were once inspired by the contestants from previous seasons of the show, and now they are the ones whose remarkable transformations are motivating others all over the country. To that end, this week they would each have to deliver an inspiring speech about their weight-loss journey in front of a 300-member audience. To help them get ready for their big night, Ali brought in the big guns — or shall I say "Gunn" — as in Tim Gunn, star of the fashion design reality show Project Runway, and Tabatha Coffey, star of the hair salon reality show Tabatha's Salon Takeover. Contestants and stars all hopped into a black stretch limousine that whisked them away to the Four Seasons Hotel, where a suite filled with new outfits awaited. Then Tabatha took them to the Warren-Tricomi Salon to get beautified. That's right, baby, Week 10 was makeover week!
Showing Off New Looks: The contestants were excited and amazed by their new looks. Just as they were about to walk onto the stage to inspire the audience, Tim had one last surprise for them! Tim asked them to turn around and when they did, their family members — Rebecca's sister; Danny, Allen, Rudy, and Liz's spouses and children; and Amanda's mother — were all standing backstage with them. As they walked on to the stage, one by one, they received standing ovations from their families and the audience before they delivered their heartfelt speeches about their personal weight-loss journeys. They rocked!
Rising to the Challenge: The contestants met back up with Alison to learn about their makeover week challenge, which would take them to new heights — literally. Wearing helmets and harnessed on seats suspended 200 feet in the air, the contestants had to pull themselves along 700 feet of rope across a canyon. The first person to make it to the other side would win a two-week trip with their family to the new Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge in St. George, Utah. Rudy immediately took the lead and held that position, with Amanda close behind him. Meanwhile Liz, who is afraid of heights, was terrified throughout the challenge and kept her eyes closed, but she overcame her fears and made it to the other side. They celebrated their victories by covering enormous posters of their "old" selves with new posters of their freshly made-over selves.
Weigh-in Woes: While the contestants received marvelous — and well-deserved — makeovers, Bob and I had to remind them that the weekly weigh-in and inevitable elimination still loomed. We rounded them up for a last-chance workout and pushed them hard to make up for the time that they missed. At the weekly weigh-in, Danny pulled a double-digit weight-loss for the sixth straight week; his 12-pound drop brought him to a total of 126 pounds lost. Rudy lost 16 pounds and set another record for the most weight lost in 10 weeks with his 134-pound loss. Allen was discouraged by his 5-pound loss after seeing Danny's and Rudy's big drops. Rebecca needed to lose more than 7 pounds to stay above the yellow line and she wanted to reach a personal milestone: a weight under 200 pounds, where she hadn't been since high school. She lost 73 pounds overall, but she was still crushed that she'd lost only 3 pounds and fell below the yellow line, despite her hard work in the gym. Liz also lost 3 pounds, for a cumulative 64-pound loss, but she fell under the yellow line. Amanda had her best week ever and lost 9 pounds, for a grand total of 57 pounds — enough to keep her safe from elimination. Rebecca pleaded her case to stay on the Ranch by pointing out that this was her first time under the yellow line, while Liz had been there three times; she argued that she deserved a second chance to stay too! Liz also went to Rudy and Allen to fight for her survival. At the elimination, Amanda voted for Liz to go home, while Danny and Rudy voted for Rebecca. Allen was the final vote. Rebecca would either be eliminated by him or eliminated because she had the lowest percentage of weight loss, so Allen's vote wasn't shown. Rebecca and Rudy argued after he cited his distrust for her as his reason for voting her off. She was shocked and hurt to learn that her "friend" Rudy had had issues with her for weeks.
Back at Home: Rebecca came to the Ranch weighing 276 pounds and she lost 73 pounds on the campus. She went from running a painfully slow 16-minute mile the first week to being able to complete a half-marathon (13.1 miles). She is training hard to be the at-home winner. After the finale, she wants to pursue her dream to open a gym for overweight children.