From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Biggest Loser: Season 8, Episode 9
After a week in Washington, D.C., the eight remaining contestants returned to the Ranch and met up with Alison. She presented them with a pop challenge and a twist: TWO players would be eliminated at this week's weigh-in! For the first time in Biggest Loser history, there would be two lines at the weigh-in: a yellow one and a red line one. The person with the lowest percentage of weight loss would automatically fall below the red line and immediately be sent home — no voting, no elimination. Then, the next two contestants with the lowest percentages of weight lost — who fell under the yellow line — would continue on to the regular elimination and risk being the second player to be voted off the Ranch that week. The winner of this week's pop challenge would receive a 1-pound advantage, so the pressure was on! To win, they had to be the first contestant to jump up and grab all 50 tennis balls off of the boards over their heads and place them into their container, one at a time. Allen, who maintained a lead over Daniel, Rebecca, Shay, and Danny (Liz and Amanda sat out for medical reasons), won the challenge and the 1-pound advantage at weigh-in.
Young vs. Old:
The contestants realized that their house is split into two groups: one with four older players in it and one with four younger players. Each group was concerned about how their foursome would be affected if they lost a friend to the red line and thus a friend who they could count on if it came down to a vote to keep them safe from elimination. Bob and I were floored when we heard about the red line — something never done before in the history of The Biggest Loser! We struggled over how to approach this new problem. We had to get real with each other and admit that while all the contestants needed to be here, some contestants, like Shay — who is bigger than all of the other contestants — really needed to be here and we would have to pull out all the stops to give her the best chance she can have at not falling below the red line!
Jumping Through Hoops:
The contestants went to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, but they quickly learned that this trip wasn't going to be all fun and games. Alison explained that there were eight rings — one for each of them — and each jump through a hoop would earn one point. When a contestant received 100 points, they would be out of the game. So every jump through someone else's hoop pushed them closer to being out. The already stressed-out contestants got even more anxious when they learned that the challenge prize was immunity from elimination at this week's weigh-in. The young players — Shay, Daniel, Rebecca, and Amanda — came up with a strategy to try to get Liz out of the game by jumping through her hoop to keep her from earning immunity. (She typically doesn't drop big numbers at the weigh-in and could really benefit from immunity.) The older players — Rudy, Liz, Allen, and Danny — came up with their own strategy and went after Amanda's hoop, and then Daniel's and Rebecca's hoops. Late in the game, Shay, Rudy and Danny were the last remaining contestants. Things got pretty heated when Rudy and Danny went after Shay's ring even though Shay and Rudy had formed a "hoops alliance" and agreed not to go after each other unless they were the last contestants. Shay questioned Rudy's integrity, but Rudy argued that he'd kept his word and was only going after her because they were at the end and, even though Danny was still in the game, she was the only member of the "young" group still standing. Rudy eventually jumped through Shay's and Danny's hoops, and secured his place on the Ranch for another week.
Wild Workouts:
With the double elimination looming, tensions were at an all-time high! The four younger players decided that they would fool the older players into thinking that they were working out less than they really were. They decided to pretend they had gone to bed each night, but instead would work out in Shay's room on two spin bikes that Rebecca and Daniel stole from the gym. At the last-chance workout, the contestants jumped, lifted, lowered, and literally swung from the rafters in a special last-chance trapeze workout with Bob that used their body weight for resistance. Bob tried to convince Shay, who was still upset about losing the challenge, that her stress levels could negatively affect her weight loss and that she needed to calm down so she could stay above the red line because she needed to be on campus. When they returned to the Ranch, they were surprised to learn that their last-chance workout wasn't over. They still had a killer last-chance workout with me and I made sure to push everyone past their limits to help them all stay safe for another week.
Weigh-in Woes:
Finally, the contestants faced the moment of truth — the double elimination weigh-in! Rudy, who had immunity, took to the scale first and lost eight pounds. Shay lost an amazing 17 pounds and set a new record by being the first woman in the history of the show to lose 100 pounds in nine weeks. Danny also had an impressive 17-pound loss and Liz and Allen both had double-digit losses — ten pounds each — although Allen's total jumped up to 11 pounds with the help of the 1-pound advantage he earned in the pop challenge. Daniel lost only five pounds, which put him beneath the dreaded red line and he was sent home immediately. Even with her remarkable weight loss and new record, Shay ended up below the yellow line along with Amanda, who lost five pounds. Back at the house, Shay tearfully asked the teams to keep her on the Ranch for another week because she needed to be there to live, not to play "the game." Ultimately, a tie-breaking vote by Rudy sent Shay packing. Back at home, Shay said that she learned to believe in herself and push herself in new ways. Next up: She plans to lose 213 pounds — one pound more than the largest amount of pounds lost at home — to set a new record. Meanwhile, in a follow-up with Daniel at home, we learned that he's lost 198 pounds since the start of his second season of the show. Once the heaviest contestant, he's now lost a total of 215 pounds — and has a girlfriend he plans to reveal at the show's finale!