This weeks show was really good! Here’s why.  

To start off, the very first thing that happened was the remaining 11 contestants all met Allison in the gym. This is the first time I’ve see that this season, but apparently it means that not-so-good things happen.

What happened may not be good for the contestants, but it really made the show much better.

Each person had to grab a dumbbell (which was sitting on it’s end) off of a weight rack. On the bottom of the dumbbell was a color. That color would determine which team they’d be one. There were to be four teams of 3 people. Each team would work with one of the four trainers; Jillian Michaels, Bob Harper, Brett Hoebel orCara Castronova.

What was awesome about this was that the previous two teams (red and black), had created alliances and it was pretty obvious who would be eliminated from week to week (excluding immunity winners). Plus it was also completely random. The player chose in order of total percentage of weight loss, but the dumbbells were completely random so no one would have control of where they ended up.

But there was a twist!

Since there were only 11 contestants left, one team would only have two people on it. Turns out it was the black team of Rulon Gardner and Hannah, They got to choose anyone who had previously been eliminated from the show. They had 30 minutes to make a decision. This was an interesting process, they deliberated over 3 people;  1) the person who needed to be there the most (Arthur), 2) someone who could help the team but not challenge them to win the overall title (some dude that was eliminated before I started watching this season), 3) someone who could help the team, but may challenge them to win the entire show.

Rulon quickly eliminated Arthur, he said that Arthur had “made his own bed…” So they continued to decided….

But they wouldn’t reveal their choice until the challenge.

Before the challenge the trainers did their thing and used the training sessions to get to know the contestants whom they hadn’t had a chance to train yet.

Jillian took Rulon and Hannah to her Malibu beach house (didn’t Barbie have one of those too?) to train them on the beach. Jillian used that time to learn more about Rulon. Rulon confessed that even though he had found the perfect wife and everything he wanted, that he began to eat because he didn’t feel like he was worthy of being truly loved.

I’ll admit two things. One, it was good to see that side of Jillian. She’s normally such a hard ass that you sometimes forget that she really cares. And two, I continue to learn and accept that both weight gain and weight loss is far more emotional than it is physical. It is primarily a mental challenge.

Brett took the red team on a hike to the top of a beautiful mountain in So Cal. At the top he asked them to separate and reflect upon their journey thus, far. Who they used to be, who they are now and who they want to be. Again it was another reminder of how emotionally challenging this process has been for all of the contestants. It is the change from the inside that results in physical change. And it is the source of one’s confidence and power.

Subject Change

The Challenge this week SUCKED!

Each team had to hold a rope that collectively had the total weight loss of that team hanging from the other end. It took over 45 minutes and all they did was stand there and hold a rope. Luckily TV can edit boring stuff out. What made it worse was that they were playing for the chance to video chat with their family. That seems somewhat cool except, these people aren’t in jail. I think they can stay in touch with family members during the show…

The only exciting thing about the challenge was that the black team selected Jay. This was interesting from two stand points, 1. Jay was who they thought might be able to beat everyone and become “The Biggest Loser”, so they took some risk inviting such a strong player back. And 2. Jay is Jen’s father, who is now on the red team.

One other side note before the weigh in, Kaylee, from the green team decided that her journey was complete. She was close to her goal weight and had found her confidence and was ready to get back to “real life”

The weigh in was also very good!

The team that had the lowest percentage of total weight loss would lose a player. But the player on the losing team that lost the most weight would win immunity from elimination. After the black, blue and red team weighed in, the red team was in last place (they had lost 9lbs). As long as the green team lost 10 or more pounds, someone from the red team would be going home.

But remember Kaylee was ready to go. And she meant it, because she lost zero pounds. After Austin weighed in for the green team with 3 pounds, it seemed certain that Kaylee would be going home. But Ken shocked everyone and lost 7 pounds, to make the red team the losers.

And the nine people from the other 3 teams would be voting to eliminate someone!

Then is got a little crazy.

Kaylee immediately realized that she would be staying. Ken felt horrible for two reasons, he wanted to grant Kaylee’s request to go home, and two of the more popular contestants were on the losing red team.

Allison kind of got pissed and told Kaylee that this show wasn’t a prison and everyone was free to leave whenever they wanted. Then Moses, Kaylee’s father, from the blue team spoke up and requested that he talk to his daughter.

See how fun the team shake up thing is?

Moses talked Kaylee into staying, so it’ll be interesting to how she does next week.

Turns out Jen had lost the most weight on the red team so she was immune from elimination. so it was between Justin and Courtney, two of the most popular people on the show.

Justin told everyone that Courtney needed to be on the show more than he did (which is true), and to vote for him.

So there was really no drama over the vote and who would be eliminated, Justin was gone. But everyone on the show cried anyway!!!

Now for the quotes from the show

“You’ve got to find a way to feel worthy”

“Today is the beginning of the rest of your life and today is the day your making the changes to change the rest of your life”

“Nothing is impossible, you just have to reach for it”

“I’m becoming who I want to be”

“I was looking to find myself, to find confidence, I found that”

“Get off the couch, look in the mirror. It’s time for you to be honest about who your are. Have the courage to stand up and do it. It’s the best thing that could happen to you”

OK , this post was a little long, like I said it was a good episode!

See you next week…