The Biggest Loser 8, Episode 12: Treading Old Paths

Bob turns his message to Amanda into a built-in ad for gum. Really? It’s one thing to inundate us with product placement at the ranch, but to literally say, “Hey Amanda, here’s a tip to succeed at home. Chew this gum”? That’s downright deplorable. I will say this now to the producers of The Biggest Loser: You are officially whores.

Bob then introduces Amanda to someone that “America fell in love with,” before showing her interview. Just for fun, I’m going to count the number of references to Amanda’s vote-in as we go. So far, we’re averaging one every 15 minutes. Her video is full of self pity, particularly about how she used to ask God why he chose her to be fat. Okay, then. I don’t want to start a theological debate, so I’ll just move on. Bob finishes the video by saying that America picked her because she has “it.” So now that’s a pace of one reference every 10 minutes. Take notes people, there’s a quiz later.

Finally, we have Danny. In his video, Bob says the moment he knew he’d go far was when he told him flat out that he was a man who quit. Bob tells him that a man with that kind of clarity of mind is unstoppable. Danny’s old interview is about how he was on top of the world when he met his wife, weighing only 175 pounds. He let himself go and he can’t do that again. Jillian calls him the definition of resilience, and that he must stop at nothing to get what he wants in life.

The screen splits four ways as each player gets a call on identical, high tech cell phones. The trainers are on the other end of the line. They tell the players that they’re about to go through something of a rite of passage for this show. They’re going to run a marathon. Liz’s jaw drops. I wouldn’t really call this a rite of passage, as they’ve only done this once, and it was last season.

Everyone is of course, skeptical. Amanda says she doesn’t do marathons, Rudy emphasizes that running is not part of his regimen, and he’s pretty sure he’s never even walked the distance. Danny can only get out a broken-voiced, “wow.”

If Rudy’s telling the truth, then that makes this season’s marathon a bit more of an unfair task. They did it last season, but there were two big differences then. One, the players were on the ranch for 17 weeks instead of 11, and two, halfway through they all ran a half marathon for a challenge. They didn’t do that this time. This is going to make training that much more difficult. They have more time this season (60 days at home as opposed to last season’s 30), but that may not make that big of a difference, as trained marathon runners prepare for up to a year or more between races.

After a built-in ad for the show’s video game (which I would gladly endorse – both the game and the system they’re playing it on – if they would pay me), chef Curtis Stone shows up for a visit to Danny’s house, a prize he earned by winning last week’s Weigh-In. He shows the family how to make turkey chili, chock full of healthy ingredients and product placement. It is then stuffed into a baked potato. The meal is 290 calories, compared to the 850 of a baked potato with sour cream and bacon.

Some weeks later, the trainers head to the various locations to surprise the players. The segment is poorly edited, with each trainer surprising two players, seemingly at the same time. I’ll try to separate the visits as best as I can, to make it more logical in print.

Bob visits Rudy, surprising him at home. They walk in the woods, and Rudy admits it’s been tough at home, though to be honest, he looks like he’s made tremendous progress so far. He notes that at the ranch they work out six to eight hours a day. In his normal life, he doesn’t have that kind of time available to him at all, much less to devote to workouts. He works 12 hours a day, commutes for 90 minutes, spends what time he can with his family, then gets in two hours of workouts just so he can get six hours of sleep.

Bob sighs, mentioning the obvious stress that’s in Rudy’s face, and asks him what kind of support he’s getting from his household. Talking a mile a minute, Rudy vents, saying that while he was at the ranch for three months, his wife had to take care of everything, and now that he’s home, he has to resume his responsibilities with the children. His eldest daughter doesn’t want him to leave the house (he says he had to sneak out to go to work and the gym the first few weeks back); pleading with him that he’s already skinny. The kids want him around, he has responsibilities to deal with at home and work, and it’s eating away at him, so he trades adequate sleep for the chance to hit the gym.

Bob tells him that people will respond and relate to Rudy the most, because he’s the one that has to juggle everything. Imagine how much of a hero he’d be if he could find a balance in life and succeed in this show. Rudy admits that he wants to win so badly, but he’s not sure he can do it at this point. Bob then goes to a small gym with Rudy and gives him a good workout.

Jillian surprises Liz at her family farm, with Liz working in the woods. She informs Jillian that she’s by herself, as husband Jimmy works away from home and won’t be back until the weekend. Given their remote location, Jillian wonders how she’s able to work out, but Liz tells her without a hint of falsehood that she drives into town every day to hit the gym for a couple hours. Jillian admits she’s proud and impressed.

Jillian tells Liz that the problem now is isolation. She fears Liz will become the woman who says “now what” when all is said and done. She’ll have shed all this fat and weight, but with little to do and no husband or family around for much of the week, she can fall back into old habits. Liz admits that those are issues she’ll have to work through.

Liz has to be true to herself, or else she’ll become the same person she was. In confessional, she tells all women to not turn out like her. Don’t give everything to others and leave nothing for yourself. It’s no way to live. She and Jillian then go for a jog on Liz’s land.

Jillian’s other charge is Danny, whom she surprises at home. She sits down with Danny and his wife, and Danny (who looks significantly thinner) tries to be diplomatic as he tells Jillian that things are different. He was gone for three months and the family learned how to function without him. Now that he’s back, he has to try to find a way to integrate himself back into the family unit. The hardest part is living the double life of family man and contestant.

Jillian asks him if he can’t incorporate his family into his workout life, and he says he takes them to the gym with him, but his wife chimes in with “sometimes.” Jillian asks his wife point blank if she feels like Danny doesn’t need her anymore, and she honestly doesn’t know. She doesn’t feel left out, but she feels the need to be validated more, adding that she’s never felt insecure about their relationship until now. Both Danny and Jillian look incredulous.