The Biggest Loser 9, Episode 5: Yellow Bellied

We begin this week’s show with an emotional Miggy in the aftermath of her daughter’s elimination. Because the vote was split evenly until the final vote from the Black team, Miggy’s mindset was that she would be going, even though Migdalia made it clear she wanted to leave. Because of this, Miggy feels tortured, like she’s lost a huge piece of herself. Had the vote just been cut and dry like the Green team wanted, she wouldn’t feel this way.

The hardest part for her was after the Elimination Ceremony, when the players returned to the house. Walking into her dorm room, Miggy becomes despondent at the sight of how empty the room is. The crew was very quick in removing all of Migdalia’s things from the room. Lying on the bed, Miggy cries into the night, revealing more emotion than either of them did the previous four weeks.

At 2:51 am that night, a 9-1-1 call is placed and an ambulance is summoned to the ranch to fetch Miggy, who is apparently suffering from acute abdominal pain. Sandy Krum, the on-site medic, calls the production team to inform them and to make sure that a member of the crew is sent to the gate to meet with the EMTs when they arrive. Sandy can be seen on security cameras running to Miggy’s room. By 2:53 am, the room is empty.

The next morning, everyone else wakes up, unaware that anything has happened. In the living room, Alison shows up (I have to wonder if the black top and green skirt is her fashion-sensitive way of showing support for Miggy’s condition) to fill everyone in. She tells them that the doctors are running tests on her, but that for now, everything’s fine.

She leads them outside and tells them that once they leave the ranch, they will face challenges at home. Now those challenges are coming back to face them. As soon as she finishes, two limousines approach, and out step the ousted Blue and Yellow teams. Andrea is already flushed, as she thinks one of the current teams will be sent home to make room for them to re-enter the game.

After a flashback of the first Immunity Challenge which sent them home, Alison informs the other contestants of what we’ve known for the last month. After 30 days at home, one of these teams will earn a spot on the ranch.

Inside the gym, Bob and Jillian are waiting for them. Instead of stepping up on the scale to determine who returns, they will get their own, private Last Chance Workout. As Bob puts it, the Last Chance Workout is a rite of passage on this show. Due to this season’s twist, the Blue and Yellow teams never got it. Now they will. Sunshine (that’s her name) goes with full gusto, while her father, O’Neal (that’s somehow his first name) has more power in his arms than I’ve seen from most of the current players.

Once they’re done, it’s time for their first official Weigh-In Ceremony. Whichever team has the highest percentage of weight loss will re-enter the game and be given Immunity. In addition, they’ll have the only vote at the Elimination Ceremony this week. Now that’s a huge reward for the team that earns it. The losing team is eliminated.

Blue team will go first. Victoria’s starting weight was 358 pounds, making her the second heaviest woman on campus. Mother Cherita began at 277. After 30 days at home, Cherita is down to 253 and Victoria is down to 319. Wow. They lost 63 pounds combined, for a total percentage loss of 9.92%. That’s going to be tough to beat.

Still, if it can be beat, Yellow team can do it. Sunshine in particular looks like she’s made tremendous progress since the show began. Sunshine’s starting weight was 275 and O’Neal’s was 389. They need 66 pounds to win. Sunshine’s new weight is 250, a solid 25-pound loss. O’Neal is now down to… 338! Holy crap, he dropped 51 pounds!

That settles it. With 76 pounds lost, or 11.45%, the Yellow team is back in this game. They have Immunity for the week, which guarantees they’ll be on campus for at least two weeks, and they get the only vote at the end of this week’s show.

Unfortunately, it also means that the Blue team is eliminated. O’Neal wishes that he could trade places with Victoria, because she is also a young black girl who needs to lose weight. In the black community, he says, obesity runs rampant. He’d rather she stay, so he could go home and inspire both the black, and the obese communities. Cherita, however, cuts him off, praising what he’s done and assuring them that both she and Victoria will fine at home.

Cherita and Victoria are granted Final Words, and they use them to pledge to keep fighting. Victoria is very upset that they got knocked out again, but it will not slow them down. She will go home and continue to get the same results she expected to get at the ranch. With that, the Blue team climbs back into the limo and rides away.

Now that the festivities are over, it’s time to work out, and this session goes well into the night. Jillian’s focus is Daris, whom she puts through some extreme paces to get him out of his comfort zone. Bob’s initial attention goes to Melissa and Koli. Bob leans on the leg press and Melissa begs him to stop.

O’Neal is beside himself. The whole house is ultra-competitive, and that’s something he’s not used to seeing. Still, he’s going to push through. Stephanie is extremely worried about the Yellow team’s power right now.

Meanwhile, Melissa is back for round two on the leg press. After the first set, she cries at the prospect. After a pep talk from Bob, she gets in and pulls it off. Bob tells her that she’s gained his respect after her 11-pound loss last week. He tells her that he believes she’s not playing the game anymore, because if that were the case, she would have lost only two last week. Unfortunately, this plays right into her hands, as Jillian correctly predicted her loss as a means to throw the game play accusations right back in the trainers’ faces.

Jillian is back with Daris, and she’s concerned about how close he’s come to the Yellow Line in recent weeks. He’s having problems hitting his calorie burns every day. He does the same workouts as the other guys, but buns 1,500 calories less than they do.