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The Biggest Loser 2, Episode 9: Will the Big Winner be the Biggest Loser?by Brian Towers -- 11/09/2005
View Printable version of this article Welcome to Week Nine of The Biggest Loser 2. This is the series that pits two teams of overweight contestants in a competitive struggle to lose weight and, in the process, regain control of their lives. Challenges and temptations bar their way to a nice prize. 
Last week, everyone got a makeover and had a photo session. Cute, but hardly what this series is supposed to be about. Seth and Suzy again won the reward of family visits when Seth won the pedi-cart race (where the heck was the word “pedi-cart” when I needed it last week?). The team of Mark and Andrea had the lowest percentage weight loss, and despite Andrea’s pleas to send her home, Mark the cop was eliminated. As a reference, the contestants in this year’s show are listed below. THE WOMEN (Blue Team, coach Bob):
THE MEN (Red Team, coach Jillian):
Eliminated, in order:
Before we get started, we catch-up with David from last season’s show. He’s down to a powerful 185 pounds, having lost 80 pounds in all, and has dropped his body fat from almost 50% to 14%. He proudly shows us his “guns.” Good going, Dave! This episode begins for real right after the last weigh-in. The players are uncertain what format the game will take now. Host Caroline Rhea informs them there are no more teams, it’s every person for him/herself. Matt prefers that. Caroline has the big chart display where everyone stands to date, with their initial weight, Total weight loss and overall percentage. After the fourth name is the familiar yellow line. The chart looks like this:
It looks like Shannon and especially Andrea are in trouble. However, Caroline has another surprise. Those numbers are meaningless. Future eliminations will be based on only the most recent week’s results! Matt doesn’t like that, but Andrea thinks it’s fair. My guess is that that they made the change because last year, Ryan built a near-insurmountable lead and “coasted” to the win. Therefore, they tried to come up with a system to counteract that. Unfortunately, this system is much worse! This sets up the very probable scenario that if you have been doing well but have one “bad” week, you’re gone. This group is doing so well that the definition of “bad” could be pretty steep… like, only losing ten pounds! Very probably, the winner of The Biggest Loser 2 will not be the biggest loser of weight over the course of the show. Very, very poor planning! Well, be that as it may, we must carry on. The next day the trainers come to meet the contestants to learn that Mark was gone. Jillian gets weepy. The players relate all Caroline’s changes to them. Jillian likes the elimination of the teams so she can focus on the individual needs of her three guys. The trainers decide it’s time for some fun – and it’s outside, to a pair of dunk tanks with the two trainers on the hot seats. Really, it’s Temptation time. For each ten-calorie candy eaten, a contestant gets one try to dunk their trainer. Matt quickly calculates he can take 13 tries, and still keep within his daily caloric limits. Jillian keeps saying, “No, Matt, those are empty calories!” but he’s having none of it, and on his third try, he dunks her! Even more efficiently, at the other tank Andrea dunks Bob with her first pitch! Meanwhile, Suzy thinks it’s fine that Andrea is taking on extra calories. Cattily, she wishes the candies were more than ten calories. Umm… that’s so you can have an iota of F-U-N, Suzy! All I can say is, thankfully there are Andreas and Matts there, because how boring would it be if no one even tried to dunk a trainer? Later in the day, Suzy is calling for Matt. Last week, after most of the makeover and photo event was over, Matt regretted not having his hair cut. Suzy has been a hairdresser for ten years, and she’s about to help Matt out. Suzy admits he looks good, with highlighted facial features and more confidence. And you know what – he does! He looks much younger. OK, Suzy’s a good girl again, and we forgive the catty candy remark! He shows off his new look to the other. All are shocked, in a good way. Andrea yells, “Oh my God!! You look hot!” and Shannon says, “You clean up good!” 
Matt says it’s the first time he’s had a haircut where he didn’t feel like “a big fat pig” afterwards. He recognizes this is all part of letting go of his old life. Matt thanks Suzy for helping him take that step. With a challenge coming, Bob comes to get the ladies. He wants them to jog to “the big gym” to practice jumping. Shannon says her foot hurts, and doesn’t get the sympathy from Bob she wants. Who among us viewers doesn’t sense an impending diva moment? She confronts Bob loudly, and disrespectfully says, “You’re supposed to be my trainer, and…” and doesn’t get to finish that sentence. Bob is in fact quite offended and says, “Please don’t tell me I’m supposed to be your trainer, I AM your trainer!” In a later aside, he says, “When she said that to me, it was a huge slap in the face.” In the gym, both teams are jumping about in all different manners like the floor is lava. Quite impressive, really. It’s later in the day now, and challenge time. As they come to wherever the heck they are, Caroline compliments Matt on his hair. Blush! Caroline announces that the winner of this challenge gets immunity at the next weigh-in, plus that high-tech exercise bike worth $2,300 that went unclaimed when all resisted the temptation of a slice of cake in week six. 1 2 Next-->View Printable version of this article |
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