The Biggest Loser 2, Episode 11: Say Goodbye to the Old Them

Welcome to Week Eleven of The Biggest Loser 2. This is the series that pits 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. This is the last regular episode before the two-hour live finale!

Last week, the teams were disbanded and everyone is now on their own. No one was tempted this week, and then Andrea hung on to win the reward challenge. Dr. Jeff and Andrea were the ones below the yellow line, and it was nice guy Dr. Jeff who was eliminated.

As a reference, the contestants in this year’s show are listed below. We’re down to the final four!

• Andrea, the soccer mom
• Suzy, the single girl
• Matt, the ex-athlete
• Seth, the new dad

Eliminated, in order:

1. Reuben, the arrogant single guy
2. Kathryn, the loner attorney
3. Nick, the disruptive comedian
4. Ryan, the preacher’s daughter
5. Suzanne, the pushy bride to be
6. Jen, the med student
7. Pete, the devoted husband
8. Mark, cop and dirtbag associater
9. Shannon, the likeable diva
10. Jeff, the selfless doctor

This episode begins with trainer Bob learning that soccer-mom Andrea was still in the game. He’s happy his two girls have made it to the end. He takes them to the kitchen to see some product-placed “Weight Control Instant Oatmeal, from Quaker.” He stresses, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” That’s very true! The men are there as well, and they admit that they really like it.

As Jillian begins the day’s exercise outside with Matt and Seth, they marvel that only a couple of months ago, Matt couldn’t even walk up some stairs they pass by. Lots of flashback clips are shown. They do a rapid side-stepping exercise, and Jillian has trouble keeping up! Seth tells us that yesterday he ran five miles in an hour, and we see him running up a slope with Jillian on his back!

Matt feels that Seth has been his main competition all along. Umm, stay focused on all the competition, dude! It turns out Jillian has taken them through the same routine she did on the first day. As they wrap up, the guys are tired and sure she’s mistaken. Jillian says, “This is exactly what we did the first day. But, you couldn’t do it on the first day. That’s the difference.”

Bob has the ladies outside as well, and they are also doing a routine based on what they did the first day. But instead of walking down to the gate and back, they’re going to run down and power-walk back. Amid similar recollections about what they couldn’t do in the early days and lots more flashback clips, Andrea powers across the finish line ahead of Bob.

Jillian recounts that ex-athlete Matt has been struggling with the monotony of the workouts and is having difficulty staying motivated. But Jillian has a plan. She surprises him with an appearance by his old high school wrestling coach and one of his wrestling buddies, Aaron. They wrestle about on the mats for a few minutes and then chat, but the true benefit for Matt was the respect they showed him as they spoke with him. He is dutifully inspired.

It’s already time for the next used-to-be-immunity challenge. Each competitor stands by a big safe. Caroline tells them they will be putting back on all the weight they’ve lost since they started the game. That sounds nasty, maybe the safes are full of high-calorie oatmeal? No, the safes contain many bags of quarters. In fact, the quarters in each person’s safe are equal to the amount of weight they’ve lost since day one.

Caroline announces that the winner of the challenge gets to keep their quarters. The prizes vary from $880 for Andrea up to Matt’s $1,980 worth.

Each person straps on a backpack they’ve filled with their bags of quarters and have to climb up a 60-foot vertical climb. “The person with the best time wins,” she says. The weight is so heavy, Andrea and Suzy can barely lift it and even Seth is having a little trouble suiting up!

The climb starts and ex-athlete Matt’s off to a big lead early. The other three are pretty close to each other, but Matt cruises to an easy victory over Seth. Unlike on recent episodes of Survivor, the rest all finish the challenge anyway. At least by doing so, these folks are working toward a long-term objective, burning calories. On that other show, where energy conservation is important… I still think it’s kinda nuts.

The players all return to the ground, where Caroline informs Matt, “You haven’t won the challenge yet!” It turns out the winner will be the one who has “the best time difference.” They have to re-climb, without the weight. Those times will be compared with the times from the first run, with the most improved time the real winner of the challenge. What… Caroline… lied? Tsk!

Whoa, big disadvantage Matt! The others may have finished the task, but with Matt having so obviously an un-catchable lead, they didn’t press nearly as hard at the end. For this reason, it’s actually an unfair challenge.

At any rate, they set up again without the packs. They finish in exactly the same order. Suzy thinks her body works much better without all that weight.

With a time difference of 23 seconds, Matt is in last place. A 41-second difference places Seth third. The winner, with a 53-second improvement, is soccer-mom Andrea! Single-gal Suzy was only four seconds back – so close! Andrea echoes Suzy’s feelings that she never wants that weight back and will be vigilant about keeping it off.

It’s last-chance workout time. Jillian lets the guys decide what they are going to do and how hard they are going to work at it. Matt and Seth are pushing each other to a high level, and Jillian is impressed. Meanwhile, Bob has the ladies working hard as well.

We’re only at the halfway point of the show, and it is already time for the weigh-in! Caroline tells us that so far, 803 pounds total have been lost. The website says 802, but whatever.