The Biggest Loser Special Edition: Engaged Couples II – Nick and Lael vs. Bruce and Kimmi

Welcome to the latest episode of The Biggest Loser: Special Edition. This series pits two teams of overweight contestants in a competitive struggle to lose weight and, in the process, regain control of their lives. This “Special Edition” version of the show features small teams with some kind of special relationship – this week’s folks are engaged couples in their thirties. This week, the entire story arc plays in one night in a special two-hour episode.

Before the credits we briefly meet Nick and Lael from Hawaii, and Bruce and Kim from California. Kim is upset she bought a wedding dress she can’t fit into, and all four want to look a lot better for their wedding that they do now. Well, hostess Caroline Rhea, play that exciting Heather Small theme and tell me more!

They do. Bruce and Kimmi met in 2002, at work. A picture shows us she was really cute then. Currently, Bruce has a kind of David Crosby-ish look about him. They have been renovating their house for a while now and because of it they eat out every night. Since that started, Kimmi has put on 60 pounds. Kimmi has a lovely wedding dress picked out, but she’s despondent that she’s far too big to wear it. Bruce has his own motivator – his father passed away at age 59 from weight-related concerns.

Cameras at Bruce and Kimmi’s place show them receiving a pizza delivery. One wonders what story they were told to justify a camera crew filming sure a rare event in their reno-stricken home. But it’s not pizza, it’s a DVD from Jillian to tell them they are on the show. They are thrilled, but perhaps a little bewildered as to what happened to the darn pizzas they ordered.

In Hawaii, we hear from Nick as he tells us he used to be an avid bike rider, and we have video confirmation from 2001. These days, he doesn’t ride. Lael’s mother had heart attacks at age 43. We join them at the beach where they celebrate their engagement with friends. By the look of his pale, pale skin, Nick may not have spent much time on the beach before. He’s even whiter than the sand! Anyhow, there are dudes with ukes and there are leis and hula dancers, it’s the whole nine yards. One of the hula dancers presents them with a DVD message “from the Biggest Loser” – there went the surprise. The message is from trainer Bob, with a similar message to Jillian’s. They are excited at what’s ahead.

Their adventure begins as hostess Caroline Rhea greets both teams at the ranch. Nick has had a haircut and I’m sorry, I know no one else who looks like that. I hope he didn’t pay a lot for that cut. He describes himself as, “more aerodynamic.”

Caroline reveals tables of bad foods that the couples must say goodbye to. Some of those grins indicate they think they will be eating those foods, and they have great fun in claiming certain items as their own. Kimmi figures she and Bruce could down it all in a week. Nope, this show doesn’t work that way. Instead, Caroline is going to make them have their initial weigh-ins. The only good news is that the prize is a $50,000 “dream wedding.” I’d rather have the cash.

From the quick look we get, it seems like both guys are about the same size, including prominent guts. Of the women, they have similar shapes but Lael is much the smaller of the two, perhaps four or six inches shorter.

First up on the scale is the Blue Team, and Lael is leading the way. She’s starting out at 164 pounds. Nick, who announces he was a former triathlete, checks in at 251 pounds. One of their goals is to run a triathlon together before their wedding.

Bruce, sporting about a dozen tattoos, will be starting off at 267 pounds. Kim is at 215 pounds, yet tells us, “The heaviest I’ve ever been was 170.” Um, well that had to be a couple of weeks back, or am I wrong?

Caroline announces that the winner of the weigh-in (by percentage of weight lost) at the end of the stay at the ranch will win a honeymoon.

As the couples return to their cottages, they discover several motivational items have been placed there. It’s their dream-sized wedding outfits, plus there are a lot of pictures on the walls. It’s going to be a long haul!

A graphic indicates that the time at the ranch this time was twelve days. It’s never exactly the same duration, is it?

The trainers come running up to meet their teams. Jillian screams for her team to come out, and takes them right into the gym. Initially gung-ho, Jillian knows they are in for a rude awakening.

One thing we know from previous shows is that Jillian doesn’t like to hear the word, “Can’t.” On the treadmill Kim wants to use the handrails, and Jillian won’t let her. When Kim says she might fall off, Jillian says, “Are you going to fall off? That’s a shame. Keep walking. If I was you, I would really try hard NOT to fall off!” She adds, “Welcome… to hell!”

We’ve seen that trainer Bob likes to take his team on a mountain climb on the first day, and this week is no exception. Bob knows that Lael’s cholesterol needs to drop as soon as possible because she’s at dangerous levels. She finds it tough going keeping up, but no one stops when she wants to and Lael is forced to keep going. To her credit, she does.

In the kitchen, Bob passes on some good eating advice to his team that can be applied when they eat out. There’s a grilled skinless chicken breast at 150 calories, salads, some nice looking veggies and some healthy (six calories per ounce) salsa. Missing is gravy, special sauce and slabs of processed cheese.

The teams are assembled outside for a Temptation Challenge. There are two large tables with many plates of food, one with red plates and one with blue. A card listing the grams of fat and caloric content contained in that serving accompanies each. They are directed to eat the food on a plate and stack the plate in a central “winner’s circle.” The winner of the challenge is the team who places that last plate of their team color in the circle before the light on a “countdown clock” goes on. The timer is situated where they can’t see it and set to an unknown duration.