Biggest Loser 5: Couples, Episode 11 – Two Really Horrible Ideas in Reality TV

Action jumps to last chance workout time. Bob has his guys proudly announcing how well they’re going to do. Kelly interviews that the guys are “extremely confident, border-lining on almost arrogant-cocky.” It’s even more extreme when you compare them to the Negative Nellies in the black tee-shirts!

It’s time for the weigh-in. Maggie and Ali privately express concern over their fate. Ali says, “To come back and be under the yellow line the first week would be the worst thing ever.” Naw, I’ve seen worse… 9/11, for one.

Alison meets the teams in front of the big scale to announce the weigh-in results. But first, she says that although there are no more teams, maybe there are alliances. But maybe the alliances are starting to show cracks.

Jillian wrinkles her nose at that. If Alison’s referring to Ali, Ali was placed onto a team not of her choosing, and never elected to wear their jersey, so I call her a free agent. The other seven, however, are firmly aligned in groups of four and three. No cracks there!

Alison asks Brittany if there is a clear winner in the group. Brittany says she wishes it were anyone’s game, but she doesn’t think so. She says the four women do not have the same metabolisms as the men and they cannot drop the same kind of weight.

Alison asks her, “Does that mean you give up?” In my mind she’s trying to light a fire under Brittany, but Jillian interjects to tell Alison that Brittany has had a tough week and (with some cussing) that it’s time for everyone to leave Brittany alone.

Taken aback, Alison says, “Jillian, I didn’t know she had a bad week,” and asks Jillian to expound. Jillian reinterprets the question into her own words, saying Alison is asking Brittany to do something that’s unfair… and the rest is expletive-deleted. Classy… and unnecessary.

After taking more than a few seconds to consider her options, Alison takes a deep breath and asks Bob a question instead. I think Jillian won’t be getting a Christmas card from Alison this year. Take a chill pill, Jillian, Alison’s asking the questions they give her to ask. She has no vested agenda here!

The response from Bob leads Alison to offer the trainers the chance to skip the weigh in. Jillian wants to, but gets no support.

Getting back on track, here’s how the weigh-in went.

Dan describes his results as “bittersweet.” He passed the century mark, but didn’t avoid possible elimination and the loss of his extra vote. As a viewer, I really thought he was done for when he stepped off the scale.

As the weigh-in completes, Alison summarizes that Brittany and Maggie are up for elimination and Dan’s two votes are intact. She also notes that the person who won the weigh-in tonight was a woman. There’s a virtual, “Take that, Jillian!”

With that, the trainers are sent home, this time without option. As usual, Alison informs the contestants they have an hour to talk before voting.

What IS unusual is, except for some rerun footage of the women’s journey on the show, the show ends here tonight!

Let’s get this straight. First off, the show’s on for two full hours, so there’s no shortage of airtime. Secondly, every time they go to commercial, upcoming scenes are previewed. Plus, after commercials, the last segment is recapped. Those unnecessary spots are just insulting to any half-intelligent viewer. Thirdly, the scale spins and spins and spins during every weigh-in, and there were 22 weigh-ins tonight… just show us the number, already!

Toss in multiple reaction clips that show the same point, unneeded flashbacks to previous episodes, and other filler (such as, why take time this week to talk about “cheat days”?), and even an amateur such as I could find time to complete telling this story.

Ridiculous! Those involved ought to be embarrassed.

My Opinion: What a charming double-header. First, we get the inanity of returning players (two I was disappointed to see go), and then we get a faux cliffhanger before we will see Brittany sent home. Toss in a moody trainer, and I’m ready to toss in the towel!

On reflection, I’m not sure why this result surprised me. Brittany was emotional all week, which can mess up your body chemistry. Maggie admitted to eating excessively to Jillian (although not to Alison, so her protestations at the end are a tad lame). This team seems to do okay every second week, then get creamed in the off-week.

Join me here next week for a recap of all the latest action, sprinkled with my own reactions and opinions. If I may say so with a healthy degree of sarcasm, maybe we’ll see two eliminations! Let me know what you think about it all at the eAddress below.

More at home with popcorn than push-ups, Brian can be reached at uncle_bto@rogers.com. He’d like to hear your opinions and promises to respond to all serious email!

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