The Biggest Loser 2, Episode 2: Letters from Home

The men decide to celebrate their win, and comedian Nick begins to cook. In walks Jillian, who immediately explodes, saying, “Wait a minute, who weighed this? I doesn’t want to see a steak the size of my frickin’ leg! That’s about 2,000 calories, covered in fat!” Nick laughs but Jillian is seriously pissed off.

In a later aside but still fully steamed, she says, “Nick has manipulated this entire team. He’s just biding his time, pretending to be the supportive guy when in essence he’s sabotaging them by enabling them to not take care of themselves. And, by being as full of crap as humanly possible!” Really, she is SO irritated she can barely get those words out!

Jillian calls a team meeting “to get my team focused and back on track.” Really, it’s to call Nick at his game. She’s not in control of her emotions when she begins, and tells the group that Nick “is playing mommy to everybody.” Nick objects. She calls him “their wife” Dr. Jeff objects.

Bad, bad, bad, Jillian, these childish gender insults are simply inappropriate. Nick has had enough of her shouting and shouts right back in her face, “I can hear you, you don’t need to yell at me!” Unfortunately, he follows up with a taunting grin that shows he’s not taking this seriously enough.

Jillian keeps yelling, telling him, “Shut up!” at full volume. Jillian ends up saying, “This isn’t fun for me,” and walking out. Wow!

OK, Jillian is losing a bit of respect from some the others on the team. She needs to get it under control. She may be fond of the “in your face” style, but she picked that fight, and then she quit when it didn’t go like she wanted. Isn’t that what she says Nick does, quits when he doesn’t like how things are going? What do you think?

Meanwhile, in a calmer, gentler place, trainer Bob is trying to console his team. He chooses his usual low-key style and doesn’t tell anyone to shut up or insult them with gender slurs. Jen says she likes to be satisfied when she eats, Bob points out that she “needs to find a new relationship with food.” In an aside, Bob seems worried that when they go home the attraction of constant diet of burgers and pizza will be irresistible. Suzanne notes that, “Jen seems to be breaking down emotionally and really causing a strain on our team.”

The women file into the Elimination Room. As the biggest loser of the week, Andrea has immunity. She votes first, for Kathryn. So does Suzy. Kathryn selects Jen. Suzanne also votes against Kathryn, and Shannon makes it official that Kathryn is going home. Ryan and Jen’s votes go unrevealed.

Compared to the tough words spoken against Ruben last week, Kathryn got off pretty light, but as well as mentioning her injury, they did say, “We haven’t got to know this person,” and, “She kept a wall up.” Goodbyes are noticeably cursory, almost indifferent.

During her stay, Kathryn lost 16 pounds. Kathryn admits she’s naturally defensive and not a team player. She says she didn’t come to make “six new best friends.” She vows to continue to work on her own.

Post-show video shows her working as an attorney, and kickboxing in the gym. Her weight loss since first arriving at the ranch is 34 total pounds, or, another 18 since the end of the show. Additionally, she says she feels much better. Good for you, Kathryn!

Next Week: The men are coming together but the women are falling apart. In a challenge involving a train, the physical carnage continues with one from each team going down. And, a phone call home is inspirational.

IMHO: A lot less weight was lost this week. A similar thing happened last year in either Week Two or Three. The “easy-loss” retained water is gone, the effects of the last-30-minutes binge have passed and now it gets difficult. Now the weight has to come from converted body mass.

The ladies won an extra day of work toward this week’s total, but that also means they lost a day from next week. I expect the men to win again next week.

Not a good night for Jillian! First she drives Matt so hard he ends up in an ambulance, and then instigates a poorly planned argument with Nick.

This show, at this stage, is all about how your team does. Why do people like Ruben, Kathryn and Nick isolate themselves so obviously? It makes no sense to me.

But I’m still lovin’ this show!

Join me here each Wednesday for a recap of all the action, sprinkled with my own reactions and opinions. And let me know what you think, at the eAddress below!

Brian lives in Toronto where he 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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