The Biggest Loser Special Edition: Marine Wives vs. Navy Wives, Part 2

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 teams are Navy and Marine wives. Last week we met our teams that consist of four wives each. The red team is the Marine wives, who are Sharon, Amanda, Rosalina, and Amber. I remember them with the acronym S-A-R-A. The Navy wives are in blue and they are Dari, Jessica, Tami and Tina. Sorry, I don’t have a handy acronym, but I do see the relation of the colors blue and navy.

We learned last week that being a military wife means their husbands are away from home for extended periods of time, thus the responsibilities of home and children fall heavily to these mothers. Additionally, they live with the hovering threat that harm could come to their spouses.

As far as the action last week, neither side yielded in the temptation challenge. The Marine wives won a water-based relay challenge and the services of nannies for a week, and finally the Navy wives rallied to win a close weigh-in and the services of their trainer Bob for an additional week. OK, we’re all caught up - let’s see how this all plays out!

The show opens with Jillian concerned that her red team may not be able to keep up with the program when they get back to their busy lives. Bob feels the same way – as the ladies don’t live together, team support will not be constantly present. We see both teams arrive home from the ranch. There are plenty of hugs and kisses from their kids, family, and friends. I think some of the competitors were homesick while they were away.

Jillian has prepared for her team’s first night home by arranging for them to go to a restaurant accompanied by their spouses. Only the appropriate food items appear on the menus. I don’t think any of the husbands were fully prepared for the lifestyle changes that will be affecting their lives as well.

To get his team off to the right start, Bob has enlisted a chef to prepare a nice meal for his team as they return. It looks great - Chilean sea bass and more. Unfortunately, their husbands are still at sea. Jessica is impressed that they had such a great meal for 533 calories. (The recipe is on the show’s website. I guess the dinners were to replace of the rewards we usually see at this point. Tonight there’s no mention of a home gym or a new fridge full of food. Did the budget run out? I mean, the dinners were nice but had to be about one tenth the cost of the usual package.

We next see several video diary entries. Dari thinks her team is feeling lost back in the real world. Jessica and her kids are missing Daddy. Meanwhile, Amanda has learned that “food is not the center of the universe.” Rosa feels the pressure to succeed and just doesn’t want to let anyone down.

The Navy wives have traveled to Hawaii because after six months of forced separation, at long last it’s time for them to see their husbands. The boat docks at an agonizingly slow pace. Needless to say, it’s an emotional reunion. The men all feel their wives are looking great. Tina thinks her husband has lost even more weight than she has!

Ten weeks after leaving the ranch a graphic tells us, “Both teams are struggling,” and a series of video diary entries bears this out. Tina tells us it’s tough for her as we see her working out, but at a slow pace. Tami is not losing weight. Sharon is not following the diet and doubts she can get back on it. Amber thinks about Jillian almost every day and is afraid what she’d say if Jillian could see her now.

Desperate to get back on track, Amanda has the Marine wives assemble for a team workout on the beach. They’re working out, all right, but the pace is a very comfortable one. Jillian sneaks up behind them (looking fine, by the way) and announces, “Very low energy…” The gals all squeal with surprise. Jillian rewards her squad with a workout. The pace is immediately doubled from before, except for Amanda. Amanda is smoking again and can hardly breathe, much less keep up. When pressed by Jillian, Amanda cries and doesn’t think she can quit smoking. Jillian responds with a strict lecture to try and get her to straighten out.

Talking with her team, Jillian finds out they have not been doing very well on the diet. She stresses that the secret to weight loss is a combination of diet and exercise, in tandem. Jillian is absolutely correct. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to me like her team is succeeding in the exercise phase, either.

Over with the Navy wives, the ladies have joined with their husbands onboard ship for an exercise session. And who comes running up but trainer Bob! He puts all eight of them through an intense workout and it’s apparent the husbands are not enjoying it very much. Jessica informs us that they enjoyed watching their men sweat and groan.

Back with the Marine wives, Jillian builds an intense and effective 30-minute workout that they can fit into their schedules. Trying it out, Amber is running at an impressive eight-and-a-half miles per hour. Rosa is doing even better - she’s topping ten miles per hour! Jillian tells us it’s a matter of getting the ladies out of their comfort zone. This segues to an upset Amanda, who is decidedly not in her comfort zone. Amanda has nailed the diet but doesn’t work out as hard as the others and feels she’s letting the team down. Wiping Amanda’s nose (ick!) Jillian tells her she has strength and isn’t letting the team down.