The Biggest Loser 3, Episode 5: Blindsided!

Welcome to the fifth episode of The Biggest Loser 3! This series focuses on teams of overweight contestants and their competitive struggles to lose weight and, in the process, regain control of their lives. Challenges and temptations bar their way to a $250,000 cash prize.

And… are you ready to take a survey? More on that later.

Well, I seem to be having trouble with my tables this season – last week’s table had errors in both teams total line. It’s not worth a full table reprint, but the right numbers are that the Blue Team lost 26 pounds (1.92%) while the Red Team delivered a winning 2.41% change from a 30-pound weight-loss. With Melinda sent home, both teams find themselves down to five players each.

As the episode begins, we learn that so far this season, our contestants have lost 496 pounds together. Well done!

Action begins as both teams arrive at the gym, only to find it closed. In fact, it’s padlocked! Kai figures out that this means they will be working out in different locations and not using traditional equipment this week. Not one to be deterred, Bobby gets in through a window, but the trainers come jogging up to nix that plan. Trainer Bob announces, “It’s gym-closed week!”

Kim tells us they felt it was time to break the monotonous routines that have been developing. It seems like a good idea to me as in the real world, rigidly predictable workout schedules and locations are not always possible.

Trainer Bob’s Blue Team only has one female left, Amy. He tells her she has to “work out like a man.” That worries me a little because I don’t think she spits or scratches the same way, and that could hold her back. Amy tells us, “I know I’m pushing myself way beyond anywhere I’ve ever been before. It’s time to bring it on.” Bob says to her, “I’m working you out like a man, huh?” and she replies, “I can take it!”

The Red Team is working out inside on the staircase by stepping, bending, and stretching. Kai confesses she’s nostalgic for the gym. Trainer Kim tells us she sees body changes in Wylie and Ken especially, and we learn Pam is now wearing a tee-shirt that no longer has a size beginning with “X.”

Bob needs to coach Erik a bit because he feels Erik is holding back. As the biggest guy, Erik sees the total poundage he needs to lose is insurmountable. Bob tells him, “I know what you are capable of.” Inspired, we see him jogging up the driveway. Clips from week one remind us how far Erik has come. Bob has him check his heart rate frequently, but keeps pushing him to excel.

It’s time to check in on one of our “ghosts.” “Ghosts” is my term for the 36 contestants sent home from the ranch but who are still in the game. Linda in Boise, Idaho has dropped almost fifty pounds in three months. That’s about half of her goal. Initially it was a little frustrating but by week four she found she had a waist and today, she’s jogging at a rapid pace. I admit it; I’m rooting a little bit for Linda because of all fifty competitors Linda is the oldest. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled if she reads that! You go, Linda!

I the next scene the teams are given the treat of eating out at an El Pollo Loco outlet, which I understand specializes in Mexican style chicken. The trainers reason that contestants need to learn to deal with food outlets in the real world.

One tip we get is that getting skinless chicken saves 34 calories and almost half the fat, and we get a warning that each tortilla chip has a little more than one full gram of fat in it. The trainers admire that unlike on the cruise, the contestants are authoritative in asking the right questions and they make the right choices.

The next scene is a reward challenge. They have a great location – the L.A. Coliseum, home field for the USC Trojans and site of the 1984 Olympics.

Series host Caroline Rhea is present, and she has a surprise for our competitors. After about two months on the ranch, she has messages from loved ones at home played on the stadium video screen. Bobby’s young daughter is especially cute. Needless to say, all are deeply touched, and all are newly motivated.

The challenge works like this – each team has to do the wave. Specifically, it must be performed 510 times! The process is that a team does the wave, then shifts one seat to the side and repeats the process until they are done. The prize is some nice workout clothing worth $2,500.

Bob and Kim are on hand to cheer their teams on. Both sprint across the field to get to their teams first, and despite some impressive foot speed from Kim, Bob wins by a few paces.

The challenge begins and both trainers are acting somewhat like a coxswain, setting the rhythm for their team. Trainer Bob is all over Erik to keep the pace up but soon, the Red Team has a big lead. Worse, they are visibly out-hustling the Blue Team. However, the pace is too aggressive for Ken and his back, and he has to take a break. The teams are virtually tied with about 130 waves to go.

It turns out Ken is, in fact, done. The whole team is upset with him, but no one is more livid than Pam who says later, “I just wanted to reach over and strangle Ken.” She adds, “Ken said his back was hurting, I don’t know how true that is, I don’t really know. The only thing I know about Ken is that he quit!”

In cameos, all the women are sure they’d have won if Ken wasn’t there. Wylie is the most invisible 264-pound man you ever saw.

The rest of the Red Team decides to finish out the exercise anyway. And as they all cross the line together the Blue Team FINALLY wins a challenge. They are one-for-five now – there’s no stopping them.

One notes the Red Team does not finish together.

Still upset, Pam says, “If my legs had fallen off, I would have finished that challenge. I would have drug my body over those chairs with my arms, then drug my bloody stump across that finish line!” Ken has detected the animosity but tells us, “They’re just going to have to get over it, because I did what I could do. I did my best.” Still, I hope he sleeps with a light on tonight.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (really this time) there’s a chef in the kitchen – chef Devin. Devin is in fact Devin Alexander, author of The Biggest Loser Cookbook. The Red Team decides on burgers while the Red Team opts for pizzas. It’s all done healthy style, of course, and as the items are made up, these good tips are issued:

• use extra-lean ground pork; it has half the calories and a quarter the fat
• use extra-lean ground beef, which has half the calories and only 4.5 grams of fat
• put lots of veggies on the pizza
• finely grate cheese to minimize usage
• whole wheat buns, always

The recipes are on the official website for those who are interested.

Last-Chance Workouts are a time when everyone gets extra serious. Bob directs another indoor workout while Kim has her squad outside on the grass. I find it very discouraging to see them work so hard while all I can think of is that bag of potato chips in the kitchen…