The Biggest Loser 3, Episode 8: Never Show Up a Trainer

Welcome to the eighth 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 now, so do a pair of returning players.

Tonight is a special two-hour episode, so get comfy because there’s a lot going on. As a reminder, here’s a list of who is still in the game.

Trainer Bob initially led Bobby, Erik, and Marty. Last week they merged into duos with those trained by Kim – Heather, Kai, and Wylie, respectively. The six new players who have just re-entered the game are Jaron (from Arkansas), Tim (Delaware), and Matthew (Maine) on the male side, and Poppi (New Jersey), Adrian (North Dakota), and Ginnie (Vermont). The only other soul on camera is series host Caroline Rhea. Got it? OK, let’s go!

We begin as usual with a recap of the last episode, which includes extensive replays of virtually every scene involving the six ghost players being brought back to the game. Seven minutes into the first hour, we finally get a new scene. It’s Heather and Kai, the two remaining women from the Red Team, talking as they walk to meet the new players. They reaffirm their coalition – they are as determined to get rid of the newcomers as they are to see a woman win this competition.

The next section is amusing. We see the players greet each other and act friendly, but a series of interspersed cameos reveals how they really feel.

After a warm hug from Kai, newcomer Ginnie thinks they are all friends and “this will be a lot of fun.” However, Kai’s cameo sets that nonsense straight for the viewers. In Poppi’s cameo she says, “There was honest joy to see us, but it was really mixed in with absolute anger, maybe a little at us, and being angry a little at the game.”

Newcomer Adrian’s cameo makes the uncomplimentary observation of Kai, “She still has kind of a big caboose.” Meanwhile, Jaron identifies Erik and Bobby as “especially stand-offish.” Perhaps this is explained by Bobby’s cameo where he calls the newcomers, “invaders.”

None of this behavior surprises me. I have to confess that I’d be pretty resentful of these new folks too.

During this welcoming reception, Kai and Heather separate themselves to discuss the sleeping arrangements. Kai proposes moving a bed into Pam’s old room so they don’t have to share theirs with a newbie. They slip away from the gathering to do just that. It doesn’t work, however, and they get the bed stuck in the doorway. The only solution is to move themselves into Pam’s old (smaller) room and leave their bigger room for the three female ghosts.

What follows is a series of cameos with the ghosts in which all express their happiness at getting this opportunity. Nice, but not surprising, so let’s move along.

So as not to confuse them with the folks in the rich red and blue uniforms, the newcomers have been given clothes in the excitingly vibrant colors of gray and black. Undertaker colors, very subtle. No, there will not be a gray trainer.

Series host Caroline Rhea addresses the new assemblage of a dozen. She tells them that the weigh-in that is about to occur will define which man and woman of the ghosts will stay. The other four will be eliminated right away. Our six “veterans” are merely here to observe. Here’s how it plays out, in the order they mount the scale.

NAME	PREVIOUS	CURRENT	LOSS	PERCENT
Poppi	232	189	43	18.53
Ginnie	277	230	47	16.97
Adrian	227	174	53	23.35
Matthew	366	285	81	22.13
Jaron	323	248	75	23.22
Tim	268	216	52	19.40

So, Adrian and Jaron will be the ones coming back into the game!

Caroline confirms that the weight losses of Adrian and Jaron exceed those of everyone on the ranch. I can add, so did Matthew’s numbers. The impressive numbers posted by the ghosts makes Marty wonder what they’re doing wrong on the ranch.

In Kai’s cameo she tells us, “To find out that the two people from home had better percentages than any of is here, it made me bitter as could be. To find out that I could have been home in my bed with my stuff in my comfort zone and done the same thing, yeah, it makes me a little bitter.”

Adrian is glad her hard work paid off. Jaron says he thinks they snuck in by the back door (well, they did) and almost feels guilty about it. Almost.

Both new players are anxious to meet the trainers. The trainers are surprised by the twist, but welcome them warmly. The other players can’t wait to point out that the two newbies have the highest percentages of weight loss so far, and they almost trip over each other to get that fact out there. Trainer Bob assigns Adrian to Kim while he takes Jaron.

In a cameo, Heather is frustrated. She doesn’t understand why she’s killing herself for four to six hours a day, only to be topped by someone whom she apparently assumes watches soap operas all afternoon. Umm, maybe they’re working out too? And dieting as well?

This next segment is real strange. Apparently, the two new players were banished from the room so the others could get a separate pep talk from the trainers. Bob tells the team not to think about “fair” and not to let this throw them. I bet Adrian and Jaron felt wonderful seeing this segment at home.