The Biggest Loser: Mixin’ It Up and Messin’ It Up
Every week I am amazed at each player’s weight loss. Of course they have the “luxury” of working out five hours a day with a trainer and a kitchen stocked with good food but still, they are all working hard and doing their very best. We know from teasers earlier in the week that there will be a weigh-in shocker and one can only hope that it is a ridiculous amount of weight loss by an unsuspecting player. I guess we will just have to wait and see.
The kitchen was set up like poker tables but instead of regular poker chips there were food items like peanut butter cups, cookies, crackers, and cheese. They then found out that after the poker game they would all have to say goodbye to their teammates because they would be divided into trios. Their new teams would compete together at temptations, challenges, and weigh-ins. Whoever won the poker game got the power to choose the trio’s. I noticed Hollie was back after losing her mother the week before. She was one committed lady and I’m sure she would have made her mom very proud.
Everybody chose to play the temptation except Kae. Eating 1,700 plus calories wasn’t worth it to her. Everyone else was dealt a card and began to play. The game was on and Neil folded almost right away when Amy raised the ante with some serious peanut butter cups leading almost all of them to fold. It wasn’t long before it was Amy versus Jez. Okay, Jez can be one funny, sweet, quiet jokester of a guy as he teased them about betting, eating, and pushing forward against Amy. With Amy revealing that she had a nine Jez threw down his ace and won the poker game. The temptation was worth it for Jez but for Amy she just came out full of more calories. A lot of them! Jez joked that he knew she was bluffing but she just wanted to get some of the peanut butter cups down.
The first team Jez put together was Kae (blue), David (red), and Hollie (black). The second team was Amy (red), Julie (black), and Bill (black). The third team was Bryan (red), Nicole (blue), and Ryan (blue). Finally Jez picked for himself Neil (blue) and Isabeau (black). Jez’s strategy seemed like it was a good one. He kept the biggest threats next to him and a loyal teammate in Isabeau the biggest girl loser. Then they found out that they could pick their trainers. This is where the drama began and frankly never ended. Amy confessed that she didn’t trust Kim so when Jillian mouthed “do you want to train with me” when she saw Amy crying and yelling at Kim Amy said “yes”. Of course Kim was annoyed and hurt. Who wouldn’t be? Obviously that meant Amy didn’t like her or trust her. There was a huge rift between Kim and Amy and Kim wanted to talk to Amy as she left with Jillian. Kim was ticked at her and felt totally disrespected. She felt Amy had the teenage years going on when you hate your mom and Kim felt like she was “mom”. More than anything Kim built a foundation in Amy and now someone else was going to build the sky rise. Well, that was a tiny bit selfish Kim. If she had the best in mind for Amy she would want her to be successful wherever she could be and if that was with Jillian then she should have just let her go. But, it really was more of a pride issue for Kim I think which wasn’t necessarily all bad. She had worked hard with a sometimes ungrateful and mostly whiny Amy. So, between Amy whining and not believing in herself on a regular basis and Kim trying to push her but finally leaving Amy just where she was at they both kind of failed each other and maybe it was better they parted ways.
They finished their “discussion” and Amy felt lost as she joined Jillian and talked to her. Amy definitely was having a hard day. The women on the black team weren’t super excited about Amy joining up with them and Isabeau felt that Amy was the step-sister getting all of the attention.
Next it was time for the challenge. They needed to push two teammates in a basket on a mechanical arm in a circle for 75 revolutions. The winners would get a bow flex home workout station. This challenge was going to take a long time!! Bill was a workhorse and was the one who mostly pushed the arm and then Amy jumped in and plowed around like a steam engine for the last few revolutions winning it for Bill, Amy, and Julie. They got the coveted bow flexes!
Back at the kitchen the next morning Bob talked breakfast with Nicole. Here it was!! The shameless plug for some food item. It was Weight Control oatmeal. Bob showed her how to make it and everything and told her and all of us millions watching that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Eating breakfast gets your metabolism burning. Well, it may have been a shameless plug but it made me want to go out and buy the product the next time I was strolling the aisles of Wal-Mart so I guess the shameless plugs each week work!
Now it was time for their last chance workout. They all were pushed hard and Jillian pointed out that Amy needed to be pushed harder than Kim was pushing her. Kim on the other hand thought Amy made a mistake by switching teams as she glared over in their direction. Oh the battle of the female trainers. We’ll see what happens at the weigh-in and if Amy really would lose more weight working with Jillian. What maybe Amy doesn’t realize though is that the common denominator in her training routines was her! So, unless Amy changes her attitude and unless Amy believes in herself, pushes herself, and knocks off the whining there won’t be a whole lot of changing going on.
At weigh in Bill, Amy, and Julie went first losing a total of ten pounds. Amy lost none. I’m sure she was very disappointed and Kim will probably feel a little vindicated. Next up was Bryan, Ryan, and Nicole who lost eleven pounds total with Ryan gaining a pound. Oh no! Poor Ryan! Was that the shocker? No, it couldn’t have been. Other people have gained a pound or two or not lost weight before on the show. Then it was time for Kae, Hollie, and David. They lost fourteen pounds! Great job and Hollie was proud to have lost any weight at all because of the stress of the loss of her mother and being gone.
The final team to weigh-in was Jez, Isabeau, and Neil. Jez lost six pounds, Isabeau lost four pounds, and Neil GAINED SEVENTEEN pounds. How the heck did he do that? How the heck did he put on that much weight exercising 5 hours a day and no Twinkies in the house? That was impossible. At first I didn’t even clue in that he did it on purpose. I thought there was a fluke with the scale because who would intentionally gain that much weight? But as the questioning went on it became more and more clear that people thought that Neil threw the weigh-in. He kept denying it but when he said that a gallon of water weighed nine pounds I was like, how did he know that? That turkey drank two gallons of water to throw the weigh-in! However, Neil wouldn’t admit it.
So then they had to go tell their trainers how it went. Oh boy, Bob was ticked with Neil. He was so mad that he couldn’t see straight. Then Neil confessed to the camera that the blue team wanted to get rid of Isabeau and had hatched a master plan to get rid of the black team members. Well that was kind of low and dirty. Hopefully this would backfire on Neil. This isn’t quite Survivor. It’s more about people changing their lives. There is a 250,000 purse at the end for the winner though so I can see why Neil did what he did. But hey, you could just work hard and win it that way! Jillian had to walk by him in the kitchen that night and told him off. She hoped he was proud of himself for throwing the weigh-in and messing with people’s lives. Neil just laughed. I’m sorry, but Neil is kind of a lame guy. Too bad for Neil.
Jez was so depressed he didn’t want to work out. He didn’t want to do anything. The upcoming elimination brought back all the fears of failure he has had his whole life. He also believed in something and believed in principals which obviously Neil didn’t. Jillian told them to keep their eye on the prize, stay focused and not worry about elimination.
At elimination Neil finally admitted that he threw the weigh-in and he knew it was a risk. Obviously he believed in his blue team to keep him around. Julie was visibly upset with Neil and shared very passionately that unfortunately they were only three people with one vote but they were going to have a loud voice and voted for Neil. The other two trios though voted for Jez so that is who went home. He totally didn’t deserve to go home. Jez shared rather emotionally that he had lived his life full of fear, that he wasn’t ready to leave, but he left with his character in tact and his integrity. He definitely didn’t see his elimination coming (he probably thought Isabeau was going). I felt bad for the black team. Being some of the best competitors had gotten them a target on their backs. The irony of the whole situation was that Jez picked Neil to be on his team. He won the poker temptation and put himself with Neil and Neil totally let his new team down. Jez did not deserve that. Grrr on you Neil.
On a much happier note Jez had lost 103 pounds total since arriving at the Biggest Loser campus!!! He made a major life change by moving to California. He now has more energy, he’s happier, and he’s healthier. He looked fantastic. I honestly doubted if he could do it because he was so unsure of himself but he did do it! What a risk he took moving to a new state for a fresh start. So far Jez’s transformation has impressed me the most and not just because of his weight loss. Good for you Jez.
Well, next week is the aftermath of Neil’s treacherous weigh-in. I wonder if any of the blue team knew he was going to do that. Will Neil last another week or will he become the next player to leave the Biggest Loser campus because of his blatant weight gain to eliminate the black team. Well, it was a risk he was willing to take so we’ll see if his risk paid off to bring him closer to being this season’s Biggest Loser.
© Copyright 2007 Blindigo Magazine | Article written by Niki Tschirgi
