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The Biggest Loser Season 7

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RealityFreakWill:
'The Biggest Loser': Does Jillian Go Too Far?

"The Biggest Loser" shook things up last week when the teams were reformatted into the Blue Team and the Black Team -- and old alliances were destroyed as half of Bob Harper's losers were switched to Jillian Michaels' team and vice versa.

It was the first time that a team had to send home one of its own players -- up until now the rainbow of teams consisted of only two players each and one of those two would go home after a vote by its opponents.

When it came time to vote, the game-playing element of the show really kicked in when the team voted to send home Dane -- one of the strongest players who earned a "Biggest Loser" record by losing 100 pounds in eight weeks -- instead of Ron, one of this season's weakest players. Do you keep someone who is strong and can help the team win immunity, but could end up being "The Biggest Loser," or do you send home the player who is not a threat, but puts the team in jeopardy?

"The one person I leaned on to help me do more is gone," a distraught Tara says. "It was a really stupid decision."

But the Blue Team's Kristin, Ron and Cathy, who were originally on Bob's team, are happy with the vote. Cathy explains, simply saying, "We are going to stick together."

Then Laura storms out of the gym after a confrontation with Jillian.

"I am not going after her," Jillian tells Laura's friend Tara. "She is perfectly capable and perfectly strong. She doesn't want to be happy. She doesn't want to be healthy. She is in her own way."

"It is the meanest thing I have ever seen Jillian do," Tara says. "Jillian took it too far, but she is right. Laura needs to learn how to motivate herself."

One more will go home when "The Biggest Loser" airs tonight at 8 p.m. on NBC.

http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/03/71328/index.html

RealityFreakWill:
The Biggest Loser: Couples Episode Recap: "Week 9"

With 11 players eliminated, 11 remain. Last week, Dane went home and while Mike and Ron are happy, Tara is devastated. He was the one person she leaned on (what about her partner?) and tells the Blue team it was a stupid choice to get rid of him.

The contestants head over to Chefs, Inc where handsome chef Rocco DiSpirito is waiting for them. He tells them that fast food is the worst food you can eat and demonstrates just how fatty it is. The teams are tasked with coming up with new, tasty — and most importantly, healthy — versions of a hamburger, pizza, and burrito. After the 30 minutes are up, it's time to name a winner. In the father/son pizza showdown, Ron wins out with his 276 calorie pie. One point for the Blue team. The Black team wins in the burrito category with only 303 calories, as opposed to the Blue team's 525 calorie whopper. In the hamburger competition, the Black team wins by making a bison burger with chopped onion, Portobello mushrooms and feta cheese. Surprisingly, it was the ketchup and mustard that was the Blue team's downfall. So, the Black team wins the challenge, an extra team vote and a nice meal prepared by Rocco.

Bob takes his team to 24-hour Fitness to partake in Everlast shadowboxing. Aubrey is extremely excited as she was a boxer for three years — who knew? They walk in and  Sugar Ray Leonard is there to teach them. He gives them an inspiring talk, leads them through an intense workout and tells them to stay focused.

Dr. H pays a visit to tell Mike and Tara that they are the king and queen of the record-breakers. Mike has lost 134 pounds of fat, and even though it's only 91 pounds of weight-loss, it has never been done. Tara has had a 29 percent weight-loss in three months. Meanwhile, Jillian and Sione have a little heart-to-heart. He tells her he's adapting to the change in trainers, and she leads him in some metabolic training with high intensity circuits. But he pushes himself a little too hard and falls and twists his ankle. My favorite Tongan better be okay!!

The teams go to a food bank — the sight of their next challenge — where they learn that one in eight Americans struggle with hunger. As overeaters, the contestants are happy to be giving back for all the extra food they consume. The task is to take the donated food, assemble it into a kit and then take them across the warehouse and load onto trucks. Once completed, they will have helped feed 1,200 people for a day. We learn that Aubrey went to food banks for her first two children, so this challenge means a lot to her. The teams take off, and after scrambling to get the job done, the Black team comes up victorious yet again. They win a year of free groceries from General Mills and a letter from home, and will be featured in a national campaign for Cheerios. The Blue team is tired of seeing their opponents celebrate wins, and Mandi and Aubrey just stand there hugging and crying from their loss. When they return to the ranch, the Black team reads their letters as we are treated to the requisite cheesy music montage. And then Mike does one of the most generous things I've seen on this show: He gives his year supply of groceries that he's won to Aubrey. Pretty stand-up guy, I'd say.

The Black team reports back to Jillian that they've won again, but she tells them not to be so gloat-y. Jillian, do you ever get excited for your team? She's mad that Laura chose to be the teammate to sit out when Sione was hurt and Helen is much older. And then she gets a beat down. Apparently there's a problem when Jillian
isn't yelling at you, because it means she's lost all hope. She decides to "create awareness" for Laura and asks her teammates who is the weakest link, knowing they'll choose her. After being called out, she leaves the gym and cries that what Jillian did was worse than someone calling her fat to her face or making fun of her. But she cools down is eventually ready to talk it out. As Jillian often does, she asks Laura why she's really there, to which she responds, "I want love." Sometimes I think Jillian should be my therapist, she's so good at it.

The weigh-in is a bit different this week. Instead of weighing in against each other, everyone weighs in with each other. If they could collectively lose a total of more than 77 pounds (equal to each of them losing a pound a day), then everyone would gain immunity. If they didn't hit that number, one person from each team would go home. As an added bonus, for every pound lost, The Biggest Loser will donate 100 pounds of food. Enter the scale...

Helen loses 5 pounds.
Mandi loses 8 pounds.
Sione loses 3 pounds.
Aubrey loses 8 pounds.
Laura loses 7 pounds.
Ron loses 6 pounds.
Tara loses 11 pounds. (94 total pounds in 9 weeks. I can't even recognize her!)
Kristin loses 9 pounds.
Filipe loses 8 pounds.
Cathy loses 3 pounds.
Mike loses ...

Wait, what? That's it? We're left with a cliff-hanger. Tune in next week to find out who, if anyone, will be eliminated.

http://www.tvguide.com/Episode-Recaps/biggest-loser/Biggest-Loser-Couples-1003640.aspx

RealityFreakWill:
'The Biggest Loser' recap: 'Tis the Season

Prepare, Overcome, and Win Every Round. Prepare, Overcome, and Win Every Round. Oh, hi, didn't see you there. What's that? You're looking for this week's Biggest Loser recap? It'll be along shortly, as soon as I finish meditating to my new friend Sugar Ray Leonard's P.O.W.E.R. mantra for success. What am I preparing to overcome, you ask? Well, just the fiery, burning rage I'm currently enduring over the fact that NBC made me sit through a bizarrely constructed two-hour episode of The Biggest Loser and then, you know, NOT AIR THE ENDING. You're right, NBC. I love sitting through two hours of something only to reach zero conclusions at the end — in fact, I paid $12.50 for the privilege on Saturday when I saw The International (a poor life choice. Just say no, kids).

After the two eps of one-hour deliciousness that aired last week, last night's disappointment felt a little like following your low sodium broth-based soup and salad sporting non-fat dressing with a 1,200-calorie hamburger and fries. Tasty 'til the end, when you realize it's full of fat and ultimately unsatisfying. Things started off fine and dandy — celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito dropped by, then Sugar Ray Leonard dropped by, then the show's doctor dropped by, then David Arquette dropped by (that really is how it happened, there weren't any transitions between the segments) — until these words of doom appeared on screen: ''To Be Continued...''

Here's how it started. The first challenge brought the contestants to a kitchen somewhere in Los Angeles (I assume), where ''world-class chef'' Rocco DiSpirito (their words) told them just how bad fast food actually is (you know, like in the Super Bowl episode just with a different chef). Then the contestants drew knives to find out which fast food dish — burger, burrito, or pizza — they'd have to make healthier in the Quickfire challenge. Kidding — it wasn't Top Chef, but it was pretty similar (NBC and Bravo are sister networks, so I guess they were cool with the ripoff). Each team had to make a healthy, tasty version of a fast food monstrosity in 30 minutes. The team that made the best-tasting food with the fewest calories won a dinner cooked by Mr. Ninth-place-on-Dancing-With-the-Stars and an extra vote at elimination for one person (chosen randomly).

Ron and Mike had a father/son pizza rivalry (Ron won), the sisters and the cousins had a burrito-off (Sione and Filipe won by default, since the burritos were both gross but the boys' had fewer calories), and the blue team accidentally sabotaged their burger effort by including ketchup and mustard in their dish, upping the calorie count by a couple hundred. Surprise, surprise, it was another black team victory, with Laura landing the extra vote.

While the black team enjoyed a gourmet dinner of mashed sweet potatoes, crispy chicken, and salad, the blue team washed dishes. It worked out okay for the losers, however, because Bob decided to take them to a shadowboxing class taught by none other than pro boxer/weight-loss competition show motivator Sugar Ray Leonard. We then learned two useful pieces of information: one, shadowboxing gloves come in a variety of fun colors (taste the rainbow), and two, Aubrey used to be a boxer (I know, right?!). I'm sorry, did I say useful? I meant random. The useful part was Leonard's P.O.W.E.R. mantra, which helped me successfully overcome my ''To Be Continued...'' rage and not throw my laptop at my TV screen.

Later, in the gym, Dr. H came in and told the contestants how well they've been doing: Tara has lost 29% of her body weight, Mike has lost 134 pounds of fat, Mandi went from having the fitness of a 68-year-old to being fitter than other women her age, and Ron's blood sugar has gone down. This information would've been a little more interesting if it wasn't sandwiched between segments, and if Dr. H hadn't told Tara she'd done well for having been there three months when it's only the ninth week of the show. Is my timeline off or was this shot at a different time than the rest of the episode?

Not to be outdone, the Pound for Pound segment of the episode even had a guest: David Arquette talked about how he volunteers at the food bank. America, if he can make the time between guest-starring on TV shows to volunteer at the food bank and guest-star on a PSA during another TV show about volunteering at the food bank, then you can find the time to volunteer too.

Speaking of the food bank, the challenge was held there this week (in case you couldn't tell by one of the 87 establishing shots of the building). Each team had to take donated food, assemble it into 100 kits, push the boxes all the way through the warehouse, and load them onto a truck (along with 50 pre-made kits). All said and done, the teams would pack enough food to feed 1,200 people. The winning team would be featured in a national advertisement for Cheerios, and each member would receive letters from home along with free groceries from General Mills for a year.

If you had to take one guess, who would you pick to win the challenge? If you picked the blue team, you are probably a member of the blue team because no one else in their right mind would think they had a shot at winning. If you picked the black team, you correctly picked the winner!

The blue team was sad about losing; but the black team was pretty psyched about winning. They got free food and letters from home! The letters weren't terribly exciting, because they all said the same thing. Guess what: the black team's families love them. But if you play footage of them reading their cards in slow-mo and set it to a sappy song, you get an instant montage!

All the feel-good feelings from feeding the needy rubbed off on college student Mike, who didn't need his grocery prize and decided to give it to mother of five Aubrey instead. It was a genuinely nice sentiment and both sides were sincere in their intention and gratitude, though the actual gifting was staged pretty awkwardly and transitioned immediately to the last chance workout.

Jillian, after hearing that Laura sat out of the challenge instead of Sione, who sprained his ankle earlier in the week, decided she was fed up with Laura's negative attitude about her own abilities. Jillian, in ''the meanest thing [she's] ever done,'' polled the black team to find out who they thought their weakest link was: Laura. The thing she didn't tell Laura was that she didn't think Laura was the weakest link, it's just that Laura keeps behaving like she is and thinking that she is — therefore other people perceive her as such. Clearly, Laura's problem with weight is directly related to how she thinks others view her. So when Laura said she wanted to lose weight so other people would respect her, Jillian was upset — Laura shouldn't want to lose weight just to get validation from others, she should want to do it for herself. I hope Laura took that advice to heart, because it's true.

Finally, it was time for the weigh in. Ali Sweeney was lookin' all '80s mermaid chic with her green peephole top and wavy blond hair, the contestants were sporting the latest in cotton/spandex blend gym wear, and the trainers were wearing pastels to make them look less threatening. So Ali was all like ''If you collectively lose enough weight to equal one pound each per day, you can all stay! But if you don't, two of you have to peace the eff out of here.'' The contestants stepped on the scale one by one. Some did well (Tara, obvs), and some didn't (Ron, obvs). Then Mike went up, and Ali was all like ''Mike, you need to lose 10 pounds for everyone to stay. No pressure or anything.'' But it wasn't actually up to him — the producers just picked him to go last. It was up to everyone to lose seven pounds. Too bad we won't find out what happens until NEXT WEEK.

An excerpt from my totally professional notes: ''WHAT TO BE CONTINUED SERIOUSLY WHAT IS THIS S---.''

To be honest, I figured since it was clearly the happy, feel-good Christmastime (in March) episode they'd succeed. There were only a couple minutes left until the end of the show and they hadn't finished weighing in, so I assumed they had it in the bag. How naive I was — to think NBC would give us a show with a conclusion. But I was young then. Now I'm a full three hours older and I see what they were doing, trying to switch up the format so we didn't get bored. But older and wiser as I am, I'd like to tell NBC that if they pull something like this again, they can _____ my _____ (fill in the blanks with your own choice words and I'm sure you'll catch my meaning).

Were you as royally TO'd by the ending as I was? Or did this episode fill you with filmed-at-Christmas non-holiday related (since it's actually March) cheer? What did you think of the celebrity guests who dropped by? Did everyone pull their weight in the challenge? How many people do you think will be kicked off next week?

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20262867_3,00.html

Texan:
Poor Mike... it is alot of pressure on him.  But also keep in mind Sione only lost 3.  Now that could be because he hurt his foot.  I really hope Mike makes it only because of how he will treat himself if he does not.

I think Jillian was mean, but I do not think she went too far.  She was right Lara is still stuck in the poor me and will not survive back at home if she does not get a handle on this.

catzoid:
Mike is getting a very strong "hero" edit, so I think he'll pull off the win.

Laura belongs in a different kind of program, like Weight Watchers or something, where she gets lots of group support and isn't expected to lose more than a pound or two a week. This isn't the right format for her. Jillian is right about her, but I expect Laura to be the next Black team member voted off, so there really isn't much time for Jillian to influence her.

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