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The Biggest Loser Season 7
marigold:
THE BIGGEST LOSER SEASON 7
Episode: 18
Air Date: May 5, 2009
PAST SEASON WINNERS CHEER ON THE FINAL FOUR AS THEY FACE THEIR TOUGHEST CHALLENGE YET – RUNNING A FULL MARATHON!
The final four contestants go home for 30 days, reunite with friends and family and experience firsthand the challenge of continuing to make diet and exercise a priority back at home. Contestants also learn from host Alison Sweeney what their final challenge of the season will be – running a full marathon when they return to the ranch for their final weigh-in. Completing the full 26.2 mile course will be their toughest challenge yet, but cheering them on along the way are some past season “Biggest Losers”– grand prize winners Ali Vincent and Michelle Aguilar, plus “at home” winners Jim Germanakos, Heba Salama and Bernie Salazar. And as an added incentive, each player who finishes the marathon will get $10,000 to donate to the charity of their choice. Later, it’s the very last “last chance workouts” with trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels before a final weigh in determines who the two definite finalists will be – and which two contestants fall below the dreaded yellow line, leaving America to vote which one will be the third finalist to compete for the grand prize of $250,000.
RealityFreakWill:
The Biggest Loser Couples
Weighing In
Hello, and welcome to another week of The Biggest Loser: Couples. With only eight people left on the ranch, everyone is vying for the title of Biggest Loser more than ever.
Mike is devastated about how his fellow team mates betrayed him by throwing his father under the bus. Ron thanks everyone who kept him there, and tells those who voted against him to get struck down and die. Sione tells them he is playing for him, but Ron still feels betrayed. This causes a LOT of tension between him, Filipe and Sione. Kristin also thinks Ron is cutthroat and everyone is worried about how he is going to retaliate.
TEMPTATION
When everyone gets to the gym, they are surrounded by silver trays. Alison tells them that this is a temptation challenge that has the biggest prize ever. There are 100 trays with high calorie snacks. They have to eat whatever is in the tray. If they get a pack of Extra gum, they also get a monetary prize. The golden ticket tray holds the ultimate reward--complete control of the game, the only vote in the game. Kristin decides to be careful and not choose as many trays so she won't fall below the yellow lone. I'm really not sure what the point of this challenge is, since I thought the show was about LOSING weight. In the end, Laura gets the golden ticket. Kristin is wondering what the power is going to do to her. Laura tries to convince Tara to purposely fall below the yellow line so they can vote for the other person, but Tara isn't so sure she wants to do that.
As they are cleaning up the gym, Bob and Jillian come in. They are not happy with them participating in the temptation---and that is an understatement. Filipe admits he wants the power, but Jillian tells them they put themselves at risk. Bob wants them to them to remember this day and let it be a lesson. They also discuss the vote, and Bob realizes why they all took part in the challenge. He pulls Ron aside and asks him what happened. Ron says it is game on from now on.
WORKING OUT
Bob and Jillian join forces to make sure they all burn off the calories they ate. They take turns training everyone, making sure they realize the mistakes they made.
TRAINING TIP
For flat, sexy abs, add cardio and a proper diet to your crunches.
SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR LAURA
In order to get in Laura's good graces, Kristin brings Laura breakfast in bed.
SUBWAY VISIT
Jillian takes her team to Subway, where they are greeted by Coleen and Jerry from last season. Coleen tells them to use veggies and mustard as toppings. Jerry says eating at Subway helps him when getting a quick meal at work. I have to say, they both look incredible!
ROSE BOWL
They all get to see the Rose Bowl, which is exciting for me because Penn State was in it this year! As a Pennsylvania resident, this is exciting for my family and I! It is boys against girls in this challenge as they must run up and down the stairs to their colored flag. The winner will share their prize with their families--a two week trip for four at a fitness spa. Sione and Tara get their flags first. They have to do it again and whoever finishes first will win. It is a very close race, but in the end, Tara wins! Sione is upset about losing. Filipe, Helen and Sione corner Kristin and ask what she will do if Ron is below the yellow line. She isn't sure, and it causes a lot of tension between them.
LAURA AND HELEN
Helen tells Laura that it is stupid to convince Tara to purposely fall below the yellow line.
BOB'S TALK
Bob talks to her team about the voting debacle last week. They also wonder what Tara is going to do this week. Bob thinks she will purposely fall below the yellow line, but Kristin is not so sure.
JILLIAN'S TALK
Jillian feels the tension and stress from the game. She tells Tara that she better not throw the weigh in. She wants them to put themselves first and nothing good will come of it.
MOVIE TIME WITH BOB
Bob has his team watch Marley and Me and shows them snacks to eat instead of their usual ones, such as veggies and unbuttered popcorn.
LAST CHANCE WORKOUT
Jillian pushes Tara, who seems to have trouble this week. Jillian tells her to reach inside her and be the person she knows she can be. Everyone else is focused on staying above the yellow line.
Bob is also pushing his team, especially Sione, who is having trouble as well.
WEIGH IN
Mike: 253 lbs-5=248 lbs
Ron: 317 lbs-9=308 lbs
Tara: 189 lbs -3=186 lbs
Kristin: 251 lbs-6=245 lbs
Helen: 171 lbs-2=169 lbs
Filipe: 259 lbs-7=252 lbs
Sione: 260 lbs-4=256 lbs
Laura: 214 lbs-8=205 lbs
This means Laura has to choose between Helen and Sione since they are in they bottom two.
Sione says it is her decision, but remember that she can count on him to keep her there. Helen says she is happy to have her and Tara there with her because she loves them like her own.
Sione and Filipe to their Tongan chant and dance before going to elimination.
ELIMINATION
After some sweet words for both of them, Laura sends Sione home. He says the show made him a better person. He says goodbye and is sent on his way.
HOW HE LOOKS NOW
When he gets home, he is greeted by his wife and kids, as well as other family members and friends. They are all proud of him and inspired to improve their lives as well. His daughter gives him apples as a snack as he studies to become a personal trainer. He trains his family and pretends to be Bob. Everyone is proud of him. He lost a total of 137 pounds thus far.
Tune in next week for makeover week with Tim Gunn! Goodnight everybody.
http://www.tvgrapevine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3455:the-biggest-loser-couples-weighing-in&catid=71:biggest-loser-couples-2009
RealityFreakWill:
'Biggest Loser''s Sione Fa: 'I Ate All That Stuff'
"The Biggest Loser" put the eight remaining contestants to the test on Tuesday night's episode, with a high-calorie challenge. Goodies such as donuts, cupcakes and chips were hidden in silver serving trays -- as was a golden ticket that gave the bearer the right to decide who went home that week. Did the quest for power lead them to scarf up the calories?
You bet. Only Kristin Steede was cautious in her calorie count, which paid off for her with a six-pound weight loss for the week, keeping her safe and above the yellow line.
Sione Fa, however, was caught up in the bid for power and it may have been his downfall, because with a four-pound loss for the week, he wound up below the yellow line -- and was sent home by Laura Denoux, who actually found the golden ticket.
"The temptation, I look back on it, it was kind of crazy," he says. "If I go back into the moment, it was a lot of power being handed out. Obviously, when you look back, I ate all that stuff. Maybe that affected the pound. I basically got kicked off by a pound. I can look back and say, 'Maybe I shouldn't have.' But if I was put back in that moment, I would probably do it again."
Everybody on "The Biggest Loser" has a week when they have a low number, but this was the first time that Sione was below the yellow line. He fell below with Helen Phillips, and he says that as soon as he realized that, he knew he was going home.
"The relationship between me and Laura on the game side of it wasn't as strong as Laura and Helen," explains the contestant from Maricopa, Arizona, who began the competition at 372 pounds, and now weighs 235 pounds: a 137-pound loss.
Sione and his cousin Filipe Fa had their controversial moments on the ranch this season. The two cousins began "The Biggest Loser" as members of trainer Bob Harper's team, but about one-third of the way through the season, when the teams were mixed up, they ended up under Jillian Michaels' tutelage -- and they refused to work with her!
"Her training style is awesome," Sione says. "She is a great trainer. I don't take anything away from that. When we did train together, I gave it everything I had physical-wise. Emotionally we connected better with Bob and that showed. On 'The Biggest Loser,' one of things people don't realize, it is just as much emotional as physical. It was just a conflict in personal issues."
Sione's biggest competition this season was Tara Costa, who is still on the ranch. Tara, too, also scarfed down the goodies during the temptation challenge in quest of the golden ticket -- and she, too, had a low number this week: only a three-pound weight loss. Neither Tara nor Sione wound up with the ticket, but they did compete for a two-week spa vacation -- and Tara won. It was the second week in a row she triumphed over Sione in a competition that he felt he should win. Last week, she won the car-pulling challenge.
"Obviously, I was devastated," he admits. "I set out to win them and I wanted to win them. The one thing I look back on, especially the car pulling challenge … going into that challenge, I felt I was the one to beat. A lot of other people felt that I was the one to beat, too. But by not winning, it really made me look back at myself and say, 'What am I doing wrong?' At the car pulling challenge, that is when a lot of things started to click. A lot of things in my life, I start with full force and full of energy, but I putter out at the end. That really opened my eyes to pace myself and finish strong, instead of killing it in the beginning and not finishing."
When Sione began "The Biggest Loser," he owned a landscape business, but since his experience on the ranch, he has decided to become a personal trainer. He is currently studying to take his test, and he plans to build his own business when he is certified. He says he will combine the knowledge he learned from Jillian and Bob for his clients.
"I learned a lot from Jillian cardio-wise, getting your lungs and heart in shape, and from Bob, strength training. On Bob's side, I would take a lot of the emotional. He really connected emotionally with me and Filipe. We want to be here as long as we can on earth. Keeping that in mind, leading a healthy life, I would love to adapt that into my training. Not just the quick fix. But actually be a long term goal."
"The Biggest Loser" airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on NBC.
http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/04/72635/index.html
marigold:
An interview with Sione:
The Biggest Loser's Sione Makes Fitness His Life
Sione Fa has not only been a fan favorite on this season's The Biggest Loser: Couples, but a front-runner as well. Competing with his Tongan cousin Filipe, Sione lost a whopping 116 pounds during his 10-week run, while also realizing his passion for educating his community on nutrition and exercise. Sione's small four-pound loss in his final week on the ranch resulted in being voted out and missing the chance to claim the grand prize by a few short weeks. Fa, who has lost 130 pounds to date, spoke to TVGuide.com about why he preferred to train with Bob and how being on The Biggest Loser has led him to a new career in fitness.
TVGuide.com: Why do you think you only lost four pounds this week and do you regret participating in the temptation challenge?
Sione Fa: I think everybody has their weeks when they have a low number and this was the first time I fell below the yellow line. Everybody else there had at least been under once or twice before.
The temptation, you know, I look back on it and it was kind of crazy. But if I go back into the moment, it was a lot of power being handed out. Obviously when you look back, you're like, "Wow, I ate all that stuff, maybe that affected the [small weight loss]," because I basically got kicked off by a pound. Maybe I shouldn't have [participated], but if I was to get put back in that moment, I'd probably do it again.
TVGuide.com: Can you talk more about why you left Jillian in Week 10 to go train with Bob?
Fa: Her training style is awesome; she's a great trainer, I don't take anything away from that. When we did train together, I gave it everything I had, physically. It's just that emotionally [Filipe and I] connected better with Bob, and obviously that showed. On Biggest Loser, one thing people don't realize being on the ranch, is that it's just as much emotional as physical there. We're taken out of our life. We can't talk to our families, can't talk to our kids, can't talk to what I like to call "normal people." It was just a conflict in personal issues more than anything.
TVGuide.com: How far into the process did you realize that you wanted to become a trainer yourself?
Fa: I knew that I couldn't go back to my old life and my old career, [and] I knew I wanted to make health and fitness a part of my life forever. One day it was like: Be a trainer. I'm still in the process of taking the test to get certified, but my plan is to create a business.
TVGuide.com: Are you still training your family?
Fa: Yeah, it's more like phone calls now. My sister was a little embarrassed about [breaking down in the Where Are They Now piece], but sometimes it takes that to kick in and she's actually lost 12 pounds since that.
TVGuide.com: How are you preparing for the finale?
Fa: The finale is a deadline for us right now, but I'm trying to just take advantage of every day because I'm never going to be in this situation again. I'm never going to be able to show America the end result. But you know what? I'm trying not to focus on everyone else and where they're at and what I have to do to beat them. All I'm going to do is give it my all, do everything I can, so no matter what happens on that scale, I know that I'll come out on top.
TVGuide.com: What's your typical regimen?
Fa: I'm more of a morning workout person, I'm there at 7. I do strength training for about an hour and a half and cardio for another hour, hour and a half. Of course, not everybody is going to be able to wake up and do two and a half hours, but we're trying to lose weight and when I get to the maintenance stage, that's going to be a lot harder.
TVGuide.com: Is it easier for you to keep up with the exercise as opposed to the diet?
Fa: They have to go hand in hand. If I'm not making wise decisions on eating, I can feel it in my workout. Food now is a fuel for me and it's not just something that's going to occupy my time while I'm watching a movie or because I'm bored. You can be in great shape but eat like crap and you're going to feel it. So for me, I have to give my body the good fuel. Otherwise, I'm not going to be able to work out as hard.
TVGuide.com: How do you think your partner Filipe will do without you there?
Fa: He proved it when I went home for the 30 days. He worked his butt off, did everything he possibly could to get me back on the ranch, and he got me back. I have no doubt that not only is he going to do as good as he did then, but he's going to do better.
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Biggest-Loser-Sione-1004872.aspx
marigold:
An interview with Sione:
Rethinking "Golden" Strategy with Sione Fa of The Biggest Loser Couples
Although one of the most popular episodes of The Biggest Loser comes down the weight-loss pike next week, with Tim Gunn of Project Runway and Tabatha Coffey of Bravo's Tabatha's Salon Takeover jumping in to makeover the Biggest Loser competitors, Arizona landscape businessman, Sione Fa, won't be taking part in the festivities.
This week’s episode of the Biggest Loser Couples saw Ron still mad at Sione and his cousin Filipe because they voted for him the week before. As the competition got going, the first Biggest Loser challenge was for a "golden ticket" that would give one player control over who went home between the two competitors that fell below the yellow line at weigh-in. The catch was, however, that the challenge involved scarfing back a heap of junk food until the ticket was located, hidden under one of many silver trays in the gym. When it over, Tara’s partner, Laura, won the weigh-in power before heading to a reward challenge for a week long trip to a spa.
In one of, if not the toughest challenge of the season aside from the mini-marathon, each Biggest Loser player had to run up half of the stairs at the famous Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. And when it was over, the two fastest had to do it again, head to head. The final challenge came down to Tara and Sione, with Tara shocking the players as she beat Sione to win. However, at the weigh-in, Helen and Sione fell below the yellow line and Laura used her "golden ticket" to send Sione packing from the Biggest Loser ranch.
The morning after Sione was humbled by Tara at the Rose Bowl, we hopped on the phone to join a conference call where we picked Sione's brain about what he would have done had he won the "golden ticket," his time on The Biggest Loser, and what it was like to see Nicole return to the ranch the week before.
THE DEADBOLT: If you would’ve won that golden ticket, how would your strategy have changed?
SIONE FA: You know what? I thought about that, too. Obviously I fell below the yellow line, and if I would’ve had the golden ticket I would’ve lost the ticket [laughs].
THE DEADBOLT: That’s true.
SIONE: So I look back thinking, obviously, maybe if the weight-loss would’ve been the same, I would’ve lost it. And then it still could’ve changed the outcome of the game, because then it would’ve went to regular voting and majority winning. So maybe I would’ve had a chance, maybe I wouldn’t have. But I mean, you just never know. Like I said before, it was in the moment, and I guess you could say you wanted that power, control of the game and I went for it.
THE DEADBOLT: So if you had it and didn’t go below the line, what were you looking to do with it?
SIONE: It was no secret I tried to get Ron off, and if it happened again I would’ve went for Ron.
THE DEADBOLT: [laughs] Actually, that wouldn’t have worked either because he lost a lot of weight this week.
SIONE: [laughs] Yeah, exactly. So I mean, there’s so many [ways]. Even on the ranch, you go through all of these scenarios in your head, and you think you’ve covered every possible scenario, and when you actually go weigh in it never is any of them that you thought of. It’s always the "what if?" So all you can do is lose weight. I only focused on getting that vote [golden ticket] and I guess I never really thought about how I would use it.
THE DEADBOLT: How did you feel losing to Tara and the car pulling challenge, and the Rose Bowl stairs challenge? Those were two pretty heavy challenges.
SIONE: Yeah, they were. Obviously I was devastated, and I set out to win them, and I wanted to win them and I was very disappointed in myself when I didn’t. But the one thing I look back on, especially the car pulling challenge, going into that challenge I felt like I was the one to beat. And, you know? A lot of people thought I was the one to beat, too, that I would take it.
But by not winning, it really made me step back and look at myself and be like, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ Actually, on the car pulling challenge is when a lot of things clicked, a lot of things in my life. Whatever I start, I start it with full force and full of energy, but I putter out at the end. That really opened my eyes to pace myself and finish strong instead of killing it at the beginning and not finishing. So even though I lost to Tara, I learned very valuable lessons that help me even now.
THE DEADBOLT: She certainly does bring out the best in you.
SIONE: Definitely. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. I think me and her definitely pushed each other to the limit and it worked out.
THE DEADBOLT: Well, you must have. When you guys all went home, you pulled it out to win that half marathon.
SIONE: Yeah, that was something I never thought I would do. I thought marathon runners were crazy. Actually, right now I’m training for a full marathon at the end of May. So it’s weird how your mind changes.
THE DEADBOLT: How did Nicole returning to the ranch for a week help you prepare for going home?
SIONE: Actually, when I saw her and the stuff she’s accomplished on her own, I just knew. You know, it’s like that goes to show you right there, not just for me and for people on the ranch, but for people at home who are thinking, ‘Oh, the only way I’m going to lose this weight is to be picked as one of The Biggest Loser contestants.’ She showed everybody that you can do it at home if you want it bad enough.
I mean, she came into the house with the second highest percentage of everybody. It was like, ‘You know what? If she can do this at home, we should be able to do unbelievable things on the ranch.’ It actually excited me to know I don’t need the ranch, you know? I wanted to be there, but I don’t need that. And she showed not only us but America that anything is possible and you can lose the weight on your own. You don’t need the show. And there’s a lot of people who try out season after season to get on the show and don’t make it, and they’re still stuck. So hopefully what she did will inspire them to just do it.
THE DEADBOLT: You guys all looked shocked at how well she did. Was that just because she looked great or is it because you guys are so isolated from the outside world?
SIONE: Yeah, both ways. It was shocking just because we saw each other every day. And mentally you know you’re losing weight but you don’t know how much. You don’t know the change or how far you’ve come. To see them it really just showed us we’ve all come so far. And it was good to see a couple of new faces.
THE DEADBOLT: I know you’re rooting for Filipe. But if he goes down, who else do you think deserves to win?
SIONE: [laughs] Right now, I just hope Filipe gets it.
THE DEADBOLT: What is you’re ideal weight?
SIONE: I’m shooting for as close to the 200 mark as I can.
http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/105608/biggestlosersione_interview.php
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