Last week, the team-weigh-in format was ditched in favor of head-to-head matchups, with one person from the Red and Black teams going all-out to out-lose each other. The Black Team’s Joe, homesick as hell, decided to skulk out of the game in the middle of the night, leaving Bob’s crew shorthanded. But even with a handicap, the Black Team prevailed, and the Red Team was forced to send someone home. That someone was Lauren, and I still wish I could tell you more about her.
Because of Tuesday night’s “State of the Union” presidential address, my recording of this week’s episode turned out a little weird. Instead of the usual two hours, there was only one, so this recap may set a record for brevity. (The way the episode was edited felt like it was on fast-forward, so that’s probably appropriate.) My DVR recording kicks on just as a challenge is about to start. Alison announces that Buddy from the Red Team has gone home to be with his wife (as she was expecting their latest child any day now), but will return in time for the weigh-in. Mazel tov, Buddy!
This week’s challenges/incentives: This week the excuse the show is shining the spotlight on is “I can’t work out without a gym”. Which is, I agree, a totally lame excuse, since all it takes is a length of sidewalk, a flight of stairs or a fifty-foot long swimming pool to exercise on. As an incentive, this prize for this week’s team challenge was that only the winner would be allowed access to the gym that week.
The challenge itself was pretty clever: an obstacle course consisting of a series of doors. The teams would have to answer a question about nutrition and break down either door “A” or door “B” based on what they thought the answer was. Get the question right, and breaking the door down would be easy. Get it wrong, and there’d be an obstacle behind it… namely, a long stretch of gooey mud to slog through. There were five questions to answer, and, against all odds, the Black Team got all five wrong. The Red Team didn’t do much better, getting only two correct, but it was enough to win. Seriously?
Still, Bob’s the kind of guy who don’t need no stinkin’ gym to get his team to exercise, but even I have to admit, running around the Ranch in the freezing cold morning is ultimately less preferable than a nice, comfy gymnasium. The Red Team had the upper hand this week, and I had a feeling this might just be the week that Dolvett’s gang would take the momentum back.
Here’s how the weigh-in went:
Black Team (Bob)
Emily - lost 9 pounds (-29 total), -3.69%, now stands at 235.
Chism - lost 12 pounds (-41 total), -3.61%, now stands at 320.
Christine - lost 7 pounds (-25 total), -3.15%, now stands at 215.
Jeremy - lost 11 pounds (-42 total), -3.07%, now stands at 347.
Cassandra - lost 6 pounds (-33 total), -2.83%, now stands at 206.
Gail - lost 5 pounds (-25 total), -1.66%, now stands at 297.
Megan - lost 2 pounds (-21 total), -0.83%, now stands at 238.
Total - 52 pounds lost (-2.72%).
Red Team (Dolvett)
Kim - lost 10 pounds (-32 total), -4.35%, now stands at 220.
Mark - lost 11 pounds (-36 total), -4.14%, now stands at 255.
Conda - lost 10 pounds (-29 total), -3.64%, now stands at 265.
Kimmy - lost 6 pounds (-22 total), -2.96%, now stands at 197.
Buddy - lost 10 pounds (-50 total), -2.75%, now stands at 353.
Nancy - lost 5 pounds (-17 total), -2.44%, now stands at 200.
Roy - lost 6 pounds (-34 total), -2.16%, now stands at 272.
Total - 58 pounds lost (-3.19%).
I mentioned last week how much I have grown to despite Conda, and this week brought that feeling into sharp relief. While most of the Red Team went through their paces without argument, Conda threw up resistance and argument at every turn. Honestly, you’d think she’d rather be somewhere else, and the next time she’s sitting at the elimination table, I hope she gets sent there. It is just amazing to me how she and Jeremy are polar opposites in personality despite being the progeny of the same parents. Gack.
The one with the most drama this week, apart from Conda, was Christine. Apparently being the wife of Santa Claus isn’t all sleigh bells, and she became very distraught at one point, even threatening to go home. Thankfully, Bob talked her out of it, and he realized that cracking Christine’s decades-old shell is going to be tough, but he’s up to the challenge. And this is just one reason why I love Bob.
Kudos. To Kimmy and Gail, for dropping out of the 200’s and 300’s, respectively. (Sadly, neither of these milestones was even acknowledged.) To Buddy, for dropping double digits at home AND becoming a daddy. To father/son team Mark and Chism, for eaching having their best weeks so far; and to Kim, for being this week’s Biggest Loser. She’ll be there for a long while, I have a feeling.
Elimination. One thing I haven’t mentioned is that if there was a Conda on Bob’s squad, it was Gail. She wasn’t argumentative, but she was extremely tough to motivate, and this attribute frustrated Bob to no end on several occasions in the season’s first month. It is this, plus her lack of results, that got her sent packing, ironically, one week after her daughter.
Standings. Cassandra ups her percentage to 13.81%, but Kim is right behind at 12.70% lost. Rounding out the Top Five are Buddy (12.41%), Mark (12.37%) and Chism (11.36%).
Update. In the weeks since returning home to Maryland, Gail has shed an additional 31 pounds, bringing her overall total to 56 pounds. But 266 is not the end of the road for her, and she vows that despite being 57 years old and having tendinitis in both hips, she will reach her ultimate goal, which is for Bob to tell her she did a good job.
Next week: The Aqua Team returns after spending a month at home. Did they lose the 50 collective pounds required to rejoin the game? Stay tuned!
