Last week, the wife and I were vacationing in Vegas, and we had a terrific time. Sadly, the same could not be said for the Red Team, who lost their third straight weigh-in simply because Daphne won a razor-thin victory over (ana)Conda, a victory I was whooping and hollering over in my hotel room. Sadly, it resulted in the ousting of Roy (aka “Santa”), whose teammates felt he had reached the end of his rope at the Ranch. Twelve now remain, and Bob’s Black Team holds a 7-5 personnel lead.
This week’s excuse du jour: “I lack self control.” And with an excuse like that, you just know that a temptation challenge is in store. Immediately after Alison brings Buddy a birthday cake that he can blow the candles out on but can’t partake in, the group is led into the room reserved for temptations, and lo, there’s a spinning wheel covered with goodies like donuts, pizza, pasta, chocolates, even venison, that represent every contestant’s favorite food. The challenge was simple… whoever downed the most calories would win. The prize? Monumental… namely, whoever won would get to reshuffle the teams to his/her liking. And not only that, they would get to do so anonymously.
Several seasons ago, a guy named Mike took a big risk by winning this exact challenge. He stacked the teams to his favor, and ended up winning the whole thing. And with anonymity, I expected some major shenanigans. Mark downed two plates of venison (which is really not all that bad for you), and Christine follows by gorging herself on over 1,000 calories. Kim eats a couple of chocolates, and so does Cassandra (along with a slice of pizza). Daphne, however, goes to town on the peanut butter cups, slapping plateful after plateful into her mouth, and ends up winning, downing nearly 2,000 calories.
As it turns out, Daphne only elected to make one switch, and I have hurt my brain trying to figure out the logic behind it. She actually chooses to send Jeremy, one of the biggest potential weight-losers on the Black Team, over to Dolvett’s group, and brings Jeremy’s sister Conda – her nemesis, who has made her life hell since she arrived and who is single-handedly responsible for sending her brother Adrian home – over to her own team. I am shocked. It brings to mind the saying, “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”, but I’m sorry, this makes zero sense to me. Pretty much everyone else was baffled by the decision, as I’m sure most of America was.
I have been on Daphne’s side during this whole Conda brouhaha, but now I’m wondering if I overestimated her. All she did was increase the potential for drama tenfold, which will weaken the Black Team considerably and strengthen the Red Team. Last week, Daphne got her revenge on Conda by winning the head-to-head weigh-in against her despite having a two-pound disadvantage.
She compounded her mistake by not revealing it was her, a fact that everyone else had surmised anyway, since no one else claimed responsibility. And it is now official: The Biggest Loser has just turned into the Jerry Springer Show, where drama reigns supreme. Why did you have to go to that place, show? Why?!? Bob has always preached that strategy is a part of the game, but making this personal gets you nowhere. And now Daphne, who was just starting to earn her teammates’ respect, has alienated everybody.
Bob and Dolvett have no choice but to take it all in stride, and seem to be less upset with Daphne’s actions than with losing Jeremy and Conda respectively, as both of them had started to make significant breakthroughs only to have to learn a new system with a new trainer. I have found that over the last few weeks, I am starting to like Jeremy less and Conda more… actually, that’s an overstatement. I’ll just say that I understand Conda a little better than before, and I loathe her a little less, and leave it at that.
I will try to sum up the events between the switcheroo and the weigh-in as briefly as I can. There was a challenge that was largely strength-based, and with most of the men on the Red Team, it was a fairly lopsided contest, but the prize wasn’t significant to the weigh-in. There were some minor emotional breakthroughs with Cassandra and Kim, but other than that, it was all about the drama. Bob eventually convinces Daphne to come clean and confess, but the bomb has already gone off, and there’s no undoing it.
Intersting… Chism is now the only guy on Bob’s team, along with six girls. And with most of the high-percentage losers now on Dolvett’s team (who went into this episode having lost three straight weigh-ins), a momentum swing was inevitable. Here’s how the weigh-in went:
Black Team (Bob)
Christine - lost 5 pounds (-44 total), -2.48%, now stands at 196.
Chism - lost 5 pounds (-68 total), -1.68%, now stands at 293.
Emily - lost 2 pounds (-48 total), -0.91%, now stands at 216.
Megan - lost 2 pounds (-42 total), -0.91%, now stands at 217.
Cassandra - lost 1 pound (-51 total), -0.53%, now stands at 188.
Conda - gained 1 pound (-48 total), +0.41%, now stands at 246.
Daphne - gained 2 pounds (-45 total), +0.89%, now stands at 226.
Total - 12 pounds lost (-0.75%).
Red Team (Dolvett)
Buddy - lost 12 pounds (-86 total), -3.65%, now stands at 317.
Kim - lost 7 pounds (-59 total), -3.50%, now stands at 193.
Jeremy - lost 11 pounds (-80 total), -3.44%, now stands at 309.
Mark - lost 8 pounds (-65 total), -3.42%, now stands at 226.
Kimmy - lost 5 pounds (-40 total), -2.71%, now stands at 179.
Total - 43 pounds lost (-3.06%).
Bear witness, people: this is one of the soundest thrashings in Biggest Loser history. I don’t remember ever seeing a weigh-in where every person on one team lost a greater percentage than every person on the opposing team. I would not want to be the Black Team next week.
Kudos. To Dolvett and Jeremy, who built a strong rapport very quickly. Jeremy was rather down about leaving Bob, but Dolvett made it work, and Jeremy put up an 11-spot. To Buddy, for regaining his early-season form. And to Kim and Christine, for both dropping below 200 pounds.
Elimination. Christine voted for Chism (??) because she apparently once promised Daphne that she wouldn’t vote for her, but everyone else cast their vote, unsurprisingly, for Daphne. And that is now three people so far this season to fall under Conda’s axe. Everyone else is under her spell, and I’m talking on both teams. Which makes this season pretty much unsalvagable, and it will definitely be my last one recapping.
Standings. Cassandra’s awful week dropped her from first place into a tie for third with Buddy (who are both at -21.34%). Kim raced to the front with a percentage of 3.41%, followed by Mark at -22.34%. Jeremy rounds out the top five with -20.57%.
Update. Daphne picked up where she left off at home, where she already proved she could. Since returning home, she has dropped an additional 26 pounds and stands perched at the milestone weight of 200 exactly. She’s down from three medications for atrial fibrillation to one. Her family has also moved into a new house, and all seems to be going right for all concerned. That’s terrific.
Next week: The contestants go home for the week, and a major scare involving Christine.
