The twelfth season of The Biggest Loser premiered last week, and for the first time ever, the contestants were split up not into either teams or two or into two big teams, but rather, by age demographic. The first challenge determined which group got which trainer, and the middle group (which chose Bob, natch) went on to lose a collective 126 pounds between them, significantly ahead of new trainer Dolvett Quince’s youngsters. Bringing up the rear was Anna Kournikova’s over-50 team (80% of which are actually over 60 as well), and it was Michigan resident Debbie Lounds who became the first person send home.
This week’s challenges: The first order of business was the season’s first temptation challenge. After volunteering to go first, Antone, Vinny and Mike are led into a room that would be Homer Simpson’s Valhalla; a room packed with tray upon tray of donuts. Alison then explains that for this week, their gym will only be available to them in two-hour increments; the first around sunrise (5-7am), the second around midday (12-2pm) and the third late in the evening (9-11pm), and that one team will be assigned a time-slot, which will remain theirs for the whole week. Where the temptation comes in is: the team who consumes the most calories will get to decide which team get what time-slot (so it’s not just those three, it’s everyone).
When it comes to working out, the earlier the better, so its clear that the 5 a.m. slot is the Bob Harper of this challenge. Even so, most of the contestants decided not to partake, the two major exceptions being the Black Team’s John and the Blue Team’s Mike. Mike ended up eating 11 donuts (small ones, 35 calories each) in the three-minute time period, but John was able to wolf down 37. So the Black Team wins, but John had nearly 1,300 calories to work off in those two hours. Some victory (plus, getting up at 4:30 in the morning is TOUGH…just try it). Anyway, they do indeed cop the morning slot, giving the Blue team the lunchtime slot and the Red team the late-night slot
The second challenge of the show involved a giant version of one of those maze-games where you have to tilt the board so that you can navigate a metal ball through it. Only in this version, the board is floating in a large pool, and the contestants have to use their weight – in the form of jumping up and down strategically – to guide the ball to the end of the maze. Whichever team finished in the fastest time would receive a two-pound advantage at the weigh-in, and whoever came in second would get a one-pound advantage. Predictably, the oldsters had the hardest time and came out on the short end again, while the Black Team ended up beating the Red Team’s time by only three seconds. They are seriously rolling.
This week’s breakthroughs/drama: It’s clear that John is this season’s major “game player”, because you don’t eat 37 donuts unless you want total control, and Bob took great delight in making him pay for that decision. At least John acknowledges that this is a problem that needs fixing, and he confesses that he wants to feel good about himself like he did when he was a football and track star as a teenager. Of course, Bob continues to push his pet project Antone, who in turn continues to turn into a blubbering mess when he’s exhausted, but I can almost feel like he’s ready to turn into the Hulk at any moment.
And then, something we were not shown: Sunny becomes very disgruntled with her teammate John, who apparently has worked out an arrangement where he, Antone, Vinny and Ramon will make it to the Final Four. Huh? How could they not show that?! She also says that John has called her “dumb as a box of rocks”, and she has it out with him then and there. Needless to say, John has now successfully alienated everyone on his team, and though he becomes contrite after the fact, he will doubtless be the first black-shirt to go home if the situation presents itself.
Meanwhile, on the Blue Team, Johnny’s teammates became frustrated with his lack of stamina, which resulted in him monopolizing most of Anna’s time in the gym. During the Red Team’s stint, we learn that Jessica recently ended a six-year relationship – which included being engaged for nearly half that time – during which she apparently took a lot of crap from her significant other. She doesn’t actually say the words, but it’s clear that her exorbitant weight-gain can be laid equally on his shoulders, and good for her for breaking it off.
Tonight’s episode also featured the first appearance of The Biggest Loser’s resident physician, Dr. Huizenga (known chiefly as “Dr. H”), and that usually means some dire news for the contestants. For example, Jennifer learns that she has a one-in-three chance of becoming diabetic in the next five years. Though she admits to liking who she is, her choice to put career over starting a family looks to have been weighing on her, big-time. We learn Bonnie had her stomach stapled, but has since gained back most of the weight she lost as a result, and on top of that, her knees are shot, but she can’t even consider having surgery until she gets her weight down. The rudest awakening came to Ramon, who found out that he is officially a 27-year-old diabetic with the body of a 50-year-old man.
And now, this week’s numbers:
Black Team (Bob) John - lost 15 pounds (-52 total), -3.68%, now stands at 393.
Antone - lost 10 pounds (-42 total), -2.41%, now stands at 405.
Sunny - lost 6 pounds (-22 total), -2.30%, now stands at 255.
Jennifer - lost 6 pounds (-25 total), -1.93%, now stands at 305.
Joe - lost 2 pounds (-24 total), -0.61%, now stands at 324.
Total - 39 (+2) pounds lost (-2.38%).
Red Team (Dolvett)
Jessica - lost 7 pounds (-22 total), -2.93%, now stands at 232.
Ramon - lost 9 pounds (-26 total), -2.66%, now stands at 329.
Courtney - lost 7 pounds (-23 total), -2.76%, now stands at 247.
Patrick - lost 6 pounds (-26 total), -1.63%, now stands at 361.
Vinny - lost 5 pounds (-26 total), -1.23%, now stands at 400.
Total - 34 (+1) pounds lost (-2.18%).
Blue Team (Anna)
Mike - lost 7 pounds (-19 total), -2.36%, now stands at 290.
Becky - lost 5 pounds (-15 total), -2.19%, now stands at 228.
Bonnie - lost 3 pounds (-7 total), 1.20%, now stands at 247.
Johnny - gained 2 pounds (-15 total), +0.64%, now stands at 313.
Total - 13 pounds lost (-1.19%).
If you’ve watched this show for a while, you’d know that Week One’s numbers are always huge, and Week Two’s are almost always bad, so these across-the-board low numbers were not entirely unexpected, especially given that they only had two hours of gym-time per day. The Black Team wins again, though the margin was a lot closer this time, and Johnny’s gain sends the senior faction to the Elimination room again. I have to wonder if anything can save this team, which was handicapped (quite literally) from the start.
Kudos. To John, for not only shutting up when confronted but putting up as well, losing 15 pounds and dropping below 400. And not only THAT, but he posted the highest percentage of weight lost for the second consecutive week, and that hasn’t happened this early in the game since Season Seven. Nice job, John! Also, to Antone, for pushing through his pain once again and putting up double-digits for the second straight week
Elimination. Well, this was not tough to predict. Johnny made a lot of excuses in the early part of the week, he monopolized Anna’s attentions, and though he seemed to pick it up later on, it was too little too late. Gaining weight this early in the season should just never happen, and Johnny was sent home. And now the Blue Team is down to three members.
Update. Some terrific news: in the months since leaving the Ranch, Johnny has dropped another 42 pounds, and looks so much better at a weight of 269. He now has the energy to keep up with his seven grandkids, and says he now feels better than he has in 25 years. Good for him, that’s great.
Next week: It’s NFL week! It’s Drew Brees! It’s Tim Tebow! It’s getting late, I’ve gotta go! See you in seven!
