Last week, ten weeks of rivalry between the Red Team (formerly “The Unknowns”) and the Black Team (formerly “The Ranchers”) came to an abrupt end, as the remaining twelve contestants all donned the color Blue, with one singular, unified purpose: to lose more weight than they did the previous week. They came together as a group in a really moving, extraordinary way at the challenge, buying themselves a five-pound advantage, but it wasn’t enough, as they fell short of their goal. The rest of the Blue Team had to decide to send home Kaylee (who gained two pounds) and supermom Marci. Realizing that Kaylee still had issues to work through, and having reached her ideal weight herself, she asked to be sent home. The majority of her team obliged, and now only eleven remain. But…
From the preview of this week’s episode, it seems clear that one eliminated player would be returning, and it looked like the decision to bring back that person was not a popular one. So, I wondered, who could it be? Most of the eliminated players were fairly well-liked, so my first instinct was that it was Q, who had a reputation as a slacker. But I also went back through my past recaps, and something struck me now that didn’t at the time I wrote it… when Jen’s father Jay was eliminated, he revealed that he had lost a further 19 pounds since being home. Which seemed like a really small number, especially when compared to the numbers that other ousted contestants were putting up. But why would Jay get a negative reaction? The only one who I can think of who wouldn’t want him back is Arthur, and he’s long gone. Oh well, there’s only so far one can go with logic and no facts. Ahem.
The episode begins (I’m guessing) the next morning, when all eleven contestants and all four trainers enter the gym to find the place ominously dark and Alison present. Olivia notes with some trepidation that Alison never shows up unless something dramatic is about to go down, which is true, Alison is the blond harbinger of change on this show. The back wall slides open to reveal four colored mats: Green, Black, Red and Blue. Sigh. I can already tell what this means. The show is switching it up for the third straight week: where once there were eleven teams, then two, then one, now there will be four, one for each trainer.
It looks like Jillian will command the Black Trio, Bob will be Blue, Brett will be Red and Cara will be Green. All the players will pick barbells with colored markers underneath to determine the teams, and it’s clear that none of the fifteen people in the gym are all that jazzed about this development, though Gentle Bob does his best to reassure all of them that things will be fine. The contestants draw in decreasing order of their percentage of weight lost, starting with Justin and so on. Here is how the draw went:
Blue Team (Bob): Moses, Irene and Olivia
Black Team (Jillian): Rulon and Hannah
Green Team (Cara): Austin, Ken and Kaylee
Red Team (Brett): Justin, Jennifer and Courtney
Initial reactions: Moses was hoping to get Cara, but given that Bob has been close to every Tongan who’s been on the show, he’s happy to get Bob. Jillian cracks up laughing when Rulon picks Black, and comically tells him that she’s going to “beat the s**t out of” him. Hee. Only the team of Ken and Austin remain together, which makes them happy. Courtney is particularly sad to not get either Bob or Jillian.
Of course, basic mathematics tells us that there is still one spot left on the Black Team, and everyone does a double-take when Alison reveals that someone will be returning to the game. Jennifer is hoping against hope that it will be her dad, of course, but the choice is not up to her; it’s actually up to Rulon and Hannah, who can pick any one of the eliminated contestants to return. The rest of the teams retire to the house to let Rulon, Hannah and Jillian deliberate, and the names being thrown around the most are Arthur and Jay. Arthur may still be the most needful of a second chance, but Jay was a nobler player. Tough call!
Hannah wants Arthur, of course, but Rulon is against that idea, because Arthur often chose game-play over all. Jillian tries to be diplomatic, citing that Arthur might pull bigger numbers but Jay would be better in challenges. And, of course, bringing Jay back would mean bringing back a player who could more readily contend for the title. Alison then tells the Black Team that they will reveal their choice at the challenge.
(Note: since I’m having to devote so much space to the developments of the game itself, I’ll have to trim my usual amount of words dedicated to the workouts themselves. Don’t want to be overlong!) Short version: Bob takes the Blue Team to a place called Crunch, where he worked as a trainer every day for many years; Jillian invites the Black Team to her beach house, and proceeds to tear Rulon a new orifice; Brett takes the Red Team on a nature hike; Cara, unsurprisingly, takes the Green Team to a boxing training facility.
Challenge time. Alison wastes no time in revealing that Hannah and Rulon did, in fact, decide to bring back Jay, which seems a sound choice both ethically and strategically. Jennifer, of course, is over the moon to see him, and it looks like most of the other contestants are happy as well, so chalk the “negative reactions” from the preview up to sneaky editing. (For shame, show.) His weight is revealed to be 289 pounds, so that is where he will be starting at this week, and, to keep things sporting, he has automatic immunity this week as well. And finally, since he is rejoining the game in mid-week, his lost weight will not count towards the Black Team’s totals.
The challenge: each team must hold up a giant block with a pulley, the block being the sum total of each team’s lost weight thus far. The last team standing will win a video chat with their family. At first, the teams opine that the weight doesn’t seem so bad, but that doesn’t last long. The Green Team bails first. After half an hour, Rulon talks the Black Team into letting go (nursing a shoulder injury, maybe?). At the 45-minute mark, the remaining teams can only use one hand, and Moses is unable to hang on after that, giving victory to the Red Team. (However, in the next scene, the Red Team graciously decides to give the Blue Team their reward anyway, which was nice. Moses, Olivia and Irene are very grateful, but we only see footage of Moses and Olivia actually chatting.)
During the last-chance workout, Kaylee, in a sit-down with Cara, tells her that she believes she is ready to go home. She is close to her goal weight, and she now professes to have all the tools necessary to make sure the changes she’s gone through remain a permanent part of her life. This will cause a dramatic moment during the weigh-in, which went as follows:
Blue Team (Bob):
Irene - lost 5 pounds, -2.81%, now stands at 173 (-82 overall).
Olivia - lost 5 pounds, -2.70%, now stands at 180 (-81 overall).
Moses - lost 3 pounds, -0.99%, now stands at 300 (-140 overall).
Team Total: 13 pounds lost, -1.95%
Black Team (Jillian):
Jay - lost 7 pounds, -2.42%, now stands at 282 (-118 overall) (doesn’t count)
Hannah - lost 4 pounds, -2.27%, now stands at 172 (-76 overall).
Rulon - lost 5 pounds, -1.49%, now stands at 330 (-144 overall).
Team Total: 9 pounds lost, -1.76%
Green Team (Cara):
Ken - lost 7 pounds, -2.59%, now stands at 263 (-114 overall).
Austin - lost 3 pounds, -1.09%, now stands at 272 (-124 overall).
Kaylee - lost 2 pounds (0 net), -0.00%, now stands at 174 (-59 overall).
Team Total: 10 (net) pounds lost, -1.41%
Red Team (Brett):
Jennifer - lost 4 pounds, -2.09%, now stands at 187 (-91 overall).
Courtney lost 3 pounds, -1.27%, now stands at 234 (-89 overall).
Justin - lost 2 pounds, -0.80%, now stands at 247 (-118 overall).
Team Total: 9 pounds lost, -1.33%
When Kaylee put up a zero, she announced that she was ready to go home. But when Ken put up that seven, which was just enough to keep the Green Team safe, Kaylee actually became visibly upset. (Maybe the first time that I’ve ever seen anyone upset at having to stay on the Ranch.) Even Ken looked a little distressed despite his great number. Everyone in the room seemed to be resigned to Kaylee going home, and now she can’t. Alison, however, reminds them that the Ranch is “not a prison”, and if Kaylee really needs to leave, there’s the door, but her leaving will not save Courtney or Justin. Finally, after a few words of encouragement from Moses, she decides to stay.
So it’s the Red Team that will send one of its own home, and since Jennifer put up the highest number of the group, it won’t be her. Which means either Courtney will be following her mom out the door, or it will be back-to-back weeks with former team “captains” going home.
Kudos. To Irene, for being the highest-percentage-weight-loser this week. To Courtney, who only needed to lose two pounds this week to achieve 200 total pounds lost since beginning her journey just over a year ago, and she did that, which is just amazing. I figure she still has 60-70 to go, and I hope she does it before the season ends. And bravo to Ken for dropping below 270, a mark he says he has not seen since the mid-80’s, a time before he and his wife had even met.
Elimination. Much like Marci last week, Justin, determined to be a leader right up until the very end, tells everyone that it’s his time to go. Not one person wants to see him go, but Courtney still has a ways to go, and Justin won’t have it any other way. And so, by a 5-1 margin (Rulon refused to put his bud’s name down), Justin is sent home.
Standings. Jennifer takes the lead this week, having lost 32.7% of her weight. She is followed closely by Irene (32.2%), Moses (31.8%), Austin (31.3%) and Olivia (31.0%).
Update. Since returning home, Justin has dropped another 22 pounds and now stands at a trim 225. He looks like a million bucks. He prides himself on having “called out” just about everybody on the Ranch at one time or another, and so he has taken to doing that with people he knows in his hometown of Ogden, Utah. He had some cool-looking T-shirts printed out with “Justin’s Call-Out” printed on them, and he leaves them on the doorsteps of people he feel really needs it. I have a feeling that Ogden is going to be, on average, a much healthier place by year’s end. I am SO not worried about Justin or his future.
Next week: The surprises just keep on coming as a mother-son team joins the rest of the contestants. And Rulon is caught on camera chowing down on snack foods in his room. Oh, dude, Jillian will KILL you.
Personal journey. I seem to be losing an average of two pounds per week, which suits me just fine. I ended February with a weight of 243, but, as of this past Saturday, broken through the 240 barrier and now stand at 239. And I feel so much better, I can’t even tell you. Hopefully by this time next week, I’ll have dropped two more pounds to bring my total to 25 pounds lost. Wish me luck!
