Watching Reality TV

We’re getting down to the wire here.  If you want to see what happened last week, check out this post.

For some reason, we have a two hour episode tonight, but it looks like a big one.  Bryan is sad that David is gone.  Amy defected and now he feels like the only red left.  Neil ponders the giant target on his back.  Not like he put it there or anything.  Isabeau is so happy to be this far in the game.  It is far, isn’t it?  Everyone is starting to get that lean look.

Allison congratulates everyone for making it to week 9.  She also tells them this is “Green Week” and they have new green t-shirts to wear.  They’re also going to be doing some recycling.  Trios are going bye bye.  Duos are the new Trio.  And then she tempts them with a large meat pizza and soda.  Everyone is going to guess how many calories are that meal and the person who guesses the closest will get to choose their new teammate.  Then the new duo will pick the next duo, and so on and so forth.  Neil wants to control the game and I want to kick his face in.  We can’t always get what we want.   So who guessed the closest?  It’s Nicole!  Surprising no one, she picks Neil.  Bah.  They put Isabeau and Ryan together.  And then they put together Julie and Bill together (one purely black team!).  They decide on putting Hollie and Bryan together.  So the last duo is Amy is Kae and Kae is decidedly disappointed.  She hasn’t forgotten that Amy wanted her gone.

This week, working out on equipment that doesn’t use any electricity.  It’s Green Week, remember?  Wee!  They’re not too happy about it.  Kae decides to run off her angst about her new teammate.  She’s even more upset when she comes back from her run to see Amy taking a nap on the couch.  She doesn’t want someone to think she’ll carry her and she doesn’t want someone to pull her under the yellow line.  And honestly?  I think Kae needs to settle down a little.  I see her issues and it’s not that they’re not well-founded but shoot.  Just go with it and embrace the now.

Jillian comes and is so happy to see Hollie is there.  She envelopes her in a huge hug.  Bob is worried for Kae now that she’s with Amy.  Kim seems unhappy and could be because she only has one team member left to train.   Honestly, I think this reflects on Kim.  I haven’t ever really liked her and she’s obviously the weakest trainer of the three.  She tells him she’s frustrated with his nutrition.  It’s not that he’s eating too much, it’s that he’s not eating enough.  And if he doesn’t have those calories, he doesn’t have anything to burn.  I think it’s hitting home to him.

Bob talks to the remaining blues and again the focus is on Kae.  I love Kae, and have from the start.  But shouldn’t she be proactive instead of negative?  So what does Bob do?  He takes black tape and puts a big X on her bag to show that she knows she’s a target but she’s going to embrace it.  YES.  This is what I want her to do.  PROACTIVE.  Awesome.

Jillian talks up the black team (plus Amy) and she talks about organic food and how it can be so important.  She’s a big organic fan so that’s what she feeds her team.  She’s a big believer in how organic saves the planet as well.  Bob sends his team up the hill, to no on on the blue team’s surprise.  No gym equipment this week!  Except, that Kim shows Bryan how he can use the treadmill without turning it on.  Jillian has her team stand on balls, jump train, strength training, etc and so on.   Julie says, “It’s not easy being green.”  Especially not when you’re on Jillian’s team!

Jennie-O turkey is this weeks big time product placement and Bob shows his team how to make turkey burgers on the grill.  These segments are so goofy.

Time for the challenge!  And we see lots of recyclables.   And not just that but they’re examples of the unhealthy eating choices they’ve made in the last year.  And then these big ol’ dump trucks start pouring out about a bazillion empty soda cans, something that everyone there indulged in far too much of.  148,000 cans, to be exact.  Neil admits to the camera that all those cans could be his.  Today, they’re going to recycle a lifetime’s worth of cans in one hour.  Each duo will have to run up a ramp and deposit as many cans as they can into a bin that is on top of a scale.  The duo with the most cans in weight will win.  Wee!  The winners will get something totally awesome though.  It’s a 2008 Ford Escape hybrid (natch).  Hot damn!  And who wins?  Bill and Julie (easily!) and that’s awesome because Julie had to give up her car when she became a stay-at-home mom and she wanted this SO BAD.  So good for her.

Neil and Julie are chowing on their subway lunch (product placement! Jared would be proud) and discussing strategy.   Then Bryan talks about how nervous he is with Kim and why he is falling short on his calories.  Still, Kim seems a little too worried about herself where I think her focus should be 100% on Bryan.  She’s supporting him, yes.  But she’s trying to put herself in his same boat.  And she’s just not.

Bill and Julie took great pleasure in showing Jillian their prize.  She’s bitching about the challenge not having to do with the weigh in.  But they drag her outside with her eyes closed to show her the cars.  And she has to admit, “That’s a pretty good prize.”  She still wished they’d won immunity but it’s hard to argue with the cars.

And we’re at the last chance workout now.  We see the usual clips of each trainer working their teams into the ground.  Sans electricity!  It’s rather pathetic to just see Kim and Bryan alone.  But whatever works.  Jillian is psychotic and loves the last chance workout.  I’m amazed that the teams aren’t limping into the weigh in, but they all look strong.  And you know what?  They’re looking good.  Allison congratulates them on this too.

Kae goes first for her duo and this week she lost 5 pounds.  She tries not to be disappointed.  Amy goes next and she lost 9 pounds.  Very nice!  And Kae admits to having a changed perspective of her.  So that’s 14 pounds total for their duo and  3.32% lost.

Hollie goes for her duo and she lost 6 pounds and she feels good to have lost that.  Bryan goes and he’s very nervous.  He lost 11 pounds which is awesome!  It also saves his team from elimination.   That’s a total of 17 pounds and 3.35% lost.

Nicole goes next for her duo and she lost 6 pounds and she’s happy to be below 230 pounds.  Neil is up next and he lost an amazing 18 pounds.  Which makes him only the 5th contestant in history to lost 100 pounds on the show.  He’s just thrilled with that accomplishment.  That’s a total of 24 pounds and 4.18% lost and in first place.  Kae and Amy are sweating it.

Isabeau goes up for her duo and she lost 9 pounds which is su-weet.  She is happy not to let Ryan down.  Will Ryan lose more than 8 pounds?  Alas, this week he lost 6 pounds which means they definitely NOT safe but Kae and Amy are.  That’s a total of 15 pounds for this week and 2.66% lost.

Bill goes up for his duo and this week he lost 9 pounds which is very decent.  Julie needs to have lost more than 2 pounds and this week she lost 6 pounds so they’re good to go!  She’s just thrilled, of course but this is sad for Isabeau and Ryan.  That’s a total of 15 pounds for the duo and 3.43% lost and second place in the weigh in.

Right away, the talk is all about Ryan.  Isabeau doesn’t seem to have as big a target on her back as he does.  I’m not entirely sure why this is.  Bob is sad to hear that Ryan is on the block and is disappointed to hear he only lost 6 pounds.   It’s just not looking good.  Even if it goes to a tie, he would go home as he had the lower percentage of the duo of weight lost.  It’s just not likely that he’d get votes to stay from the black team.  Isabeau, however, is still very nervous.  She’s not sure who to trust.  I don’t think she has anything to worry about.  I can see how she’d worry, seeing what happened to Jez and all.

We get to elimination and it’s quick and painless.  It’s pretty much unanimous to send Ryan home and home he goes.  It’s sad to see him go because I’ve always liked him.  He’s the strong, silent type.  But of the two, I’m glad it was him.  It is what it is.

Since arriving at the Biggest Loser campus, Ryan has lost 109 pounds and he looks AMAZING.  Good for him.  I love seeing these transformations.