Watching Reality TV

This is a great show, and it’s not about the money at the end of the day. The money is just part of it. This was an emotional show, for a premiere. I found myself caring about each and everyone’s stories and getting teared up at the drop of a hat. Sure, that could be because I’m pregnant and a little prone to weepiness. But I don’t think so. This was a great show.

First off, let me get you set up with some recaps, a la what I’ve done on this season of “Big Brother”:

• NBC.com’s recap w/photos
• Television without Pity

We started out with 18 contestants and they are introduced to the “new” host, Allison Sweeney from “Days of our Lives”. I’m happy to see her replacing Caroline Rhea because I never cared much for her. But time will tell if Allison is a good host or not. She tells the contestants they need to run down the hill to meet the two trainers Bob and Kim (who have just jumped out of a plane). The first two people there become the first leaders of each team, red and blue. And those are the only people who are guaranteed to stay because Allison tells them that six people will be going home. Better get moving!

The “old guy”, 62 year old Jerry and Phil the former football player make it to the trainers first. I’m not going to outline who was chosen and who was “eliminated” because at this point the names aren’t as important. That will become important as the weeks wear on, but right now, I can’t possibly keep them all straight. Suffice it to say, the six “castoffs” feel pretty bad. They watch the rest of the contestants board a bus to the Biggest Loser Campus, tearfully. But fear not! Because speeding up the road on a black motorcycle, all clad in black, is Jillian. Remember her from past seasons? The remaining contestants are extremely happy to see her. That is, until she starts cracking the whip. And boy, does she crack it hard! It’s her goal to make the blue and red teams RUE the day they tried to send these folks home. Because the newly formed “black team” will be rejoining the rest of the group in two weeks time, hopefully showing off their impressive progress.

If you’ve seen the show before, then you know how all this goes. We see the contestants strain under the sudden, grueling training schedule. We watch the trainers coach them on how to make the proper food choices and try to impress upon them how awful their former eating habits truly were. At one point, a woman on the red team named Amber actually asks to go home. This unnerves Kim the trainer and angers her team. The blues seem to be doing pretty well and Bob shows glee when contestant Patty is pushed to the point of puking, certain that this is an indication he is going in the right direction with this particular group. The reds win the “reward” (letters from home) by pulling an airplane (yes, an entire airplane) over the finish line first, but the blues smoke them handily in the final weigh in.

Most surprisingly, the trimmest woman in the game (who is on the blue team), lost the most weight of all the women and the oldest man in the game (remember Jerry?) lost the most weight that anyone has lost in a one week window in the history of the show. And he was, of course, also a blue. So yeah, the reds had no chance. And remember Amber wanting to go home during training? Her fellow teammates round on her about that and even Kim gets into the action with how her attitude really disappointed her. The rest of her team had a good point, if she wasn’t that committed, there were six other people who were “sent home” that would have been THRILLED to have been in her place. For shame, Amber. So, unsurprisingly, she’s sent packing.

As of the time of airing, Amber has lost 65 pounds from the initial weigh in, most of that while at home. She hopes to lose more by the time of the finale. She has a ways to go, and I hope for her sake that she gets there.  At least it seems her attitude has improved.  In the meantime, I’m really looking forward to next week’s show and the big reveal of the black team.  I hope they shock the heck out of the red and blue teams!