Feb 6 2008
We open to the remaining contestants discussing their feelings about the remainder of the game. With Jenn gone, Maggie is the only player on her own. Kelly is upset with herself for not losing any weight at all last week. Maggie knows she needs to step up her game if she wants to stay at all. Jillian arrives, and sees that Jenn is gone. She hugs everyone on the Black team, and tells them that they did everything they were supposed to do in the gym, but she needs to fine tune their diets. Kelly admits to limiting herself to 1000 calories a day, and Brittany admits to limiting herself to 500. Jillian tells them that they have to eat at least 1600 calories a day with the intense workouts she’s putting them through, or their bodies will stop responding favorably, as they saw at the weigh-in. She says they cannot be afraid to eat. Jillian interviews that for Bob, it’s “game on,” and his Achilles heel is hubris. And after looking that up, I can tell you that hubris means “exaggerated self pride or self confidence.” What? You didn’t know what it meant either.
TEMPTATION AGAIN
The players are escorted to the gym, but instead of equipment, they find booths separated by curtains. Each player stands in one booth, in front of 100 caramel-filled chocolate candies. Alison, whose hair is especially frizzy this week, tells them that each piece of candy contains 26 calories. She says that she has heard complaints that the teams weren’t divided fairly, so as a prize, the person who eats the most candy in five minutes gets to swap one player from each team. The clock starts, and Mark wolfs down 43 candies, his reason being he needs to win to keep his team intact. Brittany eats 15, but complains she needs to barf the whole time. Bernie is seen picking up candy, but in a clever twist, when Alison asks each member to state the number of candies eaten, all of Bernie’s candy is stuck to his face. He hadn’t eaten any at all. As Brittany throws up and Alison declares Mark the winner, Jacki worries that Mark will want to separate her and Dan, but Mark decides to keep the teams as is. So Brittany ate all that candy for nothing.SOMEONE IS HURTING…
Mark decides that the pain that he has never mentioned before in his right shin is too much to ignore. He goes to the Biggest Loser MRI Center (….I guess…) and there he’s diagnosed with a stress fracture. He’s told he can’t do any running, no treadmill, no elliptical, and no lower body workouts. I wonder if he’s going to try to poop out all of that candy he ate knowing full well his leg hurt. Mark goes to tell Bob about his boo-boo. Bob tells him it only means he has to figure out a way for him to get his exercise in without hurting himself. Bob promises himself and Mark that he will get results. Mark doesn’t mention the chocolate.DAN THE MAN!
Once again, Dan gets to climb the mountain to get his prize for Biggest Loser of the Week. He find three envelopes, but they all say Family. Dan turns around, and his brother Joe is there to greet him. Hugs, kisses, compliments; you get the picture. Joe gets to go down to the gym and visit with Jacki also. I don’t remember her winning anything, but I’m not one of the producers stretching this show to two hours either. Back in their room later, Dan tries on a pair of jeans he couldn’t fit before the game started. He’s proud of himself, and I’m proud too. It’s a weepy moment for all as big brother Joe, now wearing a blue Biggest Loser tee-shirt, congratulates his mom and brother on their weight loss so far. As Joe leaves the ranch, Jacki says she is now over her homesickness and can concentrate on the game.MILK --IT DOES A BODY GOOD
Jillian tells her crew that one glass of fat free milk has 80 calories and provides lean protein. She has them all raise their glasses and knock one back. And that wasn’t a plug for milk. That was a demand from Jillian. She didn’t even ask if anyone was lactose intolerant. She’s looking for numbers this week. Next, we cut to Bob, the real shameless plugger, who tells us to go to WHYMILK.COM. Remember Sesame Street? Well boys and girls, the letter for this season is “W.” Wrigley’s. Weight Watchters. Whymilk.com.THE CHALLENGE – TOP CHEF
The players arrive in a kitchen ready to kick butt in a physical challenge. Too bad. This week, they are cooking for Chef Rocco DiSpirito. For those who care, he had a reality show, The Restaurant, that I didn’t cover. I’m a Gordon Ramsey (Hell’s Kitchen) fan. So, the teams will have 15 minutes to prepare an appetizer, 15 minutes to prepare an entree, and then 10 minutes for a dessert. The recipes must be based on those out of Rocco’s best selling cookbook, but they have to use substitutions to make the most of their calorie restrictions. Both teams manage to make tasty meals, with mouth watering (okay, I was hungry while I watched…) shrimp wrapped in turkey bacon and fried scallops. Mmmmmm. [Early interruptions, I mean projections, are that Obama took Georgia, and Illinois and Clinton took Oklahoma, Tennessee and Arkansas. Next up we get filet mignon and mashed sweet potatoes from the Black team, vs. grilled salmon over cucumber salad from the Blue team. Again, mmmmm. McCain takes Delaware. Most of the actual cooks are on the Blue team, leaving the Black team a little nervous, but in the end, the Black team nails it with both taste and calorie count. The prize for the Black team is a dinner prepared by Rocco himself and prizes from home. Chef Rocco tells us that a good substitution for salt is crushed red pepper flakes. For those of us that are sensitive to spices or have high blood pressure, we won’t miss the salt because we’ll be taking medication. I could see how that may kill the taste for salt. Alison, who didn’t taste anything, congratulates both teams and sends the Blue team home while the Black team prepares for their meal with Rocco. We go to a Dentyne Ice commercial. Can’t the Biggest Loser afford to partner with Wrigley’s? I’m just saying. Afterward, we are treated to a highlight of the first hour, which we’ve just seen. Just another indication that the show is a wee bit too long.
