Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Biggest Loser Review, 2009/02/10

I've been concerned since the beginning about the dynamic of Mandi's marriage. Even on the phone in week 2, Rusty didn't sound tremendously loving and supportive. It was nice to see how happy he was to see her, but I'm really not convinced that he's on-side. Jillian made an excellent point about this "silent agreement" that's in some relationships, and that could certainly be what's happening here. Mandi's doing SO well in the house; she's now in fourth place with total weight loss percentage, and you can SEE the differences in her body every time she gets up on the scale for the weigh-in. But I just don't know how she's going to do once she gets home. I really think she needs to stay in the house for a good long time just to get her into the right headspace. Oh, and this part is a little mean but I did do a wee bit of snorting when I heard they'd named their kids "Dawson" and "Remington". Just smacks a little bit too much of "trying to get fancy" with the names (and increasing the chances that they'll get beat up on at school, I might add).

I loved how focused Purple was at that challenge, both of them. I felt bad that after all that pain, Green didn't get it, but Purple so really deserved it.

Of COURSE Mike cried in the last chance workout, Bob, you were putting diamond-creating pressure on him all week! "Do it right or you'll leave this house and your dad will DIE." Geez! And can we stop calling him "Mikey" please, it's driving me nuts! Is he a kid or "becoming a man in this house"? Make a choice, Bob!

(Speaking of the brown team, I was appalled to hear that brother Max is 16. I thought from the photo shot that we saw in an earlier week that he was OLDER than Mike. 16 and that overweight - MAN, that family needs help.)

Bob is going to LOSE it on his team when he finds out that almost everybody voted for Blaine instead of Dane. But I understand why they all did it - it's really hard to ignore the emotional punch of a guy having a new baby at home. But is it just me, or are these at-home contestants not losing very much after they get home? Seriously, look at it - we've got about a three- or four-month time lag between the going home and the airing of the episode. That's a really long time, and yet this is what people have been losing in that time:

  • Blaine: 20lbs (6.7% from leaving the ranch)
  • Carla: 47lbs (13.9% from leaving the ranch)
  • Damien: 43lbs (12.3% from leaving the ranch)
  • Daniel: 41lbs (10.4% from leaving the ranch)
  • Jerry: 58lbs (16.9% from leaving the ranch)
  • Joelle: 26lbs (9.4% from leaving the ranch)

I'm pretty sure I remember in previous seasons that there were much more profound changes taking place between going home and the "after" profile (with the exception of Jerry, who did really well). Am I nuts?

Some other thoughts...

  • It suddenly occurred to me this week that Dane is going to be drop-dead GORGEOUS when he loses that weight. Those lips are killer.
  • I was really nervous for the yellow team's chances at the weigh-in until I saw Mandi's midriff. Holy CRAP, her results are so visible!
  • I'm not exactly sure what happened with Kristin this week. I think her excitement at the prospect of breaking 300 was genuine, as was her disappointment at gaining. So...did she really waterload? It wouldn't make much sense if neither of them didn't try to waterload just a little bit, with immunity this week. But if Kristin didn't waterload, how could she possibly have gained? I'm totally confused.
  • Yellow seriously needs to grow a pair and grab some mental toughness.
  • The expression on Helen's face when Shannon knocked her off her brick was HILARIOUS. Oh, but she was seriously pissed off. I felt bad for her, but at the same time I couldn't help laughing at the "oh, child, you are SO dead, I'm gonna smack you." face. :)
  • Tara is now top of the weight loss percentage list, at 22.11%. Also, with this week's weight loss, she's now merely "obese", as opposed to "clinically obese", where she was last week, or "morbidly obese", which is where she started. She's dropped almost 10 points off her BMI. Wow!
  • I'm so happy for Filipe at getting under 300! I loved his expression when he realised that. I was glad that Blaine did the same thing, but it was bittersweet because it wasn't by much.
  • I was watching the difference between Helen's face in the pre-elimination debate vs. Helen's face in interviews, and I have to say that I think she looks scads better without makeup.
  • Seeing the pre-elimination debate was really sad. Jillian's team did a LOT of damage to what was some really excellent harmony in the house with that surprise Damien/Joelle voting move. Kristin, for example, has totally lost trust. And I didn't appreciate Tara whining about how Jillian's team has always been at a disadvantage. Numbers-wise, sure, but in terms of player strength, the advantage is with Jillian's team. Plus, it's Jillian - she always manages to pull it out somehow.

That's all I got! A decent show, nothing spectacular. Hopefully we'll up the genuine shmaltz factor next week: (SPOILER)

Contestants learn to work out creatively, without the use of the gym; the teams compete in a rowing machine challenge.

No comments: