This has been, as they've pointed out a gazillion times, a season of extremes. The oldest couple. The heaviest person. The heaviest woman. The youngest contestant. The sickest contestant. Also (not plugged, but still true) the tallest contestant. We discovered during the course of the season that we also had the kick-assiest contestant, the whiniest contestant, the laziest contestant...the list goes on. Moreover, absolutely crazy things have happened. Half marathon. Full marathon. Host going into labour during a weigh-in and giving birth later that night. Fainting. Chest pains. Hip fracture. Haka dances. Temporary disappearance of the theme song. Plus, a philanthropic element with the Pound For Pound Challenge. Good TV, my friend, good TV. And all trying to motivate the people at home to put down the ice cream, get the bleep off their couch, and get healthy. Will the finale be just as extreme as the rest of the season? Let's see.
We begin by illustrating how "Changing Lives" isn't just a slogan - four former and very successful contestants are illuminated one-by-one on the stage. We have Pete Thomas, the at-home winner from Season 2; Julie, one of the finalists from Season 4; Bernie, the at-home winner from Season 5; and Michelle, Season 6's biggest loser. But this is just the beginning!
We are treated with the vision of Ali looking deliciously hot in a very elegant, flattering-to-the-figure-and-nursing-boobies pale blue number. She is exactly four months post-partum at this point, and I'm sure women all over the world want to hate her at this moment. However, that's very tough to do seeing as how she's so goshdarn nice. (Plus, I too snapped back from my pregnancies quickly and well, so I don't have bitterness. But don't be mad at me either, please - karma compensates the women in my family for our ability to look great after giving birth by ballooning our weight up once we hit middle age.)
Ali gives us a recap of the season and we relive some truly awesome moments. I love that bit with Dan going at 7mph. Gold. She then introduces us to the villain of the show: The Scale. After that, it's time to discover who will be joining Tara and Helen in the Final 3. Mike is the first person of the night to get to punch through the big poster of himself all fat, and he looks INCREDIBLY slick and hot. I'm almost twice his age, so I'm feeling pretty dirty about that. Mike flashes his thousand-watt smile and girls all over the country swoon and miss the next few minutes of the show. Mike does a bit of a freakout about the live television aspect of this show, and then gives kudos to his dad. This is the perfect segueway to introduce Ron, who is still quite big (damn shoulder pads) but does seem to be smaller compared to last week's show.
After the first of eight million, two hundred forty-three thousand, nine hundred and five commercial breaks, we learn that Mike has made the Final 3. Based on the way he looks, I think at this point that he has the title nailed, unless Tara comes out looking like skin and bones. Ron, ever the proud papa, encourages the audience to look at Mike and female screams emanate from the audience.
We then shift gears for a bit and look forward to next season. Ali announces that there is just one spot left on the Biggest Loser campus, and two people are battling for it. America's votes during the show will determine who gets the nod. We meet Erinn, whose parents clearly could not spell. She is also a senior at Ohio State University. She's always been overweight, and recently broke up with her boyfriend of two years for no better reason than that she doesn't like the way she looks and couldn't communicate to him about how she feels. Nothing she's tried so far has worked for her, but she's not ready to give up. Her competition is Amanda, age 19, from Butler, New Jersey. Amanda bowed out of going to her senior prom, since nobody liked her, and she didn't want to embarrass herself. She is anguished about her appearance, but hides the pain by putting on a cheery exterior. She is constantly being nicknamed "Smiley". She can't do what she wants to do because of her weight.
Honestly, I find neither of them particularly appealing, but I'm leaning towards Erinn as she seems slightly less annoying. Then - surprise! - Ali sideswipes these poor girls by telling them they'll be doing a workout with Bob and Jillian backstage while the show is going on. Doesn't that just suck if you were them, eh?
Clear Blue Digital. No test is more accurate. (I'm sure also that no test is more expensive.)
Valerie Bertinelli in her bathing suit makes us all feel totally inadequate, and then back to the show we go. Ali feels the love. Homemade signs are waved. This all strikes me as pretty funny, since for all they know, only a handful of people are watching at home. :) At last, it's time to begin the parade of contestants, four at a time. We appear at first to be seeing people in the order in which they were eliminated (White, then Red); but once we move onto the next foursome, that theory is shot to hell, so I don't know how the arrangement was chosen. At any rate, first out of the wings is Estella. She is looking extremely thin, albeit with flabby arms and more wrinkles. And this ends up being typical of all the older contestants - skin of course gets less supple and elastic as we age, which means that if you're younger and lose the weight, your skin will look pretty good; whereas if you're older and lose the weight, the skin will flap and you'll be more wrinkly in the face. And indeed, although Estella is only 63, is at a great weight, and, I'm sure, is way more fit than I am, she looks, face-wise, like she's in her 70s or 80s. Biologically, of course, she's probably in her 50s, so all power to her. Also, I don't like her new glasses. But these are minor quibbles; her face has a lovely eternal beauty. Next out is her husband Jerry, who looks ridiculously slender and reminds me of my darling grandfather. I am immediately convinced that he has a serious shot at the at-home prize.
Next up: Red team. Damien leaps out first, all high-energy and groovy and up on himself. He looks pretty good, but still pudgy in his lower half. (It's really tough to tell with suits, dammit.) Then of course, we have Nicole, who is drop-dead stunning, as expected. She is very likely the reason for Damien's general glee this evening. Ali lines them all up to have little mini-interviews with them, and Jerry simply cannot stop mugging for the camera. Finally Estella has to smack him down and make him pay attention to the host. :) We once again relive Jerry's fainting scare the first day in the gym, but clearly - as Dr. Chipmunk tells us - those days are over. Nicole and her gorgeous, room-brightening smile reveal the news that she's going to fit into a size 8 wedding dress. So it's all good. They're all shooed off backstage to change into spandex.
Since this is a weight loss show, let's talk about hunger! This is, as always, a big problem in America, especially now with the recession and everything. To emphasize the point, we're shown a black and white clip of Obama talking about struggling families; and I swear they "aged up" the film even beyond the greyscale to make it all classic-JFK-like. Because dammit, if The Biggest Loser can't INSPIRE you to lose weight, they're gonna GUILT you into it - enter the Pound For Pound Challenge. For every pound participating pledgers lose, a pound of groceries is delivered to local food banks. We see feel-good stories all across America. Over 166,000 people have pledged their support. Celebrities everywhere are on board. Dammit, it must be a worthwhile cause if Morgan Freeman is onside. The CEO of Feeding America stands up and talks about the American spirit. Alas, despite this "American spirit" (or perhaps because of it...nah, that couldn't be; greed and consumerism are the best things ever), one out of every eight Americans is struggling with "not knowing where their next meal is coming from", and half of those are children. But there is good news: demand is not getting any worse, which I guess is something. Happily, 2,926,027 pounds have been pledged so far, and it's not too late - pledge before the month runs out! General Mills gets a plug because they've promised to pony up to a million pounds of food.
Can we see more contestants yet? Hell, no. It's back to Erinn and Amanda. Amanda is panicking but still smiling. Bob feeds us some crap about Erinn being strong and focused.
More contestants NOW, Papa Smurf? Again, no! This season, apparently we're weighing the foursomes in immediately after their initial parade. So we get to see how White and Red did immediately. Ali reminds us once again that it's the percentage of weight loss that counts, not the total poundage. Don't forget that, America.
Estella's lost 83lbs, 34.30% of her body weight, and is at a healthy BMI (24.2). I had predicted that Jerry would be down to about 190lbs, so I think I was the only person unsurprised by his phenomenal results. He's lost 177lbs, 47.97% of his body weight (you're not going to see too many percentages like that this evening), and is at a healthy BMI (24.0). As with all old guys named Jerry who come on this show (seriously, there's been one almost every season for the last several years), he flexes his arm muscles. Damien's lost 136lbs, 35.70% of his body weight, and is at an obese BMI (34.2) - which is pretty impressive considering that he started at a whopping 57.6 BMI and that his weight loss was never stellar. Despite being nowhere near beating Jerry for the at-home prize, Damien is ecstatic. Ali points out that this is because he gets Nicole (good point). Nicole, meanwhile, cries upon seeing her own retrospective, and Damien hustles up the scale to give her a big ol' hug. Awww. Finally, Ali tells him to get the hell out of the way so that we can maintain the illusion that it's a real scale and find out Nicole's weight. She's lost 123lbs, 45.72% of her body weight, and is at a healthy BMI (22.2). One of the best chances to beat Jerry is out of the game.
Then the parade continues, with Sione (looking great), Filipe (looking not that different but still great), Carla (with a disastrous dress choice, and actually looking larger than the spoiler shots I've been able to find...but maybe it's just the effect of the dress), and Joelle (also not looking that different from when last we saw her). Lining up for their mini-interviews, Joelle holds out her hand to Carla and has to wait a few moments for Carla to notice and clasp it back. Ali displays an inability to learn from the past and actually INVITES JOELLE TO SPEAK. Mistaaaake! Joelle babbles about joy and pain, and I'm about to slit my own wrists to end the torture when we learn that she and Carla are kind of okay again. That's nice. DH, now back from grocery shopping: "Maybe Joelle's dealing with her shit?" Then the Tongan Terror Twins say something about their big plans for their culture, but I can't get past the shiny-ness of Filipe's shirt and tie, so I don't catch a whole lot of it. Then...it's haka time! DH and I go crazy, because Sione and Filipe really pull it out this time. I LOVE it, and Filipe does it really well. I wish they hadn't upped the tempo (it's a THREE HOUR SHOW, why bother?), but it was great anyway.
DH muses that if Ali ever has to leave the show, Valerie Bertinelli would be a great replacement. I agree, but Ali's so good at this gig that we don't want to see her go.
Sione's lost 146lbs, 39.25% of his body weight, and is at an obese-but-very-close-to-overweight BMI (30.6). DH thinks he and his wife should have more kids purely for the aesthetic value. Filipe's lost 135lbs, 37.09% of his body weight, and is at an obese BMI (31.9). He is the first contestant (of, sadly, several) to have actually GAINED weight since last we saw him (he was down to 221lbs in his pants-drop profile). On the other hand, he looks healthy and happy, and when they played his retrospective I was shocked at how massive he looked. And yet, I remember looking at him that first show and thinking, hey, he's not SO bad. THAT'S why I love this show! Carla cannot stop doing stereotypical Black Woman Dancey Moves even on the freakin' scale (she and Damien seriously need to go clubbing for a few nights in a row to get it out of their systems). She underachieves compared to my expectations, but has still dropped a fantastic amount of weight: 128lbs, which represents 33.77% of her body weight. She's at a clinically obese BMI (38.2), which is a damn sight better than the 57.6 she started at. Joelle has some nice waist-hip definition going on now. She's lost 80lbs, 25.89% of her body weight, and is at an obese BMI (34.8).
The parade continues with Blaine, who's looking pretty sharp; Dane, also nice; Mandy, in a terrific dress looking ever so pretty although not too much smaller; and Aubrey, actually looking bigger then last we saw her. This could be painful. Blaine and Dane pull out a flock of medals and tinkle them at the crowd: half marathon, full marathon, half ironman. Show-offs. ;) Aubrey tries to put a positive spin on things by talking about maintaining weight. Ali ignores Mandi completely and sends the four of them off backstage to change.
Back we go to Erinn and Amanda, who, though not even contestants yet, already appear skilled at spewing psychological claptrap about why America should vote for them. I'm thinking that surely, SURELY, there were better choices throughout the country than these two?
At this point, I fill DH in vaguely on what he missed, including superlatives about how great Mike looks. DH on Mike, paraphrasing a line by Phoebe from Friends: "Money, fame, AND a bod? Now that's a kid I can get in bed with!" But seriously...he speculates that Mike is going to need to be careful if he doesn't want to end up a) a father prematurely or b) on penicillin. (Ew. Thanks for that, hon.)
Back to the weigh-in, we see a gorgeously touching shot of Blaine with his new son in his retrospective. He scoffs laughingly at the idea of losing more than 175lbs to beat Jerry, and indeed doesn't. He's lost 116lbs, 31.78% of his body weight, and is at an overweight BMI (27.4). Don't let his current weight of 249lbs fool you - the man is six foot EIGHT. Moving on to Dane, Ali makes a bad pun-slash-segueway about Dane "appraising" a new life (he's a real estate appraiser). Dane's own retrospective puts tears in his eyes, which makes me like him even more. My impression of him this season is that he's silent and not exactly the swiftest bunny in the forest, but is an absolutely nice man. Go, Dane. He's lost 154lbs, 37.38% of his body weight, and is at an obese BMI, getting fairly close to overweight (31.4). Mandi's lost 92lbs, 34.98% of her body weight, and is at an overweight-but-extremely-close-to-healthy BMI (25.2). Aubrey talks a good game in her retrospective profile, but she obviously is still seriously struggling with her issues. She's lost 55lbs, 22.09% of her body weight, and is at an obese BMI (32.3). She has actually gained THIRTEEN POUNDS since her pants-drop profile. Ouch. I also didn't notice any shots of her dad in the audience, nor did I hear any information about how he's doing. I suspect therefore that the news is bad. That family seems to still be struggling, which really puts a damper on the evening for me. I like hearing good news stories. On the other hand, although it is reality TV, it's also real life for these people, so not everything is going to turn out swimmingly. I wish Mandi, Aubrey, and their families all the best and hope they can improve from here on in.
Cathy's next in the parade, looking fox-ay in a very nifty dress. Kristin shocks the life out of everybody by going suicidal blonde and attempting to become Pink's long-lost twin. (Seriously.) DH is appalled at the hair, but I think she still looks terrific. Dave doesn't look any different from the last time we saw him; in fact, I speculate that he's gained some weight back. His comparison before-after shot is an embarrassingly painful moment, and you can see it all over his face. Daniel, however, is so much slimmer. When they focus on him for the mini-interview you can REALLY see a massive difference in his face, he looks absolutely terrific. He also looks like he has scads more energy, and he comes across as so positive and awesome. He's obviously way more up on himself, too, it's a really great feel-good moment. I loves me some Dan. :) Kristin does her mini-interview and I'm reminded that gosh, she's fun. They're all sent backstage to change, and Cathy starts stripping before she even exits through the wings. (The hell?)
Ali continues to praise Jerry as Cathy steps up to the scale. She definitely looks smaller since we last saw her. She has lost 95lbs, 32.42% of her body weight, and is at an obese-but-practically-overweight BMI (30.1). Kristin's earrings clash something fierce with the spandex, but I cannot get over how wonderfully different she looks from the first day. DH cannot stop saying "tacky and hideous" in reference to her hair. She TOTALLY surpasses my expectations, and is absolutely tickled to weigh under 200lbs. Hell, I'm tickled for her. She's lost 167lbs, 46.39% of her body weight, and is at an obese BMI, getting fairly close to overweight (31.1). Yay! Hopefully now she can have the children she's been dreaming of. Daniel gives David an encouraging pat as it's David's turn on the scale. Sure enough, my optimistic prediction for him is totally blown as we find he's gained three pounds since we last saw him. He's lost a total of 43lbs, 10.94% of his body weight, and is at a morbidly obese BMI (47.5). Moreover, he's MADE JERRY LOOK SAD. But after some lip service to the benefits of continued effort, we move quickly on to Daniel, whose retrospective includes a hilarious line about him feeling like a fit person trapped inside a bunch of winter coats. :) Gawd, his face is so kid-like. Cuuuuute! He's lost 142lbs, 31.28% of his body weight, and is at a morbidly obese BMI (47.4). Lest you think that's bad, let me remind you that he started this season with a jawdropping BMI of SIXTY-NINE. (Dude!) And it's quite clear that he's still gung-ho and on the journey.
Finally in our parade of at-home contestants, we have the three people whose partners made the Final 3. Laura comes out first, WITHOUT CRUTCHES, which delights me no end. She simpers annoyingly for the camera. Shanon looks slimmer, but is definitely not going to give Jerry a run for his money. Then we have Ron again, looking happy. We revisit the Pink team's decision (I mean, Helen's decision) to send Shanon home. But I say there's nobody here who can touch Jerry.
As spandex is donned, we go back to Erinn and Amanda. DH: "Jillian! Put on a shirt!" But I'm just thinking that day-um, that girl's got guns.
The ad for Dance Flick made me laugh seriously hard. THAT looks funny.
Back we go to the show for some brief shots of children sitting on their daddies' laps, and Ali once again expresses disbelief that Jerry is still standing here. (Her amazement has now officially crossed the line from complimentary to insulting.) Jerry tells us that his mind was holding him back, and that once he let his mind go and his body do the work, everything worked.
Laura has come a really long way. She now has guys hitting on her again! Aha! The REAL purpose of life! But she's exceeded my prediction (which I thought was overly optimistic in the first place) by four pounds and I'm super-happy for her. She, too, is under 200lbs. She's lost 86lbs, 30.18% of her body weight, and is at an overweight BMI (29.4). Then it's Shanon's turn, and DH exclaims, "Look at 'em!" I actually thought he was talking about people for a second there. :) Anyway, Shanon cries about beeing feeyat, but she's clearly lost a great amount of weight. Specifically, 92lbs, 32.51% of her body weight, and she's at an obese BMI (31.8 ). This brings us to Ron, who is the only person left who could possibly unseat Jerry. I think he doesn't have a chance in hell, unless his tank top is hiding some serious smallness. Ron tells us it's down to the old guys, which is pretty funny. He also accurately predicts the commercial break. Nothing gets past this guy, I'm telling you. :) After the show, when I was rehashing the finale with DH, he quoted one of his friends' favourite sayings: Youth and strength will never win out over age and treachery. (Or something like that.) Ron seriously needs to get that translated into Latin and put on his family crest. ;)
DH on the chickie from the Danactive commercial who gets wiped out with the boxing bag: Jillian would knock her into next week.
We're back, and although he doesn't take the lead from Jerry, Ron wipes out all my expectations. Unbelievable. He's lost 192lbs, 44.65% of his body weight, and is at an obese BMI (32.3), which is staggeringly good considering he started at 58.3 and has never been able to even get a sniff of the POSSIBILITY of being this light since he was a freakin' CHILD. He amazes me. However, at the end of the day, it's Jerry who's $100,000 richer, and he's immediately swarmed by his oldest granddaughter, who comes running enthusiastically onto the stage for a hug. Jerry gives us the best and funniest moment of the night when he LIFTS UP JILLIAN! Good TV, people, good TV. Estella doesn't look at all jealous. That's love. DH takes some time to admire how great Ali looks and I shoot him a look of death. ;)
Before we can get to the finalists, though, we need another season retrospective. Lots of trainer yelling. Many superlatives. Bob tearing up. Jillian attempting to convince us that the show is not about getting 15 minutes of fame. Once that's done with, Ali confronts Bob about how sensitive he is, but Bob manages to put a good spin on it. Off we go to another commercial.
That "Hunger" muppet in the commercials is really cute, but shouldn't it be more, I dunno, menacing?
It's 10:05 and I have no idea how we're going to get 55 more minutes out of this puppy when we've already completed the at-home weigh-in. Probably by stretching things out beyond all reason. Sigh. Sure enough, there are some special guests: the most recent Biggest Loser Australia winner, Bob, and his daughter-in-law, Tiffany (who came in second). Further proof that older people rock. Bob, too, apparently fainted his first day in the gym, and Jerry's gobsmacked at the parity of their stories.
Mike! Again! Self-effacing from the beginning, even when he's vowing to kick ass. What a fantastic success story he is. In the audience, his mom Becky is totally vorklempt, and Max is still chewing gum.
But we've still got a ways to go before 11:00, so we have to trot out Erinn and Amanda again, back in the gym. Erinn smiles desperately. Amanda stares creepily into the eyes of the camera. Like, seriously, she's freaking me right out. I'm guessing the votes for Erinn spiked pretty hard right after that moment.
Helen! Under the radar this whole season and totally underestimated by everyone. I myself don't think I'd like her personally, but generally speaking, I just love her. She's got toughness and spunk coming out of every pore.
Tara! Cue the audience screams! Fire up the barfing footage! Run the scenes of the ass-kickings in challenges!
At long last, the three finalists are brought in. Mike we've obviously seen before, but Helen busts through her paper poster of herself like nobody's business. She looks totally small. Her husband Russell cheers his throat raw and looks unbelievably smug. However, the more I watch Helen, the more I think she looks too skinny. DH says he doesn't see a difference since we last saw her, but I REALLY do. Lastly, Tara comes out, and is totally distracted from her simple job of walking over to Ali by Kristin's crazy hair. Tara looks cute but the dress is really weird, and she doesn't look too different from the last time we saw her. I find myself thinking that Mike's going to take this.
Ali makes us think we're going to start the weigh-in, but really it's time for some voting results. Amanda gets the nod, but apparently Erinn's still going to get weight loss support in the form of some kind of training prize. That's nice.
Back to the main show, though. Helen goes first (sorry, did I say that TARA might come out looking like skin and bones? I stand corrected) and demonstrates that she has gone totally and frighteningly extreme with her at-home training. She's lost 140lbs, a staggering 54.47% of her body weight, and is at technically a healthy BMI (18.9), but is just three pounds away from being UNDERWEIGHT. Mike looks intimidated as hell, as well he should. His "Yeah! Let's see how that works!" in response to Ali telling him how much he had to lose to beat Helen was hilarious. He has a loss of 207lbs (whoa), 53.35% of his body weight, and he's now at an overweight-but-practically-healthy BMI (25.2). Please note that he and his father lost a combined total of 399 pounds - is that stunning or what. Amazing job, but since his goal was health and Helen's goal appears to have been anorexia, Helen's still on top. It's down to Tara, who looks the least smallified of all three of them. She's lost 155lbs, 52.72% of her body weight, and is at a healthy BMI (20.5). Nobody can touch Helen, and Pink once again wins the whole thing. Seriously, have you noticed? PINK HAS NEVER LOST.
All in all, a good evening, but it left a poor taste in my mouth. We had some wonderful, uplifting, heartwarming results...but also some things that made me sad. Aubrey, Filipe, and Dave gaining. Shanon, Carla and Mandi falling short of expectations. Estella and Jerry looking really old. Helen going all extreme just for the money. But I'm trying to focus on the positive, and I hope that the people who have yet to enter the healthy BMI zone keep moving towards that.
Here, then, are the final standings:
- David: Started 393lbs, BMI 53.3. Predicted 307lbs, reality 350lbs. Total: 43lbs, 10.94%. BMI 47.5
- Aubrey: Started 249lbs, BMI 41.4. Predicted 152lbs; reality 194lbs. Total: 55lbs, 22.09%. BMI 32.3
- Joelle: Started 309lbs, BMI 47.0. Predicted 209lbs; reality 229lbs. Total: 80lbs, 25.89%. BMI 34.8
- Laura: Started 285lbs, BMI 42.1. Predicted 203lbs; reality 199lbs. Total: 86lbs, 30.18%. BMI 29.4
- Daniel: Started 454lbs, BMI 69.0. Predicted 283lbs; reality 312lbs. Total: 142lbs, 31.28%. BMI 47.4
- Blaine: Started 365lbs, BMI 40.1. Predicted 246lbs; reality 249lbs. Total: 116lbs, 31.78%. BMI 27.4
- Cathy: Started 293lbs, BMI 44.5. Predicted 188lbs; reality 198lbs. Total: 95lbs, 32.42%. BMI 30.1
- Shanon: Started 283lbs, BMI 47.1. Predicted 147lbs; reality 191lbs. Total: 92lbs, 32.51%. BMI 31.8
- Carla: Started 379lbs, BMI 57.6. Predicted 235lbs; reality 251lbs. Total: 128lbs, 33.77%. BMI 38.2
- Estella: Started 242lbs, BMI 36.8. Predicted 155lbs; reality 159lbs. Total: 83lbs, 34.30%. BMI 24.2
- Mandi: Started 263lbs, BMI 38.8. Predicted 158lbs; reality 171lbs. Total: 92lbs, 34.98%. BMI 25.2
- Damien: Started 381lbs, BMI 53.1. Predicted 253lbs; reality 245lbs. Total: 136lbs, 35.70%. BMI 34.2
- Filipe: Started 364lbs, BMI 50.8. Predicted 211lbs; reality 229lbs. Total: 135lbs, 37.09%. BMI 31.9
- Dane: Started 412lbs, BMI 50.1. Predicted 252lbs; reality 258lbs. Total: 154lbs, 37.38%. BMI 31.4
- Sione: Started 372lbs, BMI 50.4. Predicted 219lbs; reality 226lbs. Total: 146lbs, 39.25%. BMI 30.6
- Ron: Started 430lbs, BMI 58.3. Predicted 251lbs; reality 238lbs. Total: 192lbs, 44.65%. BMI 32.3
- Nicole: Started 269lbs, BMI 40.9. Predicted 145lbs; reality 146lbs. Total: 123lbs, 45.72%. BMI 22.2
- Kristin: Started 360lbs, BMI 58.1. Predicted 213lbs; reality 193lbs. Total: 167lbs, 46.39%. BMI 31.1
- Jerry (at-home winner): Started 369lbs, BMI 46.1. Predicted 190lbs; reality 192lbs. Total: 177lbs, 47.97%. BMI 24.0
- Tara (finalist): Started 294lbs, BMI 43.4. Predicted 147lbs; reality 139lbs. Total: 155lbs, 52.72%. BMI 20.5
- Mike (finalist): Started 388lbs, BMI 54.1. Predicted 191lbs; reality 181lbs. Total: 207lbs, 53.35%. BMI 25.2
- Helen (biggest loser): Started 257lbs, BMI 41.5. Predicted 129lbs; reality 117lbs. Total: 140lbs, 54.47%. BMI 18.9
Until next season! Here's hoping that the rest of the Season 8 contestants are more interesting than Amanda. Maybe we'll even see Max! I found an interview this week with Bob (that now seems to have disappeared off the face of Google) that says Bob's pushing hard for Max to be on the show. We'll see!
