"No excuses", episode 5

If Conda rolls her eyes at the current person that she "hates so much" one more time, I'm gonna...well, I dunno. Not much, I guess. But it's still supremely annoying. Conda honey, maybe your life would be so much better if you didn't actively try to be so negative about people all the freakin' time. I mean, seriously, Adrian has a fabulous first workout with Dolvett and everyone else is pretty darn impressed, and all Conda can say is, 'yeah, that wasn't really a hard workout so it doesn't count'. Bite me, lady.

However, I agree that Adrian suffers from not knowing when to shut up and listen. He has no idea of the dynamics of the house he's just been thrown into, but he keeps shooting off his mouth, and thus simultaneously planting his foot in it. I agree wholeheartedly with him that it is demeaning for him, a grown man, to be told to shut up and listen, but I also have to admit that the people giving him this advice - as much as they should have put it differently - were right.

And I have to admit that I was thinking along the same lines as Mark in terms of, did Adrian and Daphne throw the weigh-in so they could kick ass next week? I think it's a distinct possibility. However, it's also possible that their different (on-ranch) diet was responsible. Who knows. Based on how they were acting, though, I'm leaning towards thinking it was actually game play.

Milestones achieved:

• Buddy dropped below 350lbs (predicted)
  
• Nancy dropped below 200lbs (predicted)
  
• Megan and Kimmy hit the 25lb mark of total loss (predicted)
  
• Jeremy hit the 50lb mark of total loss (predicted)
  
• Megan (better than predicted) and Conda (predicted) hit the 10% mark of total loss
  
• Cassandra (predicted) hit the 15% mark of total loss
  
• Nancy moved from clinically obese to obese (predicted)
  

Potential milestones for next week:

• Mark could drop below 250lbs (originally predicted for this week)
  
• Megan and Emily could drop below 225lbs
  
• Cassandra could drop below 200lbs
  
• Chism could hit the 50lb mark of total loss (originally predicted for this week)
  
• Daphne and Adrian could hit the 10% mark of total loss
  
• Mark (orignially predicted for this week), Kim (originally predicted for this week), Jeremy, Emily and Buddy could hit the 15% mark of total loss
  
• Cassandra could move from clinically obese to obese
  

"No excuses", episode 4

Chris is so beautiful I can barely stand it. If she makes it to Makeover Week and they take the silver out of her hair, I am going to be pissed.

I must admit, Gail's baseless and pointless sob act was grating on my nerves, so I'm kind of glad we won't have to see that anymore.

Definitely rooting for Adrian and Daphne to get back into the house! (Based on the fact that NBC has videos of them interviewing on-ranch, I strongly suspect they succeeded.)

And once again, we have Conda deciding that she hates somebody. I don't know what her issues are, but their manifestation does continue to piss me off.

Milestones achieved:

• Jeremy dropped under 350lbs (as predicted)
  
• Gail dropped under 300lbs (as predicted)
  
• Roy and Conda dropped under 275lbs (as predicted)
  
• Kim dropped under 225lbs (as predicted)
  
• Kimmy dropped under 200lbs (as predicted)
  
• Kim (as predicted), Gail (as predicted), Emily (as predicted), Conda (as predicted) and Chris (unpredicted) hit the 25lb mark of total loss
  
• Buddy hit the 50lb mark of total loss (as predicted)
  
• Roy (as predicted), Mark (as predicted), Kimmy (unpredicted), Kim (as predicted), Jeremy (as predicted), Emily (unpredicted), Chris (unpredicted), Chism (as predicted) and Buddy (as predicted) hit the 10% mark of total loss
  
• Emily moved from morbidly obese to clinically obese (as predicted)
  
• Mark and Kim moved from clinically obese to obese (unpredicted)
  

Potential milestones for next week:

• Buddy could drop under 350lbs
  
• Mark could drop under 250lbs
  
• Nancy could drop under 200lbs
  
• Megan (originally predicted for this week) and Kimmy could hit the 25lb mark of total loss
  
• Jeremy and Chism could hit the 50lb mark of total loss
  
• Conda could hit the 10% mark of total loss
  
• Mark, Kim and Cassandra could hit the 15% mark of total loss
  
• Nancy could move from clinically obese to obese
  

"No excuses", episode 3

So this week my distaste for Conda deepened. Clearly she just has to have an enemy of some kind. Mike's gone, so she decided to turn her schoolyard bitchiness on to Cassandra, and then Dolvett (who admittedly looked like he was just trying to shift the blame off of himself when he called her out at the weigh-in). Good grief. I'm also getting increasingly annoyed at Kim's competitiveness. I love determination and grit as much as the next person, but to turn that into insulting your fellow competitors? Not cool. Fortunately, Chism didn't appear to let it get to him (unlike Cassandra with Conda's behaviour, unfortunately). I like that boy.

Also, could it be any more obvious that Emily's relationship with her dad is a huge source of her issues? Yowza.

Still not sure why Buddy gave up his video chat to Mark. Buddy's got small children, whereas Mark's kids are older. Mark's already got a kid with him on the ranch, while Buddy has nobody...it's weird. Unless a) Buddy felt that the video chat would send him over the edge and make him want to quit just like Joe; and/or b) Buddy perceives Mark as someone who will be a big power in the house and wants to be owed a favour.

And speaking of Joe - geez. As was said on the show, his family needs him on the ranch. Loads of people season after season have avoided quitting even though it was eating them up being away from their loved ones. Although Bob was full of it when he said no one had ever quit in the history of the Biggest Loser before. Hello? Can you say...Rulon?

Sad that Lauren's gone, but in hindsight, I guess it shouldn't have been too surprising. A team that wants to focus on keeping the people around who need to be on the ranch the most would certainly be well-advised to give Lauren the boot first. Add to that the fact that she doesn't seem to be too charismatic or memorable, and you have the kiss of death. So glad to see her doing so well at home!

Milestones achieved:

• Emily dropped below 250lbs (as predicted)
  
• Chris dropped below 225lbs (as predicted)
  
• Roy (better than predicted), Mark, Jeremy (as predicted), Chism (as predicted) and Cassandra (better than predicted) hit the 25lb mark of total loss
  
• Cassandra hit the 10% mark of total loss (better than predicted)
  
• Buddy moved from super-obese to morbidly obese (as predicted)
  
• Megan (better than predicted) and Chris (as predicted) moved from morbidly obese to clinically obese
  
• Kimmy moved from clinically obese to obese (as predicted)
  

Potential milestones for next week:

• Jeremy could drop below 350lbs
  
• Gail could drop below 300lbs
  
• Roy and Conda (originally predicted for this week) could drop below 275lbs
  
• Kim could drop below 225lbs
  
• Kimmy could drop below 200lbs
  
• Megan, Kim, Gail, Emily and Conda could hit the 25lb mark of total loss
  
• Buddy could hit the 50lb mark of total loss
  
• Roy, Mark, Kim, Jeremy, Chism and Buddy could hit the 10% mark of total loss
  
• Emily could move from morbidly obese to clinically obese
  

"No excuses", episode 2

Thoughts

The Mike issue is a weird one.

Firstly, Conda was obviously biased against him, for whatever odd reason. I remember very well seeing that thing last week where Mike called out, "Go, Tank!" in support of Jeremy, and Conda instantly took offence and started spouting off about how much she hated Mike.

Right off the bat I thought that was really odd in a few ways. Mike sounded quite sincere in his cheering, so I thought it was very strange that Conda would be mad about it. (Wouldn't you consider it a nice thing if someone cheered on your brother?) I did wonder a bit about Mike cheering for someone on the other team, but I took it at face value because you often do get individuals bonding with people that are supposed to be their competition, just because they hit it off as part of being in the house. So I really had to wonder what on earth Conda had against Mike. Based on her general bitchy demeanor whenever she was interacting with Mike, though, I would guess that the problem was at least 50% on her side. So far, I don't like her much (although I do think Jeremy seems really nice).

However, it was also clear that the Red Team as a whole thought Mike had been slacking off this week. And when your whole team thinks so, it's a big hint that maybe the problem is you and not them - very weird that Mike professed to have had no idea that people thought this way. So either the producers are manipulating people behind the scenes to create Teh Drama, or Mike is pretty clueless and in denial about a lot of things. (Or perhaps a combination of the two.) And if you're perceived as the slacker, that's generally the kiss of death if your team loses the weigh-in. So, Mike needs to work on his self-awareness and communication a helluva lot more. It is a real shame that he couldn't have built more of a relationship with Joe before leaving the ranch, although he seems to be doing fine at home. I also really hope he kicks the nicotine habit.

Also, about the 3.8% bet thing? Dumb. Ass. I'm with Buddy - clearly neither Kim nor Kimmy had ever watched the show. An average of 3.8% is a monumental ask at the best of times, but week freakin' TWO? No chance. And I can't believe Kim taunted Joe and Emily about it. Her competitive streak makes her kickass in the gym, which is great, but I think carrying it outside of the gym like that, it makes her kind of repellant.

Milestones achieved:

• Mark dropped below 275lbs, as predicted
  
• Megan dropped below 250lbs, as predicted
  
• Cassandra dropped below 225lbs, as predicted
  
• Buddy hit the 25lb mark of total loss, as predicted
  
• Joe moved from super-obese to morbidly obese, as predicted
  

Potential milestones for next week:

• Conda could drop below 275lbs
  
• Emily could drop below 250lbs
  
• Chris could drop below 225lbs
  
• Joe, Jeremy and Chism could hit the 25lb mark of total loss
  
• Buddy could move from super-obese to morbidly obese
  
• Chris could move from morbidly obese to clinically obese
  
• Kimmy could move from clinically obese to obese
  

"No excuses", episode 1

Milestones achieved:

• Buddy dropped below 400lbs
  
• Mike, Joe and Chism dropped below 350lbs
  
• Roy dropped below 300lbs
  
• Kim dropped below 250lbs
  
• Chism moved from super-obese to morbidly obese
  
• Roy, Lauren and Cassandra moved from morbidly obese to clinically obese
  

Potential milestones for next week:

• Cassandra could drop below 225lbs
  
• Buddy could hit the 25lb mark of total loss
  
• Joe could move from super-obese to morbidly obese