Recap: Episode 5

[Trying4Thin]

Part One:

When we last left the teams at the elimination table; host Allison Sweeney had just dropped another bomb that the game was about to change again. Now; instead of two people being voted off, it would be one at a time. This would divide the teams leaving one member to stay and train with Bob or Jillian and the other would be sent home to finish their weight loss journey in the real world. Understandably; people were shaken. People will weigh in as a team; but one individual is sent home each week.

After Ali and BetteSue (Pink) were given their walking papers; the teams head back to their rooms. Maggie and Jenn (Purple) go to confront Paul and Kelly (yellow). Maggie and Jenn are upset because they were told they were below the yellow line because they weren't working hard enough. The question that was brought up was; "Why do they keep saving you?" The scale is the only measure of progress on BL; and the purple team felt they were being accused of being lazy since their numbers were low. (The previous week Kelly expressed the sentiment that she would like to see better numbers from them.)

Jillian went to see the yellow team and was surprised to see the pink team gone.

Meanwhile; Bob meets with the rest of the teams (Blue, Black, Grey, Purple, and Orange). Maggie and Jenn are still very angry that they are being considered lazy. Bob tells them not to let it get to them because this kind of thing will keep happening. They needed to find the inner strength to get past it. His message being to; "Focus on yourself and prove them wrong."

Later; Jillian meets with Brittney (Blue) and has the same conversation that she had with Ali the week before. "Why are you overweight?" For the first time; Brittney opens up about her emotional battle with food. It's hard to open up for her so this was a huge step forward. Her father was a very abusive man and was killed at age 24. Her parents had already split at that time. She never knew her biological father. Food = comfort; and by age 8 she, "Had blown up." As with many many others like her; food serves as a buffer for emotional pain. It is my theory that Obesity; emerges as a symptom of Depression. I could go on for pages on this topic; but I digress.

The Challenge:

For those of you "hard core loser fans" this next challenge may look familiar. The teams are brought to a mall and grouped below two escalators. Each escalator has a digital counter perched by it. Why is this challenge different than any other challenge that came before it? Bob and Jillian will be attending. The teams are excited because this will help them stay more focused and work harder knowing that they have the trainers there to watch and cheer them on. All they have to do is be the first person to run up the escalators ten times in order to win. At the top of each one is a flag that must be touched for the trip to count. The catch? Only two people will be competing in this challenge. You can see that the wheels are starting to spin in people's heads..."Who is the strongest? Who can do this?" Allison tells the teams that the stair climbers have already been chosen....It's Bob and Jillian! Many are relieved since they won't have to compete and will enjoy watching Bob and Jillian sweat it out on the moving escalators. It's payback for the previous weeks torture sessions. The prize? The trainer that completes the 10 runs first gets to pick which teams they train with. Jillian will train the new Black team and Bob will train the new Blue team. At first it is neck and neck and the trainers make it look easy. But it isn't long before Jillian is lagging behind and Bob is a lap ahead. Jillian; known for her refusal to give up hangs in there. But Bob crosses the finish line with a winning score of 10-7. Winning in this case is both a double edged sword. Bob must pick the three teams he wishes to train and reject three others. (When are the mind games going to stop??) Roger likens the experience to elementary school when people are picking teams. Everyone wants to be picked and nobody wants to be last. Nervewracking doesn't even begin to describe this next few seconds. Bob chooses Orange, Black and Grey. And then the fallout from those choices ensues. Jillian the tough as nails trainer bursts into tears over losing the Black team (Mark and Jay). Bob explained that he chose Grey (Trent and Roger) because each time he is around them he feels homesick. The unchosen teams are Purple, Yellow, and Blue. Bob explained that he was heartbroken over not chosing Bernie and Brittney (Blue). But he felt that Brittney had a better relationship with Jillian since they had gotten so close. Blue is visably shaken at not being chosen because they were the original Blue team, they chose to train with Bob from Day One, and that they are hurt at having to give up their original color that they worked so hard for. Purple is horrified at not being chosen because they felt that Bob is; "All about the macho men in the house dropping huge numbers." Jillian is upset as well concluding with; "Bob has blood in his mouth for the last four seasons." Never one to sulk; Jillian takes on the Underdog team (again) and prepares to turn them into winners. Next come the new team shirts....Now; where a rainbow of colored shirts stood moments before, is now replaced with the united colors of Black and Blue. How ironic is that?...The colors used to describe a bruise are now displayed on the shirts and mirrored in the hearts of the contestants.

[Trying4Thin]

Part 2: Recap Episode 5


The Challenge Part 2??

Still reeling from the new "united teams" the contestants are told that there WILL be an actual challenge. Each team will line up on the escalators and must stay on them for as long as possible. The team who lasts the longest will win $10,000 to split amongst themselves.

Both Paul and Trent aren't able to compete due to either an injury or existing condition so they are off in the first few seconds.

Next off is Kelly (Black) at 2:55
Jenn (Black) at 3:12
Jackie (Blue) at 5:00
Roger (Blue) at 8:25
Maggie (Black) 10:05
Bernie (Black) at 12:31

Still hanging in there for Black is Brittney. Fighting to outlast her are Mark, Dan and Jay. Brittney is slowly tiring while the men look like boot camp soldiers trudging along on a 5 mile hill hike. After a long fight; Brittney crosses the red line and is eliminated. Victory for the Blue team. Jackie is very proud of Dan for hanging in there to the end. Jillian felt that Brittney had something to prove to Bob because she was crushed after not being picked. She may not have won the challenge; but she won Jillian's heart.

Back at the house; the Blue team is commenting on their strengths. None of them have ever been below the yellow line at elimination time. They can ban together to sort out their issues. Irony strikes again..All the teams that had vendettas against each other are now on the same side, fighting for the same victory. (Orange/Black) (Purple/Blue). Now what was once directed at each other; is now directed at the other team. Blue is confident that they are the stronger team; but can't deny that Black has heart and can't be discounted. They should be worried with Jillian as their leader. Bob wrangles his new team and takes them all for a Yoga workout session. "You are only as old as your spine is flexible." Bob is shocked over how good Trent is at the Yoga and how much he appears to like it. Usually the bigger people he trains don't like it. Bob believes that this is a necessary part of the training process because; "They are exploring their bodies all over again."

Meanwhile; the Black team is still feeling dejected so Jillian decides to get them going with some Kickboxing. She believes everything happens for a reason and that there is strength in numbers. While the odds are stacked against them; they need to wear their Underdog title proudly. It wasn't that long ago that Jillian found her band of "rejects" in the desert last season and led them to the finale as the final team still standing. Would it happen again? Only time will tell. If I were Bob; I'd be very worried....You never count Jillian out. As underdogs; they are usually hungrier for a win and have something to prove to both the first placed team as well as themselves.

During one of the video sessions; Bernie reveals that he isn't out to get Bob. He does want him to give them another look to see what he passed over. Bernie won't leave quietly.

The Temptation:

What would Biggest Loser be without another temptation to try and break the contestants? This one involved soda and sugar. FACT: Soda is the #1 source of added sugar in the American Diet. Some not so pretty stats: There is 40 grams of sugar in one can of regular soda. The average American drinks 577 cans a year which totals 50 pounds of sugar. Chris (a confessed soda addict) consumed soda at each meal. Next; the contestants were shown a huge container filled with sugar. This represented how much sugar they all had consumed in a year. The container is tipped and they are shocked to see that it seems to never end. It completely filled a huge barel and kept on flowing well over the sides. This experience was life changing and could be seen on all of their faces.

In front of them are cups and cups filled with different colors of soda. One of these 240 cups has a star at the bottom of it (the winner). The remaining ones show the amount of calories in that cup of soda. Both groups go into huddle mode to decide what to do. Whoever finds the winning cup will not have their weight count at the weigh in. Another valuable prize; but would anyone attempt to try and find it? Nobody moves and it is obvious they are both watching each other. Allison tries to entice the teams by saying that the star is not in the orange glasses. Still nobody moves a muscle. She tries to further entice them by saying it isn't in the grape glasses either. Jackie is chomping at the bit to go and so is Dan. Allison singles out Dan and askes him what he is thinking. (What do you want to do vs what will you do?) She begins to count down and in the last second Brittney charges the table. Commercial break....When the show returns she admitted it was a joke. I am sure the blue team jumped when they saw her bolt towards the table in an act of sheer despiration. Allison revealed that the star was on the bottom of a cup containing yellow soda and that it was right up front. There were sighs of regret; but I think the teams have now wised up to the fact that Bob and Jillian would have been very upset had they participated. It just isn't worth it anymore.

Later on; Jillian meets with the Black team and asks about the challenge. She scoffs when she hears it was about soda. She asks them how they feel about dessert. In a bit I can only describe as Truman Show-esque; she tells them to try Wrigley's gum with only 5 calories. Come on NBC; do you really need the product bits?? That's what commercials are for. These product bits are tacky and don't allow for smooth show segues (scene changes). Bernie can only describe Jillian's last chance workouts as "midieval torture sessions."

Bob has his team doing 45 mins of 2 minute circuits. Dan believes that; "Bob is taking them to a new level." Trent adds that; "you think it can't get any worse; but it can."

The Weigh In:

First up is the Blue team...

Jay -5 pounds
Mark -5 pounds
Trent -9 pounds
Roger -10 pounds
Jackie -8 pounds
Dan -13 pounds

Total loss = -50 pounds
Percent of loss = 3.00%

This weigh in is different because for the first time; former duos must face the scale alone and that is quite scary to them. Bob believes that Trent is the guy to watch this season. I also pick him as the winner.

Next Black takes the scale. They must lose 41 pounds to win the weigh in.

Jenn -6 pounds
Maggie -7 pounds
Bernie -5 pounds
Brittney -2 pounds

Last to weigh in are Paul and Kelly. The pressure is on....

"The weight of the world is on our shoulders (Hers and Pauls) and I think we are going to let the team down." Paul mouths "I love you" to her while she stands on the scale.

Kelly -0 pounds
Paul +3 pounds

Paul admitted that he cut calories by as much as 600 to try and beat the Blue team. So it is looking like his body went into starvation mode and began to hoard calories. Jillian admitted that her team still had food issues.


Total pounds lost -17 pounds
Total percentage lost 1.22%



Do not forget that some people may have lost more weight this week because they threw the weighin the previous week in attempt to eliminate Mark and Jay. (Orange and Purple were ones who falsely bulked up with water gain.)

Dan is named the Biggest Loser of the week. Maggie had the highest % of loss for the Black team and receives immunity. So it's back to the drawing board for Jillian and back the elimination table for the Black team.


Individuals went their seperate ways with their old partners to decide how to vote.
Paul/Kelly Maggie/Jenn Bernie/Brittney

The Elimination:

Here's how the contestants voted:

Kelly voted Jenn
Paul voted Jenn
Maggie voted Kelly
Jenn voted Kelly
Brittney voted Jenn
Bernie voted for.....Jenn

I guess Jenn was voted off because people wondered if she could be able to drop big numbers next week as well. Consistency on the scale is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing in the fact that it will keep a contestant there long enough to lose a significant amount of weight. And a curse because anyone who is perceived as a threat will be wearing a target on their back; voted off the second they fall below the yellow line.

In 5 weeks; Jenn had lost -31 pounds
Before she had the mindset of: "Starting to diet on Monday. There were always reasons why I couldn't and Monday never came." (So true..)

What's she look like today?
She has now lost a total of -53 pounds (and obviously inches as well)
Starting weight 254 now 201

Tune in next week to see more sweat and tears. Who will be next to pack their bags and go? What will life be like for Maggie without her best friend and former teammate? Will Paul and Kelly (the ex's) admit their real feelings? Who will win the weigh in? And will another temptation make the contestants shake in their shoes?