Most of us have been anxiously anticipating the new season of Biggest Loser, hoping for a much better experience than the show brought us last January through May. And our waiting wasn't for naught...this season is already proving to be 1,000 times better than Season 13.
Season 14 brings a couple of new twists. First of all, there are three teens who are working to get fit and be ambassadors to fight childhood obesity. Sunny, Lindsay, and Noah - who goes by the nickname Biingo (yes, with 2 i's) - all want to be able to play sports and perform various other activities without being out of breath, or being ridiculed by their peers. One of the trainers this season knows a lot about this.
Which brings us to the other twist...Jillian is back!!! Bob and Dolvett are joined by Jillian this season, and it's truly like the life has been breathed back into the show. Of course, Bob and Dolvett are incredible trainers and work their butts off helping their teams. But I can't help but wonder if Jillian had been there last season, would things have gone differently? Would she have smacked Conda into next week, thereby knocking some sense and grace into her? And maybe the two players who left the ranch wouldn't have left.
Well, we'll never know. And Jillian wasn't able to keep Nikki from leaving during the first week on the ranch this season either. Truthfully, I don't think Nikki was ready for the Biggest Loser experience no matter who her trainer was. She looked scared to death - not of her trainer, but of confronting all of the emotions that were coming to the surface. She said she was ready to deal with the physical, but not the emotional. But if she's watched the show in the past, she had to know that the mental aspect is part of the package deal. Maybe she didn't realize just how much was bottled up inside of her. In any case, I hope Nikki gets the help she needs at home, including a therapist, to improve her life both inside and out.
For the most part, we were back to being motivated and inspired again. Each trainer has a team of five adults and one child, but all of the trainers are helping everyone. It was especially touching watching Jillian talk to the kids outside, asking them what types of things they think about themselves. She shared how to turn the negative thoughts into positive ones, and you could see their faces light up. Since Jill was an overweight teen herself, she KNOWS what it's like, and how it affects them. It's important that they have someone who's been there to help guide them along, both while they're on the ranch and at home.
Jillian was not quite so easy on the adults, however. Neither were Bob or Dolvett. When you have all of those years of a defeatist mindset, you really do need that tough love to snap you out of it. It works faster for some than others, but most of them get it. I have to say...it is so good to hear Jillian's voice in the gym again! (The fact that her voice sometimes enters my dreams/nightmares in a recurring fashion made me even more "homesick" for that voice!) I think NBC finally has the winning combination of trainers this season!
One thing Jill said hit REALLY close to home for me. She asked her team, "Are you addicted to being a victim?" OUCH. That was me to a T for a long time. Sure, I've never totally given up on myself, but I have sometimes in the past dwelled on negative things that happened, including being ridiculed in junior high by the majority of my class for my weight. (See...I can relate to our teen trio as well.) I've always tried to be a positive person, but that didn't stop my brain from going where it shouldn't go at times. Heck, I STILL deal with it from time to time! Sometimes it even feels worse when adults do something negative to you...because you think they should "know better" than kids. BUT WE HAVE TO BE STRONG. You may think that having people feel sorry for you brings you positive attention, but in reality it just keeps the "poor me" mentality going and keeps you in victim mode. It's SO much better to fight to live your life and overcome - then people will admire you instead of feeling sorry for you!
Jillian's white team won a 5 pound advantage in the challenge, but it didn't help enough at the weigh-in. They were at a disadvantage only having four players since Nikki left. Bob's blue team and Dolvett's red team both beat them. And since Allison had announced that the losing team would have a red line, the person with the lowest percentage of weight loss on that team was automatically going home. That turned out to be T.C. - whose heart was breaking (and mine right along with his) as he realized he was going home so soon after promising his son that he was going to be thin when he got home since his son had fought back from a severe car accident. But when he got home, he decided to take everything he learned in his short time on the ranch and FIGHT. He wasn't going to be the victim any longer, and he's well on his way to an amazing transformation, both body and soul.
It's just like contestant Cate said during the show...you have to realize you're tired of watching everyone else life their lives around you and not living your own. Become the VICTOR, not the victim!
Tomorrow night is another new episode...which will be interesting since the white team already has two players less than the other teams. And it looks like they'll all be doing CrossFit. I can't wait to see how that goes!!!
And as Bob said, "Welcome HOME Jillian!"
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