Biggest Loser 14 - A Look Back and a Wild Ride to the Finals!

It's all come down to this.

Eleven weeks on the ranch; plenty of blood, sweat, puke, and tears; emotional roller coasters for both the contestants and the trainers.  (Not to mention those of us watching at home!)  During the last week on the ranch before the finale, we looked back at the beginning all the way to where they are now...and added some more pivotal moments to the mix.

I was very happy to see that our teen ambassadors got to join the Final Five adults for the last week on campus.  Our look back began with them, as Sunny, Biingo and Lindsay sat with the trainers and watched their journeys on film from where it all started through all of their ups and downs.  All three kids have done a tremendous job, and the trainers were right when they said these three have set the bar high for kids who participate on the show in the future.  I really hope they have a set of kids each season from now on...they inspire people of all ages and really motivate their peers.  Just look at ten-year-old Breanna, featured tonight as a girl who lost 72 pounds at home with the help of her mom.  Now that's inspiration!

The teens also visited again with Dr. Joanna, who was able to give them much better news than she did the first time she met with them.  Lindsay is no longer pre-diabetic and Sunny's cholesterol is now normal.  Biingo lost 25% of his body weight...and his mom has gone down five dress sizes while doing this along with him!  Dr. Joanna mentioned to me on Twitter how gratifying it was to work with the three, and how proud she is of them for all of their hard work.  She also said that it's amazing how well kids do without doing anything drastic (no drugs or deprivation) - and just by changing their eating and exercise habits, they are able to regain their health.  This is a good lesson for our kids...and for us as adults as well!

Dr. H got to give his own good news to Danni.  Over just 11 weeks she gained 19 pounds of muscle.  They sure played the right song for her segment, because Danni IS a girl on fire!  The adults also got their trip down memory lane with their trainers, and it still hits me every season when each player's "before" self is speaking to the "new" self.  You always have to remember where you started, in order to realize how far you've come and to keep yourself motivated to never go back.

The familiar "put the weight back on" challenge had a new twist.  Each contestant pulled a sled up a mountain, starting at their current weight and adding the pounds back on in reverse order to the sled so at the end they were at their starting weights to reach the finish line.  The prize was one pound advantage, which Joe and Danni fought for until the end.  Joe wound up just beating Danni for the prize.  He hoped he wouldn't actually need it on the scale, but was glad to have it just in case.

The kids said goodbye to the trainers and other adults before the weigh-in, and it was heartwarming to see not only how much the teens bonded with the adults, but how the adults all bonded with each other.  What a difference from last season, with all of the backstabbing, nasty remarks, and claws coming out.  This season, Biggest Loser came back around to what the show is all about.

This was proven at the last chance workout, when Jeff continued the conversation he had with Bob earlier in the week about Bob being a father figure to him since Jeff's own father isn't here anymore.  In the gym, Bob had to compose himself and took Jeff outside to tell him how much it means to him, and that he was happy to be that father figure.  He told Jeff that he loved him and how proud he was of him...and mentioned that he could relate to Jeff because he always wanted that fatherly approval himself.  There was a lot of crying, not only between them but here at my house as well.  I'll bet it was the same for you.  I'm so glad the show is back to being about inspiration amd motivation.

At last it was time to face the scale.  Joe and Jackson each lost 5 pounds, but with the advantage Joe was ahead.  Gina only lost two pounds, perhaps due to her foot injury even though she still worked out really hard all week.  It was beginning to look like everyone would pull low numbers...until Jeff weighed in and lost 11 pounds.  Then Danni stepped up and also lost 11 pounds!  Jillian was so happy and proud and we had another warm moment between trainer and student.  Danni and Jeff came in 1st and 2nd, guaranteeing themselves spots in the finals.  Joe and Jackson fell below the yellow line, so America must vote on which one will get the 3rd spot.  Gina fell below the red line and was automatically eliminated, but she took it graciously and has now lost 100 pounds since we checked in with her at home.

So Danni, Jeff, Joe, or Jackson will be this season's Biggest Loser, depending on America's vote and the numbers on the scale.  Make sure to cast your vote at the Biggest Loser website and tune in on Monday to see who wins the at-home prize and the grand prize.  I know I can't wait to find out who it is!!!

Biggest Loser Season 14 - Good Riddance to Junk, Sad Riddance to Red

Here we are at the third week on the ranch.  Things are supposed to get better after the second week, right?

Well - not necessarily.

Oh, in a lot of ways things did get better.  Contestants are getting stronger, learning more about what got them to this point in their lives, and working harder than ever.  Dolvett began to break down Cate's walls, which were hidden behind her ever-perky personality.  I wouldn't call it a facade, because I believe she is naturally a pretty positive person, which is a good thing.  But there were some issues that she had been trying to stuff down with food...including working out with a trainer every Tuesday, and turning it into a "Fat Tuesday" by undoing all of her hard work with fast food on the way home.  (I know you might have been there too, because I have...thinking you "deserve" the treat because you worked so hard.)  When Dolvett told her in the gym that he was proud of her, you could see it affected her to the point that the walls were starting to come down and she was ready to fight even harder.

And Jillian finally got through to Pam, who usually spent time during every workout crying or breaking down in some way.  This week that improved, but Pam still had a meltdown near the end of the week.  Jillian was frustrated, wanting to know what the problem was.  Pam admitted that she still didn't believe in herself the way that Jill believed in her.  They worked together to push through that, and I love seeing the changes start to occur in Pam...it's going to be awesome to watch her grow, and to love and believe in herself more each week.

The twist this week came with a quiz about childhood obesity.  I have to admit, I got just as many of them wrong as the contestants did.  I certainly knew childhood obesity was a big problem, but obviously I didn't know how big until I saw those numbers.  The health issues in kids from age two on up are shocking - hopefully shocking enough that people will do something about it, starting with their own families!  The team that got the lowest number of points on the quiz had to spend 4 1/2 hours each and every day locked in a room filled with junk food and sit in front of the TV, to simulate what kids are doing by playing video games for hours while snacking.  I'm still not sure if the blue team was told they had to sit the whole time, or if they just didn't think to get up and move around at least every now and then.  They poured orange juice over the food so they wouldn't want to eat it, which was clever.  But Bob came into the room and caught them sleeping on the couches...and he was NOT happy about it.

To continue with our three teen ambassadors, Dr. Joanna visited each of them at their homes and spoke with them and their families.  Biingo admitted to playing video games 5 hours a day during the week and 9 hours a day on the weekends.  Sunny is a vegetarian, but her family uses a lot of rice and other carbs to supplement their diet so that wasn't helping her.  And Lindsay found out that at 13 years old, she was already pre-diabetic.  The doctor helped them all find ways to combat the problem, including cleaning their kitchens of junk food and sugary stuff.  Starting to change these patterns while you're young is so important...something I wish I'd been able to do when I was their age.

The challenge was quite a sticky one - literally.  Everyone had to walk through fields of bubble gum with balls and get them to the other side, and the team that got to 20 first won free healthy groceries for a year.  Pam and Danni were split up so there were only two teams, in oder to be fair to them.  Pam was with red and Danni with blue.  The red team won, and I'm sure none of them ever want to see bubble gum again.  I never liked it, even as a kid.  Now I REALLY don't like it!

Bob held his last chance workout in the junk/TV room with his team.  He got creative, using a deck of cards to represent different exercises and the number of times they were to be performed.  Evey time he would pull a card he told them what they needed to do.  Loved the "Ace of Burpees" - 11 of the dreaded move which everyone moaned and groaned through, yet they still did the work.  He wanted to prove that this room wasn't going to break them.  And it showed how you can be creative with exercise when you have to be!

The weigh-in came, finally without a red line.  The team that lost would have to vote someone off, and it could be anyone since there wasn't a yellow line either.  Bob's team actually did well considering all of the time they were locked in that room.  Dolvett's red team was a different story.  Three of five players on his team lost only two pounds apiece.  He was very kind to them about it, even though he was also frustrated because he knew they put in the work. 

Jillian's white team went last...they needed to lose more than six pounds to be safe.  Danni lost six, so all Pam needed was one pound.  She was so nervous - but when the scale showed a nine pound loss she celebrated.  She was so hilarious she even made Jillian laugh!  I think Saturday Night Live might be calling!

So the red team had to vote one of their team members off.  It was nice to see that they had all become close and actually hated having to vote for anyone.  It wound up being Cate, because the others felt she will do well at home.  And so far she is...weighing less than 200 pounds now.  I predict that Cate will be fit, hot, and confident at the finale...which is earlier than usual - March 18th.  And she plans to run a marathon with Dolvett cheering her on.

Next week THREE players will be going home.  That's going to be difficult to see...but with the earlier finale it makes sense.  I'm thinking it's a shorter season because The Voice begins again in March.  But so far, at least, it's a really great, inspiring season!