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closeWednesday, Oct. 21, 2009
'The Biggest Loser': Texan watch
Robert Philpot
WARNING: Spoilers ahead.
Don't have a lot of time for a full Biggest Loser recap, and didn't have a lot of time for this week's episode. Fortunately, the show's frequent repetitiveness and ramped-up portentousness means it's just made for DVR fast-forwarding, and it was easy to knock off this week's two-hour edition in just over an hour. And I probably could've done it more quickly, but this week had more reasons to go into regular speed than most.
For the past two weeks or so, the producers have been casting Allen's Tracey Yukich as this season's villain, but they took some of the heat off of her last night. But not before Tracey's team, the blue team, came back from last week's elimination without the beloved Coach Mo, who was also Tracey's partner when the contestants were in two-person teams. Tracey quickly gets weepy, not just because she's lost her closest friend (only ally?) in the house, but because she could tell from the looks on the faces of the opposing black team that they thought she would be gone.
One of the black-team women -- I wasn't taking notes -- says that this is typical Tracey. The woman says that she was looking to see that her former partner was still there and didn't even notice who got eliminated, and that once again, Tracey is making everything about herself. I think this would have had more gravity, as far as the show goes, if the producers had featured at least one other black-team contestant saying something like this.
Cynics will say that Tracey was crying crocodile tears and that she really is in it for herself, but I tend to think she was right in believing that the black-team members thought she'd be eliminated and were surprised to see she wasn't. I tend to be cynical myself, but in Tracey's case I want to give her the benefit of the doubt -- I don't think she's a willful villain so much as a competitive person who has made some odd choices. And reality-competition shows, especially "aspirational" ones like The Biggest Loser, are so resistant to the idea that they are, after all, game shows, that the producers and editors ratchet things up. Once again, if The Biggest Loser wanted to be as earnest as possible, it would make the show a straightforward weight-loss competition without the idea of teams, elimination votes or challenges.
Speaking of challenges, Tuesday's challenge involved the teams digging for keys that would unlock boxes that would reveal this week's prize. Much fast-forwarding here. The blue team wins, and host Allison Sweeney lets them know that their prize is a trip home -- the catch being that if they go home, they lose a week of using their trainer and The Biggest Loser gym. So the blue team can opt to stay and work out hard, or go and visit their loved ones. After some indecision on some players' part, they opt to stay, and they give the black team the trips home.
One of the people who gets to go home is Abby Rike, who returns to the East Texas town of Mabank, where she's greeted by her parents and a huge welcome-home crowd -- as well as a big, Texas-style picnic spread. By now, anyone following this season of Loser knows about Abby's tragedy, and the producers, in an atypical show of restraint, don't dwell on it. As Abby looks at all the food on the table, she takes a pass on the brisket, and frankly, any serious meat-eating Texan who can pass up brisket at a picnic spread deserves to win The Biggest Loser.
The black team's trips home were my favorite part of The Biggest Loser this season, not because of the predictable emotionality of the family reunions, which are touching but expected, but because we get to see what they're up against back home. Dina, especially, is a study in willpower, watching her family eat gargantuan portions at a Mexican restaurant while she's sending a vegetable plate back because it's too oily. Anyone else expect to see Dina's husband on an upcoming Loser?
Back at the Loser ranch, trainer Bob Harper is putting the blue team through some tough paces, because he's not about to be beat by a team that went home for a week. He also gives the nutritional tip that nonfat milk is better for you than soda, and given Loser's propensity for product placement, I was surprised that he didn't plug one brand of milk over another. By the way, Bob, this tip seems pretty obvious -- how about telling people to bring nonfat milk to work, since they're unlikely to find it in a vending machine, where soda is a pretty ubiquitous choice?
Speaking of propensity for product placement, Shay's visit home features a huge plug for Subway, which meant, for me, more fast-forwarding. Judging from other recaps, I missed a breakdown scene here, but I note that during the entire scene the Subway logo was always visible. (Later, trainer Jillian Michaels gave a trainer tip about sandwiches: skip fatty toppings like mayo and cheese. Mayo is easy. Giving up cheese, for me, is tougher than giving up chocolate.)
More fast-forwarding. Eventually, everyone's back at the ranch working out. Jillian, who's working with Daniel -- a two-time Loser contestant, notices that something's off about him. He breaks down, saying that he realizes after his trip home that he misinterpreted his mother's efforts to get him to eat more healthfully while he was growing up as her saying he wasn't good enough, which made him want to eat more. We see video of Daniel at his original weight, and it looks like between the two Losers, he's lost the equivalent of a full-size adult in weight. Daniel's tearful epiphany leads to an atypical moment of tenderness from bad-cop trainer Jillian, who guardedly rejoices in his breakthrough.
Then we get to the weigh-in. Much fast-forwarding. I stop for Tracey, who has lost 4 pounds and is miffed about it, especially since this is the first time all season (since her health problems in the premiere) that she's been given the green light for a full workout. Overall, the blue team isn't losing as much as eveyone expected -- and then Rudy steps up, and he's lost something like 14 pounds. Rudy was leaning toward going home rather than staying at the ranch, but the team's decision to stay turns out to be good for him, and he turns out to be good for the team.
The black team weighs in. Much more fast-forwarding. I stop for Abby, who has lost 4 pounds but, unlike Tracey, is ecstatic about it. And I stop for Daniel, because it's obvious he's going to be an issue this week -- and he's gained a pound. He says he didn't slack off at home, and everyone believes him. This fluke could happen to anyone, they say. And he and Dina are on the chopping block.
Fast-forward through the elimination segment, mainly because I thought Daniel's going home was a done deal. As Dina points out, this is his second time around on Loser, and he's gained a pound this week while everyone else has dropped weight. But Dina gets voted out. I kinda wish I hadn't fast-forwarded through that, just to see what the logic was in keeping Daniel around -- perhaps it had to do with his epiphany -- but I did stick around for the sweet ending, in which we see that Dina is now well under 200 pounds, getting makeovers and being coached by her little boy, who is actually not bored and instead helps out when he has to tag along to the gym with Mom.
Wrote longer than expected. Sure am I glad this was a fast-forward recap, because imagine how much longer it would've been otherwise.
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