Biggest Loser Week 4: It's a lock!

This week was interesting. There wasn’t as much, well I'm gonna call it "nutbar fallout" from the fantastic group screwing that Crazy-Eyes Tracey dished out at last weeks weigh-in. There was, however, a heck of a curveball thrown at the players as they came back to the house to see all the kitchen cabinets and whatnot chained and padlocked.

Alison informed the unlucky lot that they would be ordering out all week long! Bob and Jillian didn’t take it so hot, and decided to take the group out to dinner and show them how you can go out to eat and still eat well, as opposed to the same old way that led them to be at the Biggest Loser Ranch.

The first Challenge this week was a quiz to pick the healthiest of three chicken dishes, and the winner got healthy groceries for a year. It was between Allen and Abby, Danny and Liz and Daniel and Shay. Danny and Liz got it, and while I like them both, I wanted it for Shay. The woman works three jobs, and as she said this would have meant “1 less job.”

The actual physical challenge was for immunity and was an inclined platform that you had to hang from some handles or you would go a-sliding into the pool. Daniel and Allen were the last two standing, erm, hanging I mean, and it was young Daniel who remained triumphant.

There’s a really good possibility that he could take this, I think.

Danny and Liz and Julio all ended up below the yellow line. I was surprised because Julio is actually visibly thinner in his interviews this week. However one of them had to go home, and it was Julio.

Somehow, Crazy Eyes lost four pounds, despite Doctor H’s warnings that she was not supposed to lose weight. Her partner is, of course, Coach Mo and he is just saddled with her. I feel bad for the guy because he’s busting his ass.

Next week, it goes back to two teams, which I am not terribly thrilled about. It may, however, get coach Mo away from that whack-a-do. I worry about Shay being separated from Daniel though, because he is a great support for her.

I think we're in for an interesting week next episode!

Now for my rant. There’s a Biggest Loser recap I tend to visit so that I can keep track of the players and make sure I didn’t miss anything and there seems to be a real problem amongst the folks there with Jillian. Here’s everyone’s gripes, in a nutshell:

1) She swears too much

2) She’s "mean" and yells at them too much and should be nicer. She demeans and belittles them.

3) She only seems interested in promoting herself and doesn’t really care about the contestants.

Let’s take this one at a time, shall we?

OK, she probably swears a bit too much, I’ll give you that. I think NBC was cutting it out mostly and they left it a lot more in this year, but it has dwindled down since the premiere. I am sick of people being upset that it’s bleeped, however. “I watch this with my kids!” they cry! I’m sure those kids have never heard those words anywhere, either.

Is she mean? No, I don’t think she is. Quite frankly, the only people who say that someone else is “mean” are girls, or women. I mean, come on, as an adult there's no excuse for calling another person "mean." This is true. You’ll never hear a, say, 40 year old man say “I don’t like that Dave in accounting. He’s mean!*” I think boys stop saying this in about fifth grade, unless they are referring to a dog, or, I suppose, if it comes back as slang, i.e. “Those are some mean looking shoes, my man!”

The people on the Biggest Loser do not need anyone to be nicer to them. The people around them were plenty “nice” and made them feel good about themselves and that is why they are 400 pounds. The reason I was crowding three hundred pounds was certainly not because I had an angry woman threatening to ride me like a pony!** My Nurse Practitioner read me the riot act and that helped kick my ass into gear.

So is my NP "mean?" Hell no, I believe she has been instrumental in saving my life.

These people go to the ranch knowing full well Jillian is going to destroy them, and that is what they need. They need to be rebuilt and rewired from the ground up.

The third thing is such straight-up, hardcore, absolute bullshit that I really don’t want to address it. Let me just say if she didn’t care about the contestants why does her team routinely trounce Bob’s? She works them.

You can see she genuinely cares, but her way of showing it is to beat the living hell out of you until you realize you’re worth having the hell beat out of. Am I making sense here?

Also, never once have I heard her berate or belittle the contestants. She may yell at you, OK she will yell at you, but she will always show you what your are capable of and never put you down. Oh, she'll yell at you for not giving your all, but I think we all need a little of that once in a while.

Anyway, it’s late and I’m going to have to post my other, semi-related rant tomorrow because I have to go to sleep.

Did another trail today, by the way. The red one! I also discovered there is a blue trail as well. I want to see where that goes!

* He might say “I hate that douchebag Dave in accounting, He’s a complete asshole!”

** No, not like that, but that bears some merit as well.