Previous episode: The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles Season Seven – Weigh In & Elimination #1
A fan favourite returns; tonight the contestants will face The Contest where one team will win a special reward. Plus, just how will things go down after last night’s shock elimination? Hmm, just based on that I want to watch!
After a look back at the very controversial first elimination, we get stuck into a Selena-free competition.
The sun rises on CBL and the flags fly. In the lounge room, the blue team and the white team are waiting for the other contestants to return to the room. The black and red team walk in, creating a sombre mood. Bek hopes Selena comes back, but when Hamish enters, the girls break down. Michelle for instance does not take the news well at all. Bek now feels vulnerable with the rest of the group.
It’s now time for the contestants to reveal the shocking events in elimination. Simon tells them that if no one cast a vote, no one would go home. The blue team and white team are shocked to hear that they had an opportunity to save both contestants.
We get a flash back of how this went down in the room.
James is shocked that someone actually did vote for Selena to go home.
Margie sits poker faced. Luke asks who wasn’t going to vote originally. Unfortunately for Margie, everyone claims that they weren’t going to vote. Even Lydia raises her hand; however it was obvious that Margie had a bigger grudge against Selena.
Opinion point: Who else may have voted for Selena if they were given the option before Margie?
Alex angrily asks Margie if she remembers when she was 20. She bites back saying she does and says she took responsibility for her actions, something Selena didn’t do. She said she would have expected anyone else to vote her off if she didn’t do any work.
Her answer does not convince anyone. Margie is feeling nervous about the judges but sticks to her guns; she feels the white team are better off without Selena.
The judges walk in and the contestants explain the rules to them as well. Shannan clarifies the rules before expressing very clearly his confusion over Selena’s absence. Margie confesses her actions and Tiffiny is the most vocal about this response. After saying she didn’t feel Selena put in any effort, Tiffiny wonders how someone from the red team can possibly know how much effort she put in.
Margie very angrily tells Tiffiny that she has spent valuable time trying to get Selena to train. Shannan asks whether her family gave up on her. Margie angrily tells him that she didn’t give up on Selena and asks him (more like tells him) to not say that she did.
Margie says she has her whole life ahead of her but didn’t ‘get it’ when she was in the game.
She says Selena lied about her training regime and health, but Shannan clarifies that this is why they are all at CBL, morbidly obese- they’ve lied and hid themselves away.
Shannan says people in her situation do lie, but he doesn’t give up on them. He calls it frustrating when they lie, but would never cut them.
Trainer Michelle is trying to see both sides. She thinks it is unfair that someone is cut when they didn’t have to go so early in the game but also sees Margie’s frustration. Tiffiny doesn’t take this, saying no one had to go. That’s the thing- NO ONE had to go!
Shannan says no one saw Selena as a massive threat, sort of banishing the idea that Margie did this as a strategic move. The situation seems to be softening, but the Commando puts a stop to this!
He asks Margie sternly if she has a mother and father. She of course does. He wonders if they brought her up justly and taught her to things in life she needed to learn. She doesn’t answer at first, but Commando is being serious. Margie says they did. Commando asks if she knows Selena’s story and Margie concedes she doesn’t.
‘There’s a job for ya, figure it out!’
Margie gets up and throws a pillow at the Commando. As Margie goes to cry, the contestants gang up on The Commando, saying anyone could have made that decision (to send Selena home). Brenda also asks what will happen when people have to vote, and they vote for someone like Ryan who also has an important story.
Michelle goes to comfort Margie who is not taking this well. Margie says she didn’t have time for Selena, especially when she didn’t care. Michelle won’t judge her but Margie begins to reconsider her choice. She feels that if Selena looked like she was going to go on her own journey, she would have kept her.
Opinion point: Has Margie become a villain just because she was second in line to vote?
After the break, Tiffiny is still fuming over the loss of Selena. In the next training session, Tiffiny comforts her three remaining ninjas before getting them into a rough training routine involving crunches, spin biking and rowing.
She is happy that Bek is now running on a treadmill comfortably but knows there is a long way to go if they are all to lose the amount of weight they want to lose in the next weigh in.
The black team are also heading outside for training. Commando says that this training session will be all about overcoming their emotions. He asks them what they really feel about the situation. Shane admits that he had the deciding vote that sent Selena home. Not a good feeling. He didn’t want to decide someone’s future.
Shane lost his sister 4 years ago to obesity-related heart problems. He emotionally tells us her story, comparing it to Selena’s. It’s hard to watch- so emotional.
Commando tells them that they have to sometimes grit their teeth at things like this and move on. With that, it is time for a very muddy (thanks to the rain) training session on the courtyard. Hmm, seeing all that mud makes me crave a Milo!
Commando is making them drag tyres by rope and he focuses mostly on Shane. By doing so, Shane very rapidly clicks back into focus and gets that tyre moving.
To finish off the training session, they are all made to drag both the tyre AND the Commando some distance. It’s a hard ask, but they do it! They form a circle to finish the training session off and they all shed a bit of laughter.
Opinion point: Has the Commando gone a bit soft in his older age?
After the break, the contestants walk in single file between some coloured flags to ‘the arena’ which is really a warehouse. We all know what this is!
Inside, they are introduced by Hayley to The Contest. Black, White, Red and Blue flags surround the perimeter of the ring with cement pillars filling the gaps.
Hayley asks them all to select a champion each to represent their teams over three elimination rounds. The rules are simple. The last one standing wins- and they want to win- as the winner goes on ‘The Walk’. They all awe at this news- The Walk is back!
She briefly describes the walk and its powers, but more on that later.
With that, the contestants pick their champion. The older girls are at most risk of losing, so they have to pick wisely.
The blue team pick Luke, the red team pick Lydia, the black team picks Shane while the white team picks Michelle.
Hayley likes the sound of this.
This contest will be about mental strength and stamina. In round one, the contestants must hold a 3kg medicine ball above their heads. The first person to drop the ball below their head will be out.
The champions take their positions after a bit of support from their fellow team mates.
Michelle is nervous, Lydia and Shane are confident and Luke is ready!
With that, all four pick up their medicine balls, signifying the beginning of the contest.
Lydia is the underdog, and we have a look at her back story and how she is worried about her health.
Shane looks focused. He is trying to achieve a ‘real life’. He wants to be there for his son and calls him his ‘biggest motivation’.
Michelle is showing amazing mental strength, not moving a muscle. She is here to get confidence and happiness. We have a look at her life as well.
Who wants this the most?
Shane seems to be struggling with the others faring much better. Luke is pretending he is at a beautiful beach his friend imagined for him to focus.
Shane is now shaking heaps and it seems he will be out but all of a sudden, everyone begins shaking. Lydia begins to drop the ball and finds her team’s encouragement ‘confronting’. She sees Shane struggling and knows this is the person she must beat. Michelle is the only contestant not struggling. She isn’t even moving!
After almost 6 minutes, Shane is almost ready to give up.
Opinion point: Is it right for such an unevenly matched contest to go ahead?
At six minutes, Lydia gives in and collapses to the ground. She doesn’t feel good about this, crying out of control at her loss. Margie comforts her. Even in her cutaway, she can’t compose herself. She found it way too overwhelming when people crowded around her. She screams to be let out and after a while, Lisa comes out and congratulates her on her mammoth effort.
Hayley tells her to stop being so hard on herself, telling her how well she did.
Michelle, Shane and Luke are through to round two- where they have to hold two plates with an egg on them each, with their arms outstretched horizontally. The first person to drop an egg or lower their hands enough to break a sensitive piece of tape will be out.
The two remaining contestants will move onto the final round.
Luke is in the zone, being a waiter however Michelle concedes she does more shift work than he does- the fight is intensifying.
They pick up their plates and the challenge begins. It is almost certain that Shane will lose this.
Michelle is again in the zone but at this stage, so are the other two.
Shane tells them how stuffed his shoulders feel.
The contestants loudly encourage their champions which does sound extremely daunting.
Michelle is actually getting close to breaking the tape. Maybe she isn’t as ready for this as we would have thought.
These contestants are recovering easily at this point, but Michelle is already puffing and at three minutes, Michelle breaks the tape and she is out, leaving the two boys to battle it out.
It is now time for the third and final round. Here they have to hold telephone books. They must hold telephone books in a praying mantis position and must not lower their arms enough to break tape nor can they drop their telephone book.
The epic battle begins and many contestants have Luke as favourite, however with so much support for him, I’m finding it increasingly predictable that Shane will pull a win out of the bag.
The books become slippery as the boys sweat. They last longer than ten minutes. They are all sweating like hell.
Shane will not give up and Luke is struggling way too much. This has to be over!
Luke begins to try and intimidate Luke to see if his focus was a front. They last longer than 20 minutes but Luke is just struggling so much compared with the very calm Shane who actually begins whistling.
The contestants find this cockiness confusing. It’s funny how they call it cockiness and not confidence. Luke is so close to the tape it isn’t funny. For every one of Shane’s whistles he seems to inch closer.
Only a few minutes have passed in what has felt like forever.
Luke finally drops the books making Shane the winner. He will now get to tackle the walk on tomorrow’s episode.
Hayley congratulates them both, but especially first contest winner, Shane!
He feels his son would be proud. Luke is still remembering that beach and he breaks down as he recounts how proud his friend is of him.
Opinion point: Did Lydia’s ‘over-confident’ trust in Luke in her cutaway give away Shane’s underdog victory?
After the break, we catch a glimpse of the new look walk. Shane is walking down a narrow and dank tunnel. It seems to go on forever and it is somewhat boring to watch however the suspense of the return of the walk is huge. The new look ‘podium’ now takes place in the heart of a forest. A military style multi-storey, circular stage awaits Shane. It looks very fetching. Sitting in the middle are three lockers. They are labelled ‘Food’, ‘Training’ and ‘Mystery’. Hmm, quite interesting!
Shane enters the lower arena where the lockers are located, while Hayley stands above on the mezzanine stage. She welcomes him to the walk. He now has the power.
Each locker contains one power relating to the word. Whichever power he chooses will have a massive impact on the game. So what will he choose? Of course he won’t choose tonight! I’m surprised they go this far.
Oh wait, he does!
He goes for the mystery case. He opens the envelope and laughs almost demonically.
Opinion point: Are you excited about the return of The Walk?
Another brilliant episode which has exceeded my expectations. In terms of content, the show has almost found the right balance. The fact that it concentrated on The Contest for the most part of the episode was very well received. It had the right amount of suspense and the right amount of emotion.
The producers also left enough time to approach ‘Selena-gate’ properly. This scene was very interesting to watch and it was very well produced.
I’m extremely surprised that they included the entire events of The Contest- including the winner! I was so sure they would have continued it on tomorrow night- but they didn’t, and I loved that! What I didn’t so much like is how much of The Walk was shown. It didn’t really discredit this episode, but tomorrow’s episode synopsis hints that that episode will deal solely with The Walk. With Shane now having been on the walk and picked the case, it leaves little more that I can think of for tomorrow’s episode.
The ending did however provide a cliffhanger, but will it be the right move?
The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles next airs Feb 1 at 7PM on TEN.
Production Values (visual and audio techniques, overall ‘bling’ of the show): 4.9/5
‘Sell-out’ factor (Cross-promotion and product placement free?): 2/2
Entertainment Value (emotional feel, storyline, eventful?): 2.8/3
Courtney’s Verdict: 9.7/10
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