Previous episode: The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles Season Seven – Challenge #5
To end another week, The Biggest Loser has thrown together a second Friday episode. I was massively impressed with the content last week; and with Ryan’s mini-makeover set to be a talking point, I have high hopes for this one!
Hayley greets us again in the weigh in room to tell us what these new shows are all about- breakdowns, blow-ups and behind-the-scene action.
Before going into the ‘vault of secret footage’, we are made to recap on the week that has been- Immunity Week. We see how Luke went home, Lydia went to gym, and Hamish went to mum! We also recap the shock weigh in and the challenge.
We then look more in-depth at Ryan’s elimination. It was a pity- but it was always going to be a hard one. We recap his time in the game, as the heaviest contestant ever to feature on any format in the world. We see his journey, which was filled with highs and lows. He lost 35kg, but Hayley asks the question, can he keep it up?
We catch up with Ryan and he looks like he is training quite well. He goes to his local Fitness First as he tries to fit his training schedule around his work. We also see him eating well and we are all proud of the fact he’s managed to keep the weight off!
At work, Ryan is a call centre person. His manager, Emma, encourages him to move around more now to make him more active. His work colleagues also encourage him away from the vending machines. Afternoon teas are his biggest temptation, but he manages to avoid them. It looks cruel watching his colleagues gorge on all that unhealthy food; but as Hayley says, it’s good to see him getting so much support at home.
We won’t find out how much healthier he has gotten until later in the show.
Now, we’re going to see some unseen footage of a ‘unique’ training session The Commando whips up for his team. He enters their bedroom for an inspection and isn’t happy with what he sees. Rice, shoes in cupboards, unmade beds. All the things a parent wouldn’t want- especially not a military father!
He tells them that there are bikes waiting outside. They have to make their beds and ride 1km in 3 minutes. Tough? You betcha!
Alex thinks the bed making was the hardest part.
Graham can’t get a sheet on the bed and as uplifting military music plays; the Commando tells them that after finishing their task in 7 minutes, they must do it again. The second time, they don’t do much better. He threatens to chuck their entire room over the balcony and start from scratch if they slack off again.
Graham thinks that it was a good learning experience!
Opinion point: Is the Commando’s tendency to make up ‘unique’ training sessions entertaining?
After the break, Hayley returns to the subject of love, and we see a package of Lisa and Simon’s growing relationship. Some of this footage, we have seen. Some of it, we haven’t.
We see that on week one, Lisa was already infatuated by the black team and she was impressed by photos of Simon in the first week. Margie expresses her distaste of their ‘fondness’ at breakfast time.
They are both feeling more confident to approach the opposite sex after marriage breakdowns.
We see some footage of them making out! Wow, it really is going well.
Now, back to Ryan, and Norman Swan comes over to visit Ryan. He relays his new diet and exercise routine to Norman.
Ryan has found that he is no longer hungry all the time with this new diet. Norman takes him into the kitchen where that table full of food which is full of brown ‘ageing’ food, is back. I think this is actually Norman’s house, as I’m sure this was the house Brenda was in last week.
Opinion point: Do you think Ryan is coping well on the outside?
Back after the break, it is time to find out how Ryan’s bio-age has been affected by his weight loss. Before this, we remind ourselves that his bio-age was 44. That’s near double his actual age.
We find out that after adding 15 years to his age, his bio age is now only 38, which is a shaving of 6 years to just 9 extra years. Not long to go now until he is happy and healthy!
Norman leaves him with some advice. He has now lost over 40kg.
We now relive how Hamish was branded a mummy’s boy after his massive temptation. Shannan was going to make him earn his position back in the blue team. After bounding into the ring, surprising Shannan, he puts on a brilliant and powerful training match. Shannan now feels as if the penny for Hamish ‘has dropped’.
Hamish concedes that he wants to be here as long as he possibly can!
Opinion point: Has Hamish earned back his place in the blue team after his temptation?
After the break, it’s time for Sammy to makeover Ryan! After a short interview about his new perspective on his body, Ryan goes to shave, trim, colour and coat for a brand new look.
So what will he look like?
He does look a little different because of it, and he feels very chuffed. There is still work to be done, but this is a brilliant start.
So that’s pretty much the end of the episode, so the only thing to do now is have a sneak preview of Monday and the week to come.
So there’s going to be an expulsion next week? Usually expelled contestants don’t get all the benefits of an ordinary evictee. With Sammy confirmed to be returning next week with another makeover, will she be making over the expelled contestant? Will someone get eliminated-proper? Will she makeover a previously eliminated contestant? Wow, even that segment had a lot of questions!
So that’s the episode for tonight. Again, really love the new content in these episodes. The best thing was that I couldn’t see anything that would have benefitted one of the main shows, and I couldn’t see their omission deflecting the quality of the main shows. This show is great to see some added training scenes. As this is the main way the contestants lose weight, I love watching these scenes the most.
Only criticism would probably be two things. Firstly, while Hayley’s inclusion in the episode is great, she can come off a little monotonous and somewhat bland. That’s not her fault, because it could easily be fixed by not having her sit down. Yes, they want to make it look intimate, but it’s not really working. Have her standing up or walking towards a camera or something.
Secondly, I continue to think that all those short segments splintered across the episode featuring Ryan would be better used as one or two bigger complete packages. It makes the episode feel short and low on content when we constantly dribble back and forth between Hayley, a scene, Hayley, Ryan, Hayley, another scene, Hayley and Ryan again. The flow doesn’t work at all.
But again, for a spin-off-ish show, this has done really well!
The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles next airs Feb 27 at 7PM on TEN.
Production Values (visual and audio techniques, overall ‘bling’ of the show):4.8/5
‘Sell-out’ factor (Cross-promotion and product placement free?): 1.8/2
Entertainment Value (emotional feel, storyline, eventful?): 2.6/3
Courtney’s Verdict: 9.2/10
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