The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles

Previous episode: The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles Season Seven – Weigh In Pass Giveaway #3

Lydia, Lisa and Simon- what is the one thing these guys have in common? Yep, they’re the proud owners of a weigh in pass to get back in the game. Tonight, someone joins them! Who will that lucky person be?

The episode begins in Shannan’s outdoor gym where he is about to find out that Lydia has won herself a weigh in pass. Lydia debriefs on the challenge before Shannan trains up the final five contestants for their opportunity to grab a pass. Tears (from Brenda) and sweat are shed, on cue with Shannan’s heckling.

Meanwhile, The Commando meets the remaining contestants poolside, and he’s wearing shorts- hinting an aquatic training session. It is. He has set up a circuit involving push ups, dumbbells and quick laps of the pool. It really does test the contestants. Margie seems to struggle. Graham however sees her as his only threat. After the circuit, Commando is happy with their times- but it is now time for them to verse him!

Opinion point: Who is your favourite remaining contestants, and who do you think is their biggest threat?

After the break, the war is on. They are all surprised by the Commando, however Kasey is impressed with the shirtless trainer doing a few push ups! Meanwhile, after the training session, Michelle meets up with Hamish and they discuss tomorrow’s weigh in pass challenge. Michelle encourages him and Hamish is grateful for this. Of course, he has to profess his love. With that, he’s off to compete!

They all head down to Palm Beach (where that challenge the white team sucked at thanks largely to Selena) where Hayley welcomes them back. Ryan thinks about hell hill- but I’m sure this will be more gruelling. This will be their last opportunity to get back into the game. Hayley tells them that today; they are facing a 1km Biggest Loser Iron Man. They are horrified. Two people will earn weigh in passes today.

The contestants will be required to swim, climb a sand dune and answer three multiple choice questions. If they get the questions wrong, they have to do a second run up the dune. If they get it right, they have to go for a run to a beach and use a board to paddle out to a boat. Doesn’t sound easy at all. Scares the hell out of Shane, and Commando confirmed they will hurt.

Hayley sounds her gun and they all begin their run. Shane is out in front early- however the swimming part gets to him a bit.

Opinion point: Who do you think would do best in this challenge? Who do you want to win?

In the water, Shane begins to cut back. Ryan is also battered by the waves. Out in front is Bek with Brenda just behind. Bek then heads up the hill to her calorie quiz. The first question is ‘What has more calories?’ The choices are a glass of lemonade, a glass of low fat milk and a glass of orange juice. Bek has no idea by the sound of it. She goes for the orange juice, but gets it wrong, and goes down again for a second try. Brenda is heading up for her first go. She chooses the milk, and gets it right.

Question two is ‘How many calories are there in one gram of fat?’ and they can choose either 9, 19 or 29 calories. Brenda chooses 9 calories and gets it right. The third question reads ‘What has the fewest calories?’ with the choices; a standard glass of beer, dry white wine and champagne. She goes for C and gets it wrong. Down she goes again.

Shane goes up for his go and he is put off by the girls going back down. Hamish is up before him but answers the question wrong. Shane has a go and also goes for the orange juice. Wrong! So this gives Bek another shot at this. She says lemonade, and goes down for another run. Gosh, why wouldya?

Commando gets Brenda up to the questions and Shannan helps her with the third question. She gets it wrong again, and goes for another run. Hamish and Shane go up again for their second tries. They both get it wrong. Bek is up one more time and gets the first one right! She then answers the second question right. To the third question and she gets it wrong!

Ryan is now up for his first attempt- but not quite. Brenda is up for her third go and answers her third question easily, to the surprise of the ignorant Commando! She then heads down for her paddle. Ryan is up for the questions. He answers incorrectly, and goes down for a second attempt.

Hamish gets two questions right, and ponders over question three.

Opinion point: Is the quiz too hard?

After the break, Hamish answers the question wrong, leaving a lead open for someone else. Bek comes up and has another correct stab at question three, leaving in second place. Brenda is trying to hold onto her lead. She runs to the paddle boards with Bek on her tail. Meanwhile, Shane answers his questions correctly, still in the game! Hamish also gets the third question right- he too may still be in this.

Ryan however, is still trying to finish the game. He answers the questions correctly and heads down to the paddles. Meanwhile, Brenda gets to the paddles and she is on her way to the boat. Bek is also quick onto the paddle and she knows she has to beat Shane, who isn’t yet at the beach. He quickly makes it and also gets in the water. Soon enough, Brenda gets to the boat and wins a pass for weigh in. One left!

Who will get pass number five, we’ll find out Sunday!

Well, other than the unfinished business at the end there, this has been yet another well produced, well balanced, high paced adventure. The show did over run quite a bit, but my PVR picked up on it, so no problems there. Couldn’t fault the show in any other way (except maybe for a few product placements).

The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles next airs Apr 8 at 7PM on TEN.

Production Values (visual and audio techniques, overall ‘bling’ of the show):5/5

‘Sell-out’ factor (Cross-promotion and product placement free?): 1.8/2

Entertainment Value (emotional feel, storyline, eventful?): 2.9/3

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.7/10

 

Previous episode: The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles Season Seven – Contest #7 & Weigh In Pass Giveaway #1 & 2

Yesterday, Lisa and Simon won passes to next week’s weigh in, which could be their ticket back into the game. Tonight, the third weigh in pass is up for grabs! Who will get it and progress to the weigh in? A good excuse to watch!

At Camp Biggest Loser, the remaining contestants enter the gym, where Michelle is holding cardboard cut-outs of Simon and Lisa, and they know immediately what has happened- they have won weigh in passes. Well, they should, they were there when it happened. So, in this training session, Michelle wants them to beat Simon and Lisa’s spin-bike times from yesterday. Simon was fastest- so he will be the big goal, but they should at least aim to beat Lisa. With that, the training begins.

The contestants are determined, and Michelle is pumping them up- they should be successful. Michelle seems most determined, and beats Simon’s time, scoring 12.08 (Simon got about 12.20). Margie also beats his time. Graham is third, and he just misses out on beating Lisa. This means Alex and Kasey are not going to beat the times at all. Michelle doesn’t seem concerned that three of the five contestants couldn’t beat the time. Wasn’t that the point of the session? Margie has felt flat since the eliminated contestants came back, but Michelle is adamant that this is normal.

Opinion point: Should Michelle have made sure the contestants beat Simon and Lisa?

After the break, the eliminated contestants head into Shannan’s training yard for some training. He notices that Hamish is sick, but with little explanation about his flu, Shannan is annoyed- stating that the trainers still train when they have ‘colds’. Basically, he doesn’t want this excuse that he is sick. Hamish then walks off in tears as the session begins. He doesn’t want to be here. Shannan pulls him aside and he admits that he lets colds get to him. Shannan suspects something else is going on and he brings up Michelle. She wouldn’t want to see him like that- she would want to see him in the session.

With that, he re-enters the session to partake in Shannan’s circuit. Shannan does like his station-work. They climb stairs, jump ropes, jog, throw tyres, lift medicine balls and ultimately, strive to lose weight. Shannan promises that the contestants will train through thick and thin. But not right now, because the eliminated contestants have a challenge on their hands.

They all head into the gym, which is full of treadmills. Bek is wondering what is going on, but surely in a week like this, she would know. Hayley is there, and welcomes them to the next weigh in pass opportunity. Six are left to fight it out for three passes. Today, they will be training their brain- and it will be a nutrition quiz. They will start on a 4km treadmill walk and will be asked true and false questions. Get their question right, they will stay at the speed. Get it wrong, they will have their speeds increased by increments of 1km for each incorrect answer. The winner will be the last man or woman standing- and they will get a weigh in pass and an opportunity to go back into the game. Apparently, Lydia is happy about this- she is just glad to have gotten rid of the spin bikes.

Their questions begin. The first question is; ‘A 120g serving of coleslaw has more Calories than a Caesar salad?’ Lydia goes false, as does Shane. The rest say ‘true’. The answer is false- Brenda, Bek, Hamish and Ryan increase their speeds.

‘Two Weet-Bix have less calories than two poached eggs’. True for product placement. They all say true, except Ryan, who says false. Just quietly, Ryan was wrong, and his speed goes up a notch. Who wudda thought?!

Opinion point: What are your thoughts on this quiz?

‘A Whole raw potato triples in calories when fried up into chips’- the correct answer is false, but they all get it wrong. They all increase their speed- for Ryan, this is his third increase. For knowledge, it actually quadruples.

‘Alex’s Bio Age was 75 years old when he entered Camp Biggest Loser’ is the next question. Hamish says true, and he’s wrong, it was false. His Bio Age was 70 years of age.

‘One tablespoon of olive oil has more fat than 1 tablespoon of butter’ is next. Lydia thinks it is true, which is right, meaning the rest of them put their speed up. Ryan is out by the looks of it. Lydia is still at 5km. Shane is at 6km with Bek at 7km and Hamish and Brenda at 8km each.

‘A tomato is a vegetable?’ Brenda says true, and is the only incorrect person.

‘O-Positive is the most common blood type’. A simple way to answer this is to imagine a round blood cell- it’s in the shape of an ‘O’- which is the most basic shape a blood cell can be (A-Positive blood types and B-positive blood types have different yet specialised ‘spikes’ or ‘altered edges’- hence why A-Positive people can’t give blood to B-Positive people)- so of course it is true. Many say false- in fact, they all have it wrong.

‘A yoghurt coated muesli bar has more calories than a chocolate chip muesli bar?’ Bek says false, and is wrong, so she increases her speed. She thinks this is still a stroll in the park.

‘Ryan, as the largest contestant in the history of The Biggest Loser, weighed in at 231kg?’ They all say false, except Hamish, who increases his speed as he was wrong. With a cold, he needs to blow his nose!

‘White rice has more carbs than pasta?’ Brenda says false, as does Bek, and they both increase their speed. Bek can’t believe this.

‘Milk chocolate has more Calories than carob per weight’. They all say true, and they’re all wrong. Hamish is out. Michelle is a bit worried now. Shane, Brenda and Bek are left, oh, and Lydia.

‘Pumpkin has more fibre than sweet potato’. Bek answers false, which is right, so the rest increase their speed. Brenda is looking weak.

Opinion point: Surprised by the results?

‘Watermelon is more than 90% Water’. Before she can answer, Brenda gives up.  They all say true, and they’re all right.

‘Peanut butter has a high cholesterol count’ and again, before anyone can answer, Bek is out. Lydia says false, and Shane says true. Shane is wrong, and increases his speed.

‘The combined weight of the 16 Biggest Loser contestants was more than 2,500kg’ Again, Shane and Lydia answer differently, with Shane guessing false correctly. Lydia increases speed.

‘After two weeks of giving up smoking, your risk of a heart attack begins to drop’. Shane says false and is upped in speed.

‘Sparkling mineral water has more calories than tap water’ They both say true. They are both wrong.

‘Fried rice has 14 times more fat than steamed rice’ but before answering, Shane drops out, giving Lydia a win. She wins the weigh in pass, and joins Lisa and Simon at weigh in. Brenda, Hamish, Ryan, Shane and Bek will have to fight for the next two passes- and Hayley promises their acquisition won’t be easy.

That’s where the episode ends. For a half hour episode, I really think this benefited. This is supposed to be a fast paced week, and this episode certainly was faced paced with a good balance of challenge, training and all that nice stuff in between. But the product placement in the challenge (Weet-Bix) and the whole entry into the challenge where Bek ‘supposedly’ didn’t know there was a challenge on, looked cheap, and I had to laugh at it. But other than that, perfect!

The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles next airs Apr 4 at 7PM on TEN.

Production Values (visual and audio techniques, overall ‘bling’ of the show):5/5

‘Sell-out’ factor (Cross-promotion and product placement free?): 1.8/2

Entertainment Value (emotional feel, storyline, eventful?): 2.8/3

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.6/10

 

Previous episode: The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles Season Seven – Thursday Night #1

Another week, another weigh in; and for some of these contestants, they may be hoping their results this week is nothing but an April Fool’s Joke. The only thing is, it’s not- because the episode was filmed weeks ago, and even still, it’s past midday. Anyway, let’s begin!

The trainers walk into the lounge area where they notice that Kasey and Lydia are missing. To explain, the contestants talk to them about the challenge. Tiffiny and the Commando are surprised to hear that Alex and Michelle won the competition. They are then shocked to hear that Kasey and Lydia finished last, and are now in bedroom lockdown.

Tiffiny then tell the rest of them that they will be training with her today. With that, they leave.

Meanwhile, Shannan enters the accommodation of the eliminated contestants. He is proud of them all and the effort they have put in. He offers some praise and some criticism to some of the contestants before they head off to train.

Meanwhile, Michelle goes to visit Lydia and Kasey, who are exercising in lockdown. She is worried that the makeover week may entice some contestants to leave, so she wants to make sure they are in the right frame of mind. She is happy that they are locked away from the fridge, and feels this could be an advantage- as it may mean several last chance training opportunities.

Meanwhile, Shannan takes the eliminated contestants back to the fight gym for training. He is pumping Ryan right up, and he is sweating. Soon enough, he is bent double, spewing into a bucket. He keeps thinking himself as a failure. He walks off and Shannan follows him. Apparently, Ryan is now under 200kg.

He thinks he is a failure, and Shannan pushes him to realise that this week is his last week. What’s going to change?

Opinion point: Not sure if I’ve asked this already; but even still, who do you want to see return to the house? Who do you not want to see return?

After the break, Ryan is crying, and Shannan is trying to get him to lift his head. He wants Ryan to use that emotion to train. Ryan is testing every fibre of Shannan’s patience, but he trains hard. He seems to have some sort of idea of what is to come if he doesn’t.

Meanwhile, Tiffiny is training with some man. I wonder who that could be. The contestants come in confused, but know something is up. The man is Martin Hall, Tiffiny’s dad.

He has trained Olympians to gold, a seventh earned black belt.

Michelle is grateful for this training session, as she hasn’t been confident since her binge eating. Margie is feeling determined and happy. Hmm, these contestants seem a little too positive- maybe a weigh in will fix that!

Martin then talks them through some martial arts routines and poses. They are asked to write their ‘barriers’ on a piece of board (yes, again!) so they can break the boards. How many times do they have to break/pop/destroy things with hateful words written on them?!

They are all able to break the boards- along with screams from Tiffiny, haha. They are kinda scary actually.

With that done, they all hug it out with some nice, parting words from Martin. Hopefully they can be empowered from this.

Opinion point: Was Martin Hall’s training session helpful? In what way?

After the break, the six head into weigh in where Hayley asks them to look at their photos on the wall. They have come a long way since then.

To begin, Graham is first. He weighed 157.1kg. He now weighs…155.9kg, a loss of -1.2kg, or a WLP of 0.76%. He feels disgusted and devastated. He says he feels disgusted despite this being a short week. Commando sees that Graham now feels accountable for his own actions. On a positive note, Graham says makeover was the proudest moment of his life.

He then has to recount his ‘little kiss’ he had on the town after makeover. Poor Graham, haha.

Anyway, Alex is next. He weighed 115.8kg. He now weighs…115.2kg, a loss of 0.6kg, or 1.6kg and a WLP of -1.38%, moving him into first place thanks to his 1kg advantage. He was hoping for at least 2kg and Commando is speechless. He doesn’t look happy at all.

It’s girl time- and Michelle is up first. She is feeling extremely nervous. She hasn’t given 100% this week, and it is killing her inside.

She weighed 80.2kg. She now weighs…81.1kg, a gain of 0.9kg, but gives her a -0.1g weight loss, or -0.12%- putting her into third place. She is devastated. She can’t contain herself- and she says she knew. Tiffiny tells her this happens all the time on the outside.

Tiffiny goes up to take her away from the scales, pulls her aside, and gives her a brief pep talk. Anyway, next up is Margie. She is very scared.

Up on the scales, Margie weighed 115.2kg. She now weighs…111.4kg, a loss of 3.8kg, quite good. She kisses the scales before finding out her WLP is -3.30%, putting her into first place.

Kasey is next, and she needs to lose 200g to beat Michelle. Well, this shouldn’t be too hard. She weighed 97.7kg this week. She now weighs…97.0kg, a loss of 0.7kg, gives her a weight loss percentage of 0.072%, putting her in fourth place, saving Graham and shoving Michelle below the yellow line.

Lydia is last; she needs to lose at least 800g. She weighed 100.2kg. She now weighs…100.6kg, a gain of 400g, or +0.40%, putting her below the yellow line. She will now face elimination alongside Michelle. It all goes silent. There’s nothing much to say here.

Lydia puts it down to food and says it is because Lisa isn’t here and she doesn’t feel responsible for anybody.

She then says it has nothing to do with Lisa- it has to do with herself not taking responsibility for things.

She gets down off the scales and breaks down with Margie- who is this week’s Biggest Loser- by a long mile!

Opinion point: Any surprises tonight?

So either Michelle or Lydia will be sent home. But whom?!

Opinion point: Who should go home, Lydia or Michelle?

In elimination, the four voting contestants walk in, where Hayley welcomes them all. Michelle is scared to go up against Lydia. She breaks down as she tells Lydia that she admires her. Lydia also cries over this. Lydia says it is hard to see her weaknesses exposed.

Margie is devastated about the prospect of losing Lydia, after losing Lisa last week. Graham says his decision will be very hard this week.

The two contestants then plea (the usual excuses) as to why they should stay, before the votes are cast.

Kasey is first to vote, and it is an obvious vote for Lydia.

Margie is next, and it is another obvious vote to Michelle.

It’s now time to reveal the less obvious votes.

Graham votes for Michelle, who now only needs one more vote. Lydia also needs just one more vote to leave. What does Alex choose?

Alex congratulates them both, votes strategically, and tearily votes for Lydia to leave. Lydia and Margie break down, as does Alex.

She gives a lovely talk about how people have made her a better person in here. She compliments Margie, who compliments her back. Hayley breaks down at this point. She tearily tells her to say her goodbyes, and we see her best bits.

Meanwhile, after Lydia leaves, Shannan stops her in a very scripted scene. She then leaves with him.

So the episode ends, and again, absolutely wonderful. It was so sad, seeing Lydia leaves- and the weigh in was just so painful to watch. I just hate it when they gain weight.

The ending looked a bit cheesy, but it was quite funny to watch- however I don’t feel this was the intention.

Other than that, the only other negative was the recycled ‘write barrier words on objects and break them’ task. Haven’t we done them enough already?!

The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles next airs Apr 2 at 7PM on TEN.

Production Values (visual and audio techniques, overall ‘bling’ of the show):5/5

‘Sell-out’ factor (Cross-promotion and product placement free?): 2/2

Entertainment Value (emotional feel, storyline, eventful?): 2.9/3

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.9/10

Previous episode: The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles Season Seven – Makeover Night Aftermath & Challenge #10

Notice anything different about tonight’s Friday Night edition of The Biggest Loser? That’s correct! Tomorrow isn’t Saturday! But, if you’re still in the mood, the producers have whipped up a nice extended look at the week that was while also offering a makeover for Shane! And boy did he need it!

Before we begin with the footage-looking-at, we recap the week that was. The elimination, the makeovers, the eliminated contestant return- aaah, this week was a mine of gold for an episode like this!

After that, we look at Shane, who seems to be the focus of this week’s show. Lisa obviously didn’t have enough time to film segments. We remind ourselves of his elimination before we catch up with Shane today.

Back home in Angaston in this wonderful state of SA, we see how he manages his work life with his fitness regime. Well, he seems to be balancing it, but he has to be so focussed on it, because it is a lot of time.

He doesn’t like to cook, but he does, and what he cooks looks so healthy.

Now, it is time to see some unseen footage of Margie in the makeover make up chair. She is out of her comfort zone as she doesn’t wear makeup that often. She doesn’t want to look like Lydia, who is sitting behind her shovelled with makeup.

She is obviously nervous to see herself in the mirror. She finds it hard to look at herself but she is so happy to see her new defined features. She did look very good!

Opinion point: Which eliminated contestant do you want to see receive a makeover?

After the break, we see unseen footage of Graham seeing himself in the full length mirror all dressed up. He is clamping his eyes shut before he sees the new look Graham. He is so happy and says he has never felt this good in his life.

He says his new self is getting better every day.

Well, that wasn’t as emotional as I thought it would be.

Meanwhile, we see Shane catch up with Norman after his stint on The Biggest Loser. Shane tells Norman about his diet and claims to not have eaten much beforehand. Well, that’s where he is wrong, and that infamous table is back! The funny thing is, Shane does not agree with it- he thinks it should be more!

He hopes to never go back to this again.

Opinion point: Are you proud of Shane?

After the break, it is time to see Shane’s new bio-age. He is 38; his bio-age was 58. We see what he is now. Thankfully, he has slipped back to…49, but there is a way to go. He is a bit disappointed but Norman says it is his beer gut and Shane’s smoking- he needs to give them up!

He now weighs 135kg, and wants to make it to 95kg.

Now we see how Ryan is going on the outside with his diet. He is no ‘MasterChef’. Hmm, cross promotion there? Anyway, Ryan goes for some cooking lessons as he can’t bloody cook!

They make some sort of Greek Bean Salad.

Bottom line is he enjoys it.

Opinion point: Would you want Ryan to cook that for you?

After the break, it is time for Shane’s makeover. Sammy’s back!

A chip here, a chop here, and a collar there. How does he look in front of the mirror? Well, he looks MUCH thinner, but there is still a lot to go. They didn’t chop off his beard, which did wonders for Alex. But how good can a male makeover look when you have no bloody hair, haha!

To end the episode, we see a preview for action next week.

To end this, it was a good episode. It was particularly good to catch up with a few people on the outside like Ryan. But his cooking segment seemed out of place. It serves purpose, but because of the small segment time, it looked rushed. Maybe it was a cross promotion for MasterChef after all.

Still, a wonderfully produced episode which still needs longer segments. Not sure how it will do on a Thursday though!

The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles next airs Apr 1 at 6.30PM on TEN.

Production Values (visual and audio techniques, overall ‘bling’ of the show):5/5

‘Sell-out’ factor (Cross-promotion and product placement free?): 1.8/2

Entertainment Value (emotional feel, storyline, eventful?): 2.6/3

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.4/10

 

Previous episode: The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles Season Seven – Friday Night #6

You know what I’ve always thought about these weigh in and elimination episodes? Do you know what I’ve always thought was missing? That added ‘Sunday’! Well from tonight, ALL weigh in and eliminations come with added Sunday!! Tonight should be a doozie though- two contestants have immunity, one has a weight disadvantage and one has a weight advantage; both of the latter being 1kg! Should be interesting to say the least.

We seem to be going straight into last chance training- which is absolutely fantastic! Michelle is training Lisa solo after the latter won the exclusive rights to the former in the walk last week. We get a small recap of Lisa’s loss in the challenge where she won the 1kg disadvantage. We also see how her former-red team members reacted to the possibility of Lisa leaving.

She’s very empowered and I just hope more than anything that this week works out for her. I would love to see Lisa go all the way. She gets emotional as she talks about how this 1kg weight disadvantage is a ‘slap back’ from what was a fiery week. Michelle thinks the fire is still there to push her through the next weigh in.

The former white team, Michelle and Kasey, are walking around in the pool, talking about how much the other teams underestimate them.

In the shed, Commando is back to smash Graham yet again, just to make him feel like a winner. He gets Graham to reset a spin bike and go for a kilometre ride. He gets Graham to yell out that he will stay above the yellow line. Commando also gets him to do weights and rope pulls.

Alex is next to partake in the challenge. He has to beat Graham’s time of 3 minutes 42 seconds. He gets 3 minutes 36 seconds, winning round one. Wait, round one of THIS?! Gosh, I’d hate to be the black boys.

Graham gets 3 minutes for round two, so can Alex do better? No, he gets 3 minutes and two seconds. Graham is now one-one with Alex.

Opinion point: Who is most prepared going into this weigh in?

After the break, it is round three for the black team. Graham is first again, and scores a time of 2 minutes and 51 seconds- a huge improvement! Alex just says ‘shit’! Alex goes for his third do-or-die shot. Who can take out the title of tonight’s last chance training?

Commando grabs both their hands and raises Graham’s before showing Alex that he scored 2 minutes 53 seconds.

Meanwhile, Shannan is back in Adelaide (looks like a recycled scene of Shannan driving out of Adelaide Airport there) but this time for his other South Australian contestant, Luke! Luke was expelled from the contest, and we are reminded as to how Shannan said to Luke that he will judge him on his actions between his expulsion and the finale.

He heads to his house and it looks like Luke had a makeover of his own- he looks fantastic! His father has lost 11 and a half kilos thanks to Luke as well; it’s a changing family!

Luke promises Shannan that he has had zero drinks since the incident, and Shannan can see the clarity in his eyes.

Looking back at a flashback, and we can just see how much Luke has lost; he looks SO different, words cannot describe.

Opinion point: Are you proud of Luke?

His father and himself have a teary bonding moment before we head back to camp for weigh in. Ooh, so exciting! Hayley welcomes them to the weigh in and tells them all how they are ‘survivors’. Hayley talks about Michelle’s immunity grabbing binge at temptation. She also reviews Margie’s 1kg weight advantage and Lisa’s 1kg weight disadvantage.

To begin the weigh in, Michelle steps up. Again, Hayley makes note of the gaining-weight-lose-immunity rule, which is a bit odd, before she steps up. She weighed 80.5kg. She now weighs…80.2kg, and she retains immunity with a loss of 300g, or -0.37% weight loss percentage. She is safe, but Tiffiny is concerned.

Kasey also has immunity, but if she has put on weight, will lose her immunity- however she did not eat at temptation. She weighed 100.1kg. She now weighs…97.7kg, a loss of 2.4kg or a WLP of 2.40%. She is finally under one hundred kilos and now wants to go home and ride her horse, Santa. She looks much better. She breaks down as she talks about her years of not riding.

Now, the real weigh in begins. Two will fall below the yellow line, but which two?

Graham is first up. He weighed 163.2kg. He now weighs…157.1kg, a loss of 6.1kg, or a WLP of 3.74%, putting him in first place. Pretty amazing. Commando uses that ‘proud’ word now and he even cracks a smile. I love it when Graham laughs; it’s quite a funny laugh.

Margie is next. She weighed 121.0kg. She now weighs…115.2kg, 5.8kg loss or 6.8kg loss with her advantage, or 5.62% WLP. She is overwhelmed but unhappy about her friend, Lisa’s, predicament. She reminds us all why she is here; saying she wants to surf again and find someone special out there.

Opinion point: Who has made the biggest change since launch?

Lisa is next to weigh in. This should be interesting. She weighed 81.3kg. She now weighs…79.8kg, a loss of 1.5kg, or a loss of 0.5kg with the weight penalty. This gives her a 0.62% WLP, putting her last and into near elimination. This means Margie is safe. At least she is now in her seventies.

She tearily talks about her friendship with the red team.

Alex and Lydia are left. Lydia has to lose at least 600g to remain safe from elimination. She currently weighs 103.3kg however this week she weighs…100.2kg, a loss of 3.1kg, or a WLP of 3.00%, putting her in third place, saving Graham and throwing Lisa into elimination. Lydia is not happy looking. She knows she will go home if she falls below the yellow line.

Alex is last to weigh in. He weighs 118.3kg. He now weighs…115.8kg, a loss of 2.5kg, or 2.11% WLP, putting him below the yellow line with Lisa. Very emotional, but Lydia is happy to be safe. This means Margie is this week’s Biggest Loser. She dedicates it to her mother.

Opinion point: Did you expect this week’s results?

Hayley tells them that they have all lost more than 25% of their starting weights and reminds them that no one gained weight this week.

The contestants then walk into elimination. The dream is about to end for either Lisa or Alex.

Lisa says that facing elimination again is really hard, saying it is just as tough on ‘this side’ than on ‘that side’. She thinks Alex is the bigger threat in this game as he has more weight to lose. She also thinks Alex is here to win the game, and so he should be. Playing strategically, Alex is the one to go.

Alex thinks he has given ‘close to 100’ per cent to this game and feels less fatigued and sore as he did before. He can see the changes and feel the changes.

Margie feels devastated that Lisa is in that chair and feels she still needs to be here for other reasons. She hopes she gets through today. If that means Alex should go, she is sorry, Alex needs to go!

Kasey sees Alex as the biggest threat but thinks voting wise, Lisa is a threat. Margie scoffs, saying the red team vote differently depending on who they feel.

With that, the voting begins. Three votes are needed to be eliminated.

Opinion point: Who deserves to stay more?

After the break, it is time for the vote reveal. Graham is first and not surprisingly, he votes for Lisa.

Margie is next and she is voting for the bigger threat and has a lot of weight to lose. Yep, Alex. Alex gave her very odd looks during that.

Kasey reveals her vote next. She sees them both as massive threats. She is a wildcard, but true to the white team’s word, she votes against the stronger team, and votes off Lisa.

Margie does not seem happy about this at all. I feel a fight coming along.

Lydia is next and shall I explain more? No. She votes for Alex.

Michelle has the final and deciding vote. She votes strategically to even out the playing field; voting out Lisa, sending the lightest contestant home.

The music intensifies as Margie looks shocked. Lisa says she feels she has been eliminated to destroy the red team ‘but it won’t work’. Margie laughs at this and makes a warning to the rest of them- the red team are going to come out faster, stronger and fitter (they’re fit already). This will add fuel to the fire.

Margie says they are honest which makes Alex mad. Alex doesn’t think she is being honest, saying she promises that he, her and Lydia were going to go all the way. Margie denies this.

Margie says she is allowed to be upset. Alex tells her she doesn’t have to bully everyone and she tells him she isn’t, while insinuating that he is an ‘old man’. Alex is very hurt at this.

Lydia then tells them all that they respect all of their decisions, but reminds them that Alex is more capable at sending someone to elimination than Lisa.

To soften this situation up, Hayley reminds Lisa that she is going home to see her kids and possibly Simon. We see her best bits before she hugs her contestants goodbye, and leaves. Let’s just say…she may not be gone for long!

So that episode was definitely worth a watch! Production wise, this episode is on par with pretty much every other episode- however little things, like the Clarke Rubber PP and the recycled shot of Shannan rolling out of Adelaide Airport were somewhat noticeable.

The weigh in was done brilliantly tonight; there were definitely plenty of surprises. The fight between Margie and Alex at the end though seemed very edited in the way it looked like their comments were taped together to make the situation seem more controversial.

But other than that, extremely enjoyable stuff.

For more on Lisa’s elimination, read here.

The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles next airs Mar 26 at 7PM on TEN.

Production Values (visual and audio techniques, overall ‘bling’ of the show):4.5/5

‘Sell-out’ factor (Cross-promotion and product placement free?): 1.9/2

Entertainment Value (emotional feel, storyline, eventful?): 2.9/3

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.3/10

 

Previous episode: The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles Season Seven – Challenge #9

QUICK! This is your last chance to watch The Biggest Loser- Friday night, as it prepares to move…to Thursday! Tonight is just another fun half hour of exclusive content and it should prove to yet again top the world of spin-offs!

First up; as usual, it’s a lightning look back at the week that was. Highlights include Simon’s departure, the contest, the competition, Lisa’s walk twist and some training sessions.

We then go back to the emotional elimination of Simon; and how it affected his crush, Lisa. We then see how Simon is coping at home. He is looking much thinner as he trains down the instantly recognisable (to me) Brighton Beach! I can’t believe how many SA contestants featured this season!

We see how his shopping routine has changed. His diet looks wonderful, and he claims it isn’t hard to stick to it.

Next up on the list of features is unseen footage of Margie trying to overcome her fears in the trapeze training session. We see a humorous outtake of Margie practicing on a false trapeze. She keeps laughing, and she finds it hard to stay focussed.

After jumping the first time, we see Michelle asking her to go again and she can’t believe Michelle is serious. She then has another go, and it is quite funny. She asks for some chalk as she has ‘feminine’ hands. It’s a triumph for Margie, and she says the second time felt really good to let go.

Opinion point: In your opinion, will Simon’s new lifestyle see him pull up great results come finale?

After the break, we finally see that footage that should have been put in the series. This is what should have taken the place of some of that overused Michelle & Hamish footage. Still, now seeing it, it is good to see, and makes their relationship seem all the more…real. That sounds like I don’t have faith in this relationship, but I really do- I can see them together in five years.

After this, it is time for Simon to visit Norman Swan. After discussing his diet, we see him revisit his previous eating habits. It is a huge table full. Again, full of all that brown stuff!

Opinion point: Are you impressed with Simon’s change?

After the break, it is time for Simon’s new bio-age. At 41 years of age, he now has a bio age of 45, which is 9 years better than his last bio-age and only four years remaining.

Norman leaves him with parting advice. Simon has lost a lot of weight, but is still retaining a lot of gut weight (hence, his beer belly)- he needs to lose that, because it is dangerous.

We then look at some more unseen footage where Kasey and Michelle are discussing the alliances, and how exactly you form one. They laugh at the idea of starting an alliance.

‘Do you go up to them and ask them, ‘do you want to be my friend?’ haha’.

Kasey thinks people find the white team to be a threat and Kasey thinks she is the dark horse, flying under the radar. Michelle thinks that to progress, she and Kasey have to stick together. Hence, an alliance.

A bit of Yoplait product placement there.

After the break, it is time for Simon’s mini makeover- can Sammy work her magic on Simon? A few trimmings here and a few frocks there, and how does he look?

We have a look at what he looked like before The Biggest Loser before we see him today! He does look very different, but I think if Sammy tried to give him something other than a suit, he would have looked thinner!

With that, the episode ends with a sneak peak of what looks to be a MASSIVE week next week.

Again, not much else to say here- the production has been brilliant and this episode has been very heavy on the new content, but was some of that Lisa & Simon footage taken from episodes that could have done with it?

Other than that Yoplait PP, a perfectly produced episode!

The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles next airs Mar 25 at 6.30PM 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?): 1.9/2

Entertainment Value (emotional feel, storyline, eventful?): 2.8/3

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.5/10

Previous episode: The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles Season Seven – Friday Night #3

It feels like just yesterday that we weighed in these contestants and sent one packing (well, two really), but we’re doing it all over again. With Simon safe, only nine contestants spread across four teams are eligible. At this stage of the competition, this really is dog eat dog!

Back at the quarry, we recap the end of the challenge where Graham won the challenge for the black team. He now has to choose one trainer to leave their team until the next weigh in.

Graham chooses Hamish and he feels horrible but thinks they are spurring him on to try harder. With that, it’s time to go back to camp.

The next day, it is time for the contestants to engage in their other challenge prize which the black team shared with everyone- a video call home!

Graham is first and his family seem as happy and go-lucky has he does. Then, one by one, the contestants go in to take their call.

Back to the bush, and the white girls are going through last chance training with Tiffiny. She wants tough and resilient team members.

Afterwards, Tiffiny feels as if the teary Michelle needs some encouragement. The good thing is that the whole emotional plea of love to Michelle Hamish did in training, was recorded. It all seemed like a bit of Window’s 7 product placement, but finally, Michelle shows genuine emotion over her friendship with Hamish. She claims to have never felt so special.

Opinion point: Is Michelle’s biggest advantage in this game the love she shares with Hamish?

After the break, Shannan arrives for last chance training but Hamish has to tell him the news that he was chosen as the trainer to leave his team until weigh in. Shannan is fuming and now realises the strength of this alliance.

Shannan reminds Hamish that he can trust him, and with a bit of a pep-talk, Shannan leaves him to train.

He goes strong, but with so many negative emotions running through his head due to this gruelling week, he breaks down and cries. He wants Shannan there. It puts it in perspective for you- this is what the black team and the red team have done over their powerful alliance.

When an alliance affects one person this much, you have to question the ethics behind it. Luckily, Hamish picks his speed up again while the red team just sit around and discuss the power they had.

Right now, Simon is to receive the power and Lydia feels, as women of their word, he should still receive it. Margie just realises that the only people they can trust is themselves.

Product placement alert- Yoplait Yoghurt.

Now, it is weigh in time- my favourite time of the week!

Hamish feels very nervous, but let’s just see. Hayley welcomes them all to the weigh in room, but Tiffiny is without contestants. Hayley then welcomes the white team back from the grub, and Selena’s hair is just out of place everywhere like an afro. A bit of makeup probably exacerbated this.

Hamish is so glad to see Michelle before Hayley then recaps the week. With that, Margie announces who will have their percentage discounted from the weight loss. They honour their agreement and sit Simon out.

Shannan then questions whether they are in an alliance. The red team tell Shannan that there are no alliances. Us viewers, and thanks to the bunker, Shannan know that this is a blunt lie, so to see Margie then tell Shannan to basically stay out of things was downright rude!

When asked officially by Hayley whether he thinks there is an alliance, he feels that if it looks like a duck and quacks, it’s usually a duck. So yes, he does.

The black team are first to weigh in, and Simon, discounted and immune, will weigh in first. He weighed 136.5kg. He now weighs…135.3kg, a loss of only 1.2kg. He is devastated, but surely he saw this coming.

Shannan can see the co-incidence of Simon’s low weigh in and him getting the power.

Alex is next and he weighed 131.6kg. he now weighs…129.3kg, a loss of 2.3kg. Graham is the last to weigh in. After facing elimination twice before, he says he has pushed himself to his limits.

He did weigh 177.9kg. He now weighs…173.0kg, a loss of 4.9kg, giving the black team a loss of 7.2kg, or 2.33%.

Commando is happy, but it isn’t the weight loss he requires and he needs to pull bigger numbers.

He does say he is in the mind set, so he should see bigger numbers from now on.

The red team are next to weigh in are the red team. Lydia will be first. She weighed 115.7kg. She now weighs…111.7kg, a loss of 4kg. Pretty good for her.

Hayley asks what Lydia is focussing on and she says it is herself. She won’t be worrying about anyone but herself, her team and her trainer.

Margie is next. She weighed 129.7kg. She now weighs 126.8kg, a loss of 2.9kg.

Lisa weighed 86.7kg. Her current weight is…84.8kg, a loss of 1.9kg. That gives her team an 8.8kg weight loss, or 2.65% WLP.

Next up are the white team, who need to lose 8kg to stay safe. Will their week in the bush help or hinder them. Selena is first up.

She weighed 138.5kg. She now weighs…135.8kg, a loss of 2.7kg. She feels good about the number, considering the week she had. Tiffiny says that Selena really needs to be here, but she needs to stop making excuses and become accountable for her own journey.

Next up is Kasey. She weighed 111.4kg. She now weighs…106.5kg, a loss of 4.9kg! She is extremely happy with this number.

Michelle is last, and she needs to lose at least 400g to keep her team safe. Don’t discount any outcome. She weighed 91.3kg. She now weighs…86.4kg, a loss of 4.9kg! That gives the white team a weight loss of 12.5kg, or a WLP of 3.66%. Solid effort.

Opinion point: What can the black team do to get above the yellow line?

Hamish is last to weigh in and needs to lose 3.4kg. Can he do it? He feels he has pulled his thumb out this week. His biggest fear is the chance he could be below that yellow line.

He weighed 127.0kg. He now weighs…124.0kg, a loss of 3.0kg, not enough with only 2.36%. His heart sinks. He feels as if he was a victim this week, but thinks he did well to pick himself up and continue. He feels that if he goes home, he won’t have that chance to say goodbye to Michelle. Well, actually, he will have some time to say goodbye.

He has a lovely message for Michelle before stepping down and hugging his love interest.

White and red are safe, meaning another boy will go. The trainers, white and red team leave the weigh in room but Michelle goes to hug Hamish tearily.

So, who will Hamish have to face? Well, Graham wants to play strategically. With the highest weight loss percentage, if Graham goes up again and it goes to a hung vote, he will still beat Hamish. Good strategy.

In elimination, the six contestants wait for the contestants to enter.

Opinion point: Who from the black team deserves to go up the most?

After the break, it does turn out to be a Hamish v. Graham vote. If Graham goes home, they will finally have eliminated the lovable bear! But will the red team turn on Graham? I doubt it somewhat.

Graham reveals truthfully why he is up for elimination, which is quite graceful. Graham could not bear to see Alex, who had a lower weight loss percentage than Hamish, leave.

Graham still feels as if he deserves a fourth chance, after facing elimination three times now.

Again, the black and red team alliance is called into question and Lydia says there is no more of an alliance between them than there is between Hamish and Michelle.

Hamish feels he had one of the toughest weeks and wonders why everyone is targeting him. He then says he knew he would be targeted after Luke left.

Michelle is thinking like she wants to go back to the bush.

As the contestants vote, Hayley tells Hamish he will leave if he gets a hung vote.

Kasey is first to vote. She says this was a hard decision, but decides to vote for Graham.

To Lydia. She voted for the person she believed can be a threat. She votes for Hamish.

To Selena and she votes with her head and not with her heart. She decides that the person who needs to be here the most is Graham, sending Hamish home.

Everyone is shocked. The music goes sketchy and Michelle puts it down to her change in emotion. Kasey however said that they discussed that they would vote black all the way.

Selena says that she didn’t know Graham would be put up which makes Kasey shake her head. Selena would have voted for Alex, but Graham needs to be here.

If Hamish receives one more vote, he will be eliminated.

Opinion point: Do you agree with Selena’s view?

Margie is next and she could not vote for the one person who has ‘never given up’. Yeah, Graham has given up a few times, so that’s pretty tough to swallow. She votes for Hamish, and Shannan’s last member leaves the group.

This also means that at the current state of play, one finalist WILL be female.

Michelle is shocked and cries as she gives him some parting words. Hamish knows that while it will be difficult, he has to accept that he now has to complete his journey on the outside.

We recap his best bits before he is told to say his goodbyes.

Hayley asked what the one thing he will miss would be. It is obvious and as he leaves, Michelle breaks down, understandably. There’s gonna be words with Selena!
He leaves the last but definitely not least member of the blue team. Seeing him say goodbye to Michelle is pure heartbreak.

We see how he is doing 4 weeks later, and we find out he has lost 32kg and wants to lose 25 more.

Well if this episode will be known for anything, it will be for its controversial elimination and its emotion. That elimination was simply, an event. The last blue team member voted out due in part to Selena, a member of Michelle’s team. Technically, Hamish would have been voted out anyway, but that was very heartbreaking to see.

That conveyance of emotion, which was evident throughout the episode, is what I’m looking for and they did it brilliantly tonight.

In fact, other than some product placement here and there, this episode was perfect!

The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles next airs Mar 6 at 7PM on TEN.

Production Values (visual and audio techniques, overall ‘bling’ of the show): 5/5

‘Sell-out’ factor (Cross-promotion and product placement free?): 1.7/2

Entertainment Value (emotional feel, storyline, eventful?): 3/3

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.7/10

 

Previous episode: The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles Season Seven – Challenge #6

Another week of The Biggest Loser has come to an end; so what better time to look back at some hidden scenes and generally recap on the week that has been. Along the way, we’ll also see how Bek has been coping on the outside!

Hayley welcomes us again from her chair in the weigh in room. To begin the show, we recap the week that has been. The challenges, including the contest and Thursday’s main challenge, Luke’s expulsion and the White team’s banishment to the bush were the key highlights in this package.

We then take a closer look at this week’s elimination, where Bek was blindsided into being the white team’s vote to face elimination. She, and the viewing public, probably all felt they would have sent Selena.

We recap Bek’s time on the show, which is a little repetitive. We’ve seen some of this stuff about three times now. Hayley reminds us that the Biggest Loser strives to make people change on the outside.

Bek is busy at her new Fitness First gym and she feels as if there is a lot of positivity in her life to keep her going. She details her very strenuous exercise routine.

She states that this competition has been the toughest thing she has ever done, but she hasn’t given into temptation yet.

But, again, we are back at Hayley as she whips us into an extended look at Luke’s expulsion. There’s some more video footage, and Luke discusses more about how he lost control. We also see Shannan telling Luke that he has lost respect in him. Luke just went back to being ‘the old Luke’.

It’s a teary affair, but it is very much repeated footage. I was actually expecting maybe a bit more new content from this. I mean, it was the biggest story of the week!

After the break, it is time for us to have a look at what people in the camp are saying about Hamish and Michelle. Simon feels that ‘they’re on’ and feels it is because of Hamish’s newfound approach to women. Hamish thinks he is feeling the ‘L’ word more and more each day. He even admits to Shannan that it could be ‘first love’.

Lisa sees them everywhere together, but doesn’t disclose whether they’ve been in the bedroom, but Margie says there have been sleepovers!
We see video footage of the two following each other around. Everyone sounds very positive about the relationship.

We also relive Hamish’s heartfelt message to Michelle.

Back to Bek’s affairs, and she goes to visit Norman Swan for an update on her health. As always, she is directed into a room full of fatty food. Mind, it isn’t as big a table as what Ryan had- that was enormous! This is petite in comparison.

She is shocked by what she sees, and so am I. These are all my favourite foods! We’re going to have to wait until after the break for Bek’s bio-age.

Opinion point: Would you like to see more new content in these episodes?

After the break, we are reminded that Bek’s bio-age was 35 compared to her actual age of 26. So what is her age now?

Her current bio-age is…28! And to think that she is now 27! But she now has to be able to keep up her good work. She has lost 29kg! She wants to reach 70kg by finale.

Hayley then takes us back to the Contest, where we witness some unseen footage of Margie heckling Hamish. It was funny at the time, and it’s funnier now to see what else she did to mock him. We also see Simon pulling out a karate kid move, making Margie hopeful that he will drop.

Hamish also performs the Macarena. We find out that Margie’s biggest motivation to get the contest over and done with was because she saw her team mates eating wraps, which she liked the look of. She confesses that she feels hungry all the time.

Opinion point: If Margie always feels hungry, will she be able to keep off the weight when she isn’t under the prying eyes of the Biggest Loser trainers?

After the break, it is time for Bek’s makeover. That means it’s time to see Sammy again!

After a short conversation, the makeover begins.

Before the reveal, we see what she used to look like, and now, she looks completely new. She’s probably the first contestants to now not look fat. She looks fantastic, but there’s still a lot of work to do. She is now a size 18.

And to see the episode off, we get the usual preview of next week’s action. Doesn’t look as nearly as exciting as this week.

So now the week is officially over, and I did really expect to see more new content concerning Luke’s expulsion.

Overall, I don’t think this show is focussing enough time on one aspect. Since the start, I’ve had a problem with this show’s tendency to go from one scene, back to Hayley, then to another scene, and then quickly back to Hayley. It’s very choppy, and therefore it lacks depth.

But the production quality is high, and it doesn’t look nearly as thrown together as All Fired up did with The Apprentice.

The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles next airs Mar 5 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?): 1.9/2

Entertainment Value (emotional feel, storyline, eventful?): 2/3

Courtney’s Verdict: 8.8/10

 

Explosivity is the key theme here, people. This week, it wasn’t about the shows that were on air; but it was completely, 100% about what the hell was going on inside! Excess Baggage had blow ups and revelations. My Kitchen Rules featured the first four contestants in elimination. Biggest Loser prepares to expel one of their contestants. If any of that doesn’t whet your appetite, then what the hell will?

We began the week with Excess Baggage. This time, they didn’t bother going anywhere to out of reach; planting their arses down in the Hunter Valley; basically where the show films its weekly check ins and soon, eliminations.

It’s a beautiful place, but the challenges aren’t so crash hot! We began with a spirit challenges. Contestants had to assemble and ride bikes through the paddocks to an estate, where they would have to fill 8 team-coloured jugs up with crushed grapes- crushed by them!

The key word here was ‘team-coloured’ jugs. This little rule made the outcome the way it was. Darryn & Lisa showed some fire early, but they ended up coming second to last. The orange, green and grey teams come first, second and third respectively in this challenge- but everyone except the grey, red and blue team used their correctly coloured buckets! They end up winning the prize points.

The next day is the breakthrough experience, and this week it would be Ajay, Matt, Lana and Dipper to take on some aerobatics in 50 year old planes. A scary thought for everyone involved, but moreso Ajay, who has a fear of crashing on just regular flights.

They all completed the challenge without Dr. Tim having to come into the equation too much.

Nathan struggled this week, seeing Tim about his issues rather than train. It may have affected him in the check-in.

The endurance challenge saw the contestants drag hot-air balloons across a field, deflate and pack them, and then blow-dart the hell out of ten balloons. Former clown Ajay helped her team to a victory, but again, the red team didn’t come last! They came second to last.

In check in, well, the scores looked a bit like this;

AJAY & MATT: 90.9

DIPPER & LANA: 88.9

BRANT & JOHN: 83.0

KEVIN & RENAE: 82.0

CHRISTINE & NATHAN: 81.7

KATE & SARAH: 80.6

GABBY & BEN: 75.8

DARRYN & LISA: 75.5

That score was despite Darryn & Lisa winning this week and Lisa losing the most body fat. They obviously have a long road ahead of them and only one week to go before elimination.

This week saw contestants fire up. Lisa is now more vigilant against Darryn’s attacks, and Dipper got a little out of control in a boxing match with Christian.

But The Biggest Loser proved to have the biggest scandal of the week- and it hasn’t even played out on screens yet.

To begin the week, Hayley told them all that this week would be ‘Immunity Week’. The winners of three challenges would win immunity and a 24-hr pass where they could go wherever they wanted for one night away from camp.

Luke won the first challenge after hauling bricks from one pallet to another. A surprise weigh-in which saw Graham gain wait and Bek lose nothing brought down-and-out Lydia good news as she managed to lose nearly as much weight as she did the weigh-in before. This gave her the title of ‘Biggest Loser of the weigh in’ (not the week, as this was a mid-week weigh in) and immunity, with that second 24-hr pass.

After a chocolate eating temptation, Hamish showed his ‘mummy-boys’ side off and consumed nearly a box of chocolate despite knowing no one else was playing! It was a stupid decision frowned down upon everyone (probably even an absent Luke), but it still earned him that third 24-hr pass and what comes with every temptation, a spot of immunity!

The Challenge then aired in full on Thursday, with explosive consequences. All teams had to dig a kayak and an oar out of the ground, take it to the other side of the beach, row out to collect weights representing the contestant’s weight losses each week, and bring them back to shore in order to ‘not lose’. The loser would incur a 1kg weight PENALTY for each member of their team.

All teams worked well, except the white team. Selena was slow, and by the looks of it, she wasn’t helping at all. But Bek and mainly Kasey at one point’s actions proved to be nothing but bullying and overreaction. It caused Selena to storm off and ask her teammates to vote her off if they lost the challenge.

They ended up losing the challenge, as they didn’t even dig out their two items before the other three teams completed the entire task. Despite the team unable to actually ‘vote off’ one of their own (they can only nominate them for elimination), they all seem content in unanimously voting out Selena.

It was a tense challenge which also saw a small scuffle between Hamish and Luke. What better way to celebrate than to dress up and have a party? Harmless fun? Not for one. As we saw on Thursday, some contestants looked a bit wonky and woozy. Someone is providing them alcohol.

That is against the rules.

I’m seeing a lot of activity occurring around an article I created detailing the scandal. All I can say is that you guys MUST watch Monday, as this is where this incident will finally be addressed in full by the show.

To My Kitchen Rules now, and strategy has shown its ugly face. Its elimination week and we see Simon & Meg, Thomas & Carla, Megan & Andy, Peter & Gary, David & Scott and Emma & Andrew facing the chop.

After a shocking first dinner, Thomas & Carla managed to find themselves with a low score at the bottom of the leaderboard. Simon & Meg were able to provide a standout performance, and despite being Kiwi, I’m actually barracking for them here!

Megan & Andy came about, and after managing to beat Thomas & Carla, the Victorian Villains decided to stoop to a new low and provide Emma & Andrew, Thursday’s competitiors, a measly 1/10 based on pure strategy. Sure, their dinner wasn’t crash hot, but it wasn’t worth a 1.

They really do make Dr. Evil look like a cute puppy dog wrapped in cotton candy!

So the knives are out on all three shows, and next week, there looks to be no stopping this brutal train!

As we all know, The Biggest Loser has a shock expulsion on Monday. ONE male will be eliminated, and my money is on either Luke or Hamish. With Luke’s alcohol binge during his 24-hr pass made a note of by producers, I would say it is more likely him than mummy’s-boy Hamish.

Due to this scandal, it really is taking the gleam off of the rest of the week, so I’m not so sure how this will affect the next elimination, weigh in, or any other aspect of next week’s dynamics. Maybe Ryan, the last eliminated contestant, will get to come back in for some reason. He is the heaviest contestant ever, so I can see them pulling that trick.

Excess Baggage heads to sunny Gold Coast. It should be a week of fun, sun and all the rest in between that the wonderful Gold Coast can offer- until the first elimination that is!

Speaking of first eliminations, My Kitchen Rules finishes its elimination round, leaving someone out to dry. Currently, it’s Emma & Andrew who are most likely to go, but anything could happen.

So that’s the current state of play, ladies and gentlemen. I do hope you guys stick with these wonderful shows over the next week, and I look forward to seeing you reactions along the way. In the meantime, you can view any of this week’s episodic blogs below.

 

THE LIBRARY

Monday

The Biggest Loser: Singles Season Seven – Weigh In & Elimination #4

Excess Baggage Season One – Hunter Valley Week Begins (Spirit Challenge #4)

My Kitchen Rules. Season Three – Episode Thirteen: WA Couple, Thomas & Carla

Tuesday

The Biggest Loser: Singles Season Seven – Immunity Week Challenge #1

Excess Baggage Season One – Breakthrough Experience #4

My Kitchen Rules. Season Three – Episode Fourteen: NZ Couple, Simon & Meg

Wednesday

The Biggest Loser: Singles Season Seven – Immunity Week Challenge #2 & Temptation #5 (Surprise Weigh In!)

Excess Baggage Season One – Endurance Challenge #4

My Kitchen Rules. Season Three – Episode Fifteen: TAS Couple, Megan & Andy

Thursday

The Biggest Loser: Singles Season Seven –Challenge #5

Excess Baggage Season One – Check In #4

My Kitchen Rules. Season Three – Episode Sixteen: WA Couple, Emma & Andrew

Friday

The Biggest Loser: Singles Season Seven – Friday Night #2

 

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