Previous episode: The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles Season Seven – Weigh In #2
So, after last night’s cut off, we all know that we have an elimination to get through. Then, the episode takes a different tone. We have a challenge involving the contestants heading into the spotlight (probably not the Contest and probably doesn’t involve the Walk) and we also get to see some funny expressions on the faces of the trainers as they gawk down the barrel of the house’s cameras to watch their contestants get up to a bit of unhealthy mischief.
The contestants are crying as they find out that Shane and Michelle are up for elimination. We recap the last few moments of the previous episode. Another reason why this elimination would be best put in Monday’s episode.
The contestants write down their votes for elimination. Who will go?
Lydia reveals her vote first. She votes for this person on head decision and fears her decision will haunt her in the game for a long time. She voted for Shane.
Ryan is next. He found the decision hard as he considers both candidates as friends. He cannot live with voting off someone- and that person is Shane. Therefore, he votes for Michelle.
Lisa is next. She doesn’t want to do this vote either, so she voted with her head. Very reluctantly, she voted for Shane to leave. She cannot keep it together as she says this.
Luke is next. He voted with his heart and voted for who needs the competition most. He voted for Michelle.
Brenda is next. Again, not an easy decision. Brenda bonded with Michelle more than she bonded with Shane, so she votes for Shane.
If Shane receives one more vote, he will be eliminated.
Hamish is next to vote. He loves them both, but used his head in this decision. He decides to vote off Shane.
And with that, Shane has been eliminated from The Biggest Loser: Singles. It’s a teary goodbye. Shane turns to Ryan and tells him not to cry and tells them all that they should find voting on The Biggest Loser hard, but they should suck it up, saying they will get complacent if they don’t.
He finds that the hardest thing about leaving is not being able to show others his transformation, or see theirs.
Hayley cries as she wishes him the best of luck. With that, Shane leaves the competition.
Four weeks on, we see how Shane has transformed his life. He has more energy to play with his son. He describes the new relationship and details how his fitness has improved dramatically, and so has his diet. He has lost 23kg.
Opinion point: Did Shane deserve to leave the competition?
After the break, the contestants wait on the couch to see who has been eliminated. The red and blue team sit down before Michelle heads in last, revealing Shane as the evictee. Graham is devastated, but the white team are happy as Larry!
Simon asks how the vote went and they all recount what we just saw.
The black team comes to grips with this information and Graham describes how the black team will now be stepping up, warning them to be careful.
But, where are the trainers?
Well, Hayley has called them all to the weigh in room. She tells them she has brought them all here for a ‘progress report’ on their contestants. They should all be training hard and eating healthily, right?
The trainers hope to think that they are.
As the judges cannot be on guard 24/7, Hayley reveals that for the first time, they have implemented a new way for them to keep track of their contestants. This year, their contestants are being watched! The judges are shocked, but how much of this is scripted?
They get a taste of what kind of cameras the camp holds. To say they are impressed is a massive understatement.
Hayley shows Shannan footage of how his team has been skimping out on training sessions, and how they have been abusing the pantry! Notably Ryan, who goes through quite a few packets of different types of fowl and ham.
Even if this is scripted, Shannan looks deflated.
But Shannan isn’t the only trainer who has to be worried. Michelle is next to watch her team eat, eat, eat, not-train, not-train, not-train. Margie even goes as far as hiding her snacking from her fellow contestants. Hayley’s commentary is extremely entertaining. Her monotonous voice throughout the scene while documenting Margie’s thoughts brings me to tears. Good on ya, Hails!
Michelle is not happy with Margie’s sleuth skills- and why should she, after a week of claiming Selena is slacking off!
Hayley reveals that this is just the tip of their ‘spy network’. Now that reaction is definitely faked!
She then takes them to ‘The Bunker’…despite the fact that Michelle actually said ‘no’.
She takes them through a very cheesy but quite well done maze of dank, underground tunnels, to a very secluded room. The room itself is very futuristic, and includes a lot of screens! All of them showing up to date footage of the house! This, ladies and gentlemen, is BIG BROTHER! The only difference is, no one knows they are being watched! And that’s the way it’s going to stay. The trainers must not discuss this with anyone.
Their first piece of information they receive from the cameras is how Shane is missing and therefore eliminated.
With that, they head to the house. Michelle sneaks into the pantry to see what exactly is in there. She finds a LOT of things that were not supposed to be in there. She decides to keep all the stuff in the fridge as a measure of trust.
Opinion point: What do you think of ‘The Bunker’?
After the break, it’s a new day. The contestants are training and Commando wants to put the boys through more pain than Shane when he was eliminated.
After training, Michelle and Shannan sit the contestants down on the sofas for a surprise visit. Shannan comments on how much they stink, and tells them all to get into something fresh and do their hair and make up. This is because they’re going out on the town!
They are all excited, but as we see, they’re going somewhere quite special- The Concourse. It seems they are expecting them. They enter the auditorium where Hayley is waiting for them.
She asks them why they may be at the Concourse Theatre. To see a show? Yes. Well, not ‘see’ the show, per se. They will be starring IN IT! Oh. God.
Bek has no talent, so what can she do?
Hayley tells them that the two fears in life are death and public speaking. Hint, hint?! She tells them that in a few hours, the auditorium will be packed with people wanting to here their story. The people coming here struggle with their own weight battles. This is their chance for the contestants to motivate and inspire.
They will be given self-belief as a reward. They will be on stage with their trainers for support. With that, they go off to prepare!
Opinion point: Is the ‘public speaking’ challenge one of your favourites?
As they all prepare, Kasey gets freaked out for some reason.
She doesn’t feel as if she will be able to get up and speak. As Tiffiny comes in, she breaks down. She knows the game is also a mental one, but she doesn’t know if she can go through with public speaking. People staring at her scares her. She has never spoken in public before.
Tiffiny tells her that one way of getting rid of the weight is talking about it. She tells Kasey that this is the most important part of their journey.
Tiffiny feels she won’t be able to do this, but she really only said that for show.
Shannan is talking to Hamish, telling him he wants to see ‘the real Hamish’ on stage.
Hamish goes through his speech, but Shannan isn’t easily impressed. He wants to have his heart touched, and wants to be grabbed.
Soon enough, he gets a good spokesman for anti-bullying out of Hamish!
Soon enough, the auditorium fills and the stage is set! It’s Showtime!
Alex is first up. How daunting.
He describes his marriage and his struggles. He then describes how he got onto the show. It gives me shivers!
He makes The Commando proud, and impresses the crowd.
Margie is next and she is quite comedic. Her message however, is still there.
Ryan is next and being able to say clearly his ‘title’ was quite inspiring. His life events are very hard to listen to, but he grabs the audience so much with so much emotion. He is VERY motivational.
Next is Lisa and we know her story. Therefore, we know how emotional this will be. Brings tears and tears to your eyes.
Simon is next and again, his story is very emotional and very inspiring.
Hamish is up afterwards, and this has got to be interesting. I’m always touched by his story. I can’t relate to it, but I know a lot of people who can and I don’t even want to imagine what school-life would be like with the bullies he had to put up with.
Graham is next and I think watching him would make me the most tearful. He just looks so innocent, yet so blunted. His speech was more motivational than emotional, which was great.
Opinion point: Did anyone else get emotional during these scenes?
After the break, Kasey is next- can she do it? I reckon she can!
And heck she does! She gets the audience laughing, clapping, listening and most importantly, learning. Kasey still thinks this will be a once only thing.
Michelle is next and she gets extremely emotional. Some audience member tells her to ‘stay strong’.
She sings a song for them all which really gets to people. It’s a rendition of Amazing Grace. Amazing. It gets her a standing ovation. Brilliant.
I would have loved to have seen Selena’s speech, but that’s all they have time for there. They all go out on stage for one more clap before Hayley debriefs on the day’s challenge. She tells them that because they did so well tonight, she has a surprise. What is it? We’ll find out tomorrow.
What a brilliant episode! Set with shocks, emotion, excellent challenges, and an emotional elimination, it was almost perfect.
Having the elimination at the start of the episode doesn’t leave viewers with a strong lasting impression of Shane, and I don’t think it works at all. I also felt some scenes looked a bit faked, but of course I can’t say for sure. Maybe the setting or way The Bunker was revealed could have been done better.
But as I said, that challenge was one of the best I’ve seen, and it always brings a tear to my eye.
The Biggest Loser Australia: Singles next airs Feb 8 at 7PM on TEN.
Read about Shane’s elimination here.
Production Values (visual and audio techniques, overall ‘bling’ of the show): 4.5/5
‘Sell-out’ factor (Cross-promotion and product placement free?): 2/2
Entertainment Value (emotional feel, storyline, eventful?): 3/3
Courtney’s Verdict: 9.5/10
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