The Biggest Loser on NBC Season Four

I have to admit, I'm a Biggest Loser junkie. Something about seeing people work towards their goals and achieve them right before my eyes keeps me coming back for more. On the Biggest Loser, each week, contestants work in teams with a trainer, following a rigid diet and exercise program to lose the most weight and beat out their competitors. In true reality TV fashion, each week, the not-so-biggest-loser gets voted off the show. Once they get voted off, you get to see their final results from following their program at home. You then get the instant gratification of seeing a fast-forward of the cast-offs weight loss success. Of course, the other draw for me is seeing others do what I wish I could: lose humongous amounts of weight in a short period of time.

Season four of The Biggest Loser started off in the desert. Last year's host Caroline Rhea has been replaced by a svelte Alison Sweeney. She tells the contestants of her battles with weight and how they she has overcome them to become their host, the usual "I've been there" speech. All the contestants had to race over a burning desert to get to their trainer first. The contestants are all severely overweight, with the lightest woman at 225lbs, and the heaviest man well over 400 lbs. Needless to say, these people must have had a serious stress test and doctor's check up before they were allowed to sprint over the burning desert. Then again, a major coronary would probably make pretty good TV.

This season's Biggest Loser trainers were dramatically dropped from an airplane into the desert. Returning trainers, Bob Harper and Kim Lyons waited in the desert for their students to reach them over what looked like about a mile of hot sand. At this point, the contestants gave their best shot at racing to meet their trainer first. It seemed as though there must have been a rule that everyone show at least a little of their belly, as the run gave the contestants very, very little dignity. Rolls of flab bounced and shook, leaving very little to the imagination.

The first two to reach the trainers were to become the team captains and choose their teammates. The first to reach Bob Harper and become the red team's captain was Jerry, a 62-year-old former boxer and the oldest contestant in Biggest Loser history. Kim Lyons greeted her team's captain, former college football player Phil. The rest of the contestants made their way in, all except for Amber, a paramedic who had to walk the last lengths to the finish. In a show of support, the group went back to meet her, and encouraged her to cross the finish.

After a short getting to know each other period, the choosing of teams began. In schoolyard sports fashion, the teams were chosen, one by one. The red team's captain, Phil, chose Lezlye, David, Bryan, Amy and Amber. The blue team became Jerry, Kae, Neil, Nicole, Patty and Ryan. Interestingly, there was a Kae on last season's team, also. Once the teams were chosen, the last six were left rejected and disappointed, and prepared themselves for the trip home.

As the buses literally left the cast-offs in the dust, a small black figure appeared on a motorcycle. All in black, with a helmet covering the figure's head, the motorcycle came closer and closer to the group of "losers". Cheers of joy rang out when they discovered that this was none other than Jillian Michaels, one of the original trainers for The Biggest Loser, who left last year and was replaced by Kim Lyons. They next learned that they would be the new, secret black team. They would be trained mercilessly and come back to avenge those that rejected them. With a renewed zeal and ready to take on the world, the new black team dove into a grueling desert training session, lugging cement blocks up desert hills in the scorching heat. They were instructed that they were not to say "I can't "or "I'm sorry". When one contestant forgot the rule and breathlessly apologized, the whole group was made to do jumping jacks while holding a cement block overhead.

The other two teams were whisked off, not to a luxury ranch as in previous seasons, but to a dorm style accommodation where they could better focus on "learning to change their lives." Things from here went on in usual Biggest Loser style, with intense workouts and a challenge of putting luggage into a plane and then pulling the plane as a group. The prize would be to receive letters from home. As a viewer, this seemed a bit premature, didn't they just arrive at the desert?

For the weigh-ins, only the red and blue teams were present. The black team continued to work out in a secluded location, and a clock ticked in the corner of the screen with the number of hours remaining until they would meet the other two teams. The weight loss was as usual, dramatic and unbelievable. The most weight lost was by the oldest contestant, Jerry. In a week, he lost 31 lbs, a seemingly impossible amount, even considering the fact that his starting weight was nearly 300lbs. Amber, the last contestant to finish the race at the beginning of the show, lost only 7 lbs. In between there were many more huge weight losses. Most of the men lost at least 20 lbs and even one woman, the red team's Kae, weighed in 20 lbs lighter.

The final weigh-in totals showed the weight loss for Kim Lyons blue team taking second to Bob Harper's red team, which lost a combined total of 109lbs in a week. The blue team was forced to vote off a member, and a disappointed Phil and confrontational Lezlye led the campaign to give Amber the boot. Unsurprisingly, she was voted out in a quick, unanimous vote. Her update showed her losing over 60 lbs on her own at home, which is certainly something to be proud of. She hopes to lose more for the finale, when cast-offs have a second chance at winning money if they lose the most weight at home.

As for the renegade black team, we'll have to weight, I mean wait, until next week's shocker when they try to blow away the competition with their return and quest for revenge against the other two teams. The return of favorite trainer Jillian Michaels makes for a renewed excitement and anticipation for this season of The Biggest Loser.

The Biggest Loser is on Tuesdays at 8pm on NBC.
http://www.nbc.com/The_Biggest_Loser/