The Biggest Loser Season 10: Week 4 Breakdown

Happy Tuesday everyone! Or, as it's said in my house, it's Biggest Loser day, baby! Which means more drama, but also one day closer to the weekend (not that I'm counting or anything).

Anywho, let's get right into it!

The sweetness of temptation
This week's episode got RIGHT to it, and within the first few minutes, we were informed there'd be a temptation. But wait, there's more! In classic BL style, Alison also informs us that once again, the weigh-in will be mid-week, but also that there will be two lines to worry about this week. The usual yellow line will be placed halfway up the list of players, but there will also be a red line. The red line singles out the player with the lowest percentage of weight loss...who will have to go home immediately. Great.

So back to the temptation challenge, the contestants walk into an area out side that holds many shelves....and 400 cupcakes. I can only imagine how it must've smelled (I first thought of a Yankee Candle that makes me hungry, ha!). Under one of the many, many cupcakes was a paper disc, and that disc signified a one pound advantage. Ok, that's wonderful, but who cares? Well, this prize was like no other in Biggest Loser history, because it's the gift that keeps on giving, literally. For every week that the winner holds onto the prize, another pound is added. So let's think about it, if the person that wins it is fairly confident, they could hold onto that prize until it equals an 8 pound advantage. Unreal!

So back to the challenge, each contestant that chose to participate would have to eat a cupcake to see if the disc is under it. If not, they can head over to a common table where 4 clues are housed, reading one clue after each cupcake they eat. Only 4 people participated, and that was Rick, Adam, Elizabeth, and Jesse. We got to see all 4 clues (which were pretty specific) until finally, Adam got the correct cupcake. It was a close call, too, considering Rick was just about to reach for it.

Small confession: I do love cupcakes, but watching the close-ups of those guys eating them...ewww. Maybe the Biggest Loser is inspirational in more ways than they know.

Elizabeth, of course, melted down when she realized she wasn't going to win this challenge. Personally, it seems like that girl is always crying, though I can understand since she's always below the yellow line. I just got this strange feeling like this was going to be her week to have an emotional break-through...but we'll see about that.

Aftermath of the challenge
One good thing about the temptation challenge was that chef Curtis Stone dropped by to talk to the contestants about how to make a 100 calorie cupcake. I loved Lisa's reaction and totally agreed. I think the little 'ding' sound when he raised his eyebrows said it all (thank you Biggest Loser editor, you did it justice!). It was really interesting to see what Mr. Stone used to make the cupcake, and though we didn't get the full recipe (though I'm sure you could find it online), we got the general idea. Instead of eggs, use egg whites; instead of flour, use wheat; instead of sugar, use honey; and the frosting is made out of raspberry puree. I'll tell you, those cupcakes looked really yummy (and so did Mr. Stone. *ahem*). I was happy for Lisa, who got to sneak in an extra hug at the end!

So one thing I didn't mention yet is that just after the challenge, Brendan and Frado start making comments that Adam will now have a huge target on his back with the prize that he won. Later that night, Aaron actually goes to talk to Adam about the whole thing, and basically pep talks him and lends his support.

Meanwhile, Brendan, Frado, Patrick, and....*gasp*...Ada are talking a private room about Adam's 'target' and how they'll vote him out if he ends up being available for elimination. They flat out ask Ada if she's in, and she agrees to their plan. I totally shouted, "Noooooooooooo!" when I saw Ada in there, scheming with this rather annoying alliance. I'm not really sure why I'm annoyed with the alliance, but I am. And since week 1, I admit that I've had a bit of a soft spot for Ada, so you can imagine my disappointment when I saw what she was getting involved in.

The craziest reaction...
The next day, Bob and Jillian come in to meet the contestants and talk about the previous day's activities. I had to laugh at Jesse's confession that he was very worried about Bob and Jillian kicking his tail for eating some cupcakes in the challenge.

I thought for sure Bob or Jillian or both would freak out about the temptation challenge (because they usually do), but like Sophia, I was in awe at the calm energy coming from them. Jillian at one point said she hated the game, not the player, but I was still kind of shocked. It was almost like after 10 seasons, they finally decided not to fight it anymore because the players will do what they'll do, and they just can't always be stopped. I also got the feeling they were more concerned about the fact that there was a red line this week, which was the main focus of that day's workout.

This week's workout
First let me just say, I found it hilarious when Patrick started talking about the girls stressing out because they're always below the yellow line. Wait, wasn't he the same guy that was with them a couple of weeks ago? Oh, that's right, he was the only guy below the yellow line that week....silly me.

And speaking of The Alliance, we got to watch another shrieking Frado montage this week. Although, his screaming may come off as annoying, but you have to admit that the man seems to be giving it his all.

We also got to see a bit of a freak-out with Elizabeth. Jillian was trying to push her to her limits when Elizabeth showed signs of having an asthma attack. However, Jillian calls her out on faking it, saying that Elizabeth's always using that as a way to hold herself back, and that she needs to learn how to take control of her life and her situation.

Other interesting workout moments:

Mark's back gives out while doing a rowing exercise, which leaves him panicked about the weigh-in.

Aaron does 10 two-minute sprints with Jillian, and he struggles with all of them. He got the last one, and the rest of the players (and Jillian) egged him on to finish the last one. I think it hit me hard especially when Frado yelled out Aaron's son's name (London), which is Aaron's primary focus in all this. He finished the last sprint just fine, followed by cheers from everyone else.

The weigh-in
The announcement is made that Adam will be holding onto his advantage for another week, which means that it'll be worth 2 lbs next week. Yikes. But other than that, the results for the weigh-in are:

Mark: currently 361lbs, lost 8

Elizabeth: currently 223 lbs, lost 6

Patrick: currently 356 lbs, lost 10

Lisa: currently 260 lbs, lost 7

Aaron: currently 419 lbs, lost 12

Rick: currently 297 lbs, lost 9 (broke the 300 mark!!)

Jesse: currently 321 lbs, lost 8

Burgandy: currently 213 lbs, lost 5 (Freak out alert! There was some cheering from other contestants, but she was definitely disappointed in herself.)

Ada: currently 224 lbs, lost 10 (Shot to the number 1 spot for percentage lost, and you could tell she was uncomfortable with the attention from it.)

Jessica: currently 254 lbs, lost 7

Brendan: currently 315 lbs, lost 11

Frado: currently 317 lbs, lost 20 (Had a special heartfelt thank you for Bob for working him so hard, which was nice to see).

Adam: currently 346 lbs, lost 10 (No one really seemed happy, as they know his advantage grows now.)

Sophia: Told she has to lose 5 lbs in order to stay above red line: currently 250 lbs, lost 2

So Sophia is going home, right off the bat, no vote or challenge. At least she was positive, looking at her time there on the ranch as a gift so that she's learned to stand on her own two feet.

And with that, Frado was the winner of the weigh-in with the biggest percentage lost, which means he can save one person who fell below the yellow line. Later that night, Mark went to talk to him, but not to the capacity that I would've thought. Instead of pleading for Frado to vote him in, he asked him not to. He said he didn't want Frado to save him just because of his bad back, and that he's been medically cleared to compete in the game and in the elimination challenge, and he was feeling confident that he could save himself. I grew more respect for Mark, knowing he wasn't looking for any pity to get an easy out.

Ada's breakthrough
We got to see a bit of the behind-the-scenes action tonight when Jillian explained that the weigh-ins can take a few hours and that's when the trainers take a lot of time to really talk to the contestants. During the weigh-in this week, Ada was overheard on camera saying "I just haven't had an emotional breakthrough yet" to Jillian after she had her weight measured. And Jillian answers with, "Because I haven't made you have one yet".

So at yet another workout, Jillian singles Ada out and basically decides she's going to work Ada extremely hard until she either passes out or finally breaks down. As it turns out, Ada did basically melt down after Jillian wonders if Ada's purposely trying to make herself a failure. I think it's pretty clear how Ada feels when Jillian asks her, "Do you feel like a failure now? Does it feel just like home?"

Then there's a conversation between trainer and player where Ada again talks about her brother that drowned when she was a toddler and how her parents have always blamed her for it. I think Jillian put it perfectly when she said, "Until you feel strong enough to deal with the pain in your life, you're not going to be able to feel the joy, either." I'm hoping that helped Ada out...she's personally one of my favorites.

A special treat from Bob
I was kind of surprised when, in the middle of a workout at the gym, Bob announces, "If you're below the yellow line, please come meet me in front of the gym." So the bottom 6 met him out front, where he invited them all to his house that evening for dinner, something he'd never done before. It was so cool to see Bob's house, what little of it we did see. He had a personal friend (who happens to be a chef) cook up a strictly vegan meal for them all and they got to eat on Bob's deck, which looked like a little piece of heaven overlooking a city.

I thought the most interesting part of the visit to Bob's house was when he talked to Lisa about being a busy mom and what she feeds her kids. She talked about how in her town, there's one place that offers $5 pizzas, and Bob admits that it's so hard to compete with something so fast and cheap. But he also pointed out to her that as a parent especially, she has great responsibility in showing her kids how to eat properly.

Burgandy's bad news
Just before the elimination challenge, Burgandy visits the Biggest Loser medical center and talks to the doctor about her foot and leg, where she's been feeling some bad pain lately. After an examination, it turns out she's got severe tendinitis, and the doctor has decided to pull her out of the challenge so she doesn't risk further damage to herself. Of course, she was really upset about being pulled (I would, too!).

Elimination Challenge
First thing's first, Frado chooses who he'll save this week, and his choice is Jessica. His reasoning was that she just missed staying above the yellow line at the weigh-in, so he felt like she deserved to be saved.

So this week's challenge was an interesting one. The remaining 4 contestants that were competing (after one was saved and one was held back for medical reasons) were Mark, Elizabeth, Jesse, and Lisa. The challenge was to unroll a football field's length of carpet and then race back to the starting line when finished. It was also put out there that each roll weighed about 900 lbs....yikes!

It looked like Mark led the pack most of the weigh, making it back to the finish first, but Jesse was definitely right on his heels, finishing second. The real fierce competition seemed to be between Lisa and Elizabeth, who each got stuck in a couple of spots. Eventually, Lisa finished third, leaving Elizabeth as the last person (and up for elimination against Burgandy). I won't lie though, I felt a little heart-wrenched when Mark, Jess, and Lisa ran back to Elizabeth and cheered her on to finish the challenge, and it was quite a sight to see them all running back to the finish with her. I think it helped contribute to Elizabeth's good attitude about the whole thing, and she was smiling the whole time, even though she knew she lost.

The vote is in
I kind of knew that Burgandy's number was up when I realized that Frado and Brendan were with Elizabeth in Boston at the beginning, and they confirmed my guess when they both mentioned that they wanted to keep Elizabeth there for that very reason (blame the Bean Town camaraderie!). It was close to unanimous, and Burgandy ended up going home. However, she left with dignity, I thought...there was no fussing, and it was like she knew it was going to happen this week.

One more note of interest with the voting....RIGHT after Burgandy left, Alison got right back to business and announced to the remaining players that their competition was about to get even bigger. The players looked towards a nearby building and spotted 5 new players, who happened to be the ones that competed in the qualifiers during the first episode but didn't make it. We didn't see much else except Alison telling them that they'd meet the returning players the next morning at the gym.

Updates
Sophia first came to the ranch weighing 272 lbs, but is now down to 225 lbs. It was inspirational to hear her say that the ranch taught her how to just slow down and appreciate life, instead of doing everything fast and on-the-go, including eating. She seems like a better influence now to the cheerleading team she coaches, and she even teaches a spin class.

Burgandy, who arrived at the ranch weighing 231 lbs, now weighs 180 lbs and looks fantastic. She has been trying to get more active with her kids, and there was a cool clip of her leading some friends and neighbors on a walking exercise through her neighborhood. It looks like Burgandy was the classic example of Biggest Loser done right.

The Preview
Next week's preview was pretty cool, and once again mentioned that we would have 5 new people to meet, but only one would be staying (I wonder how that will be decided). Also, it looks like someone will throw the weigh-in, and Jillian will go on a yelling spree (love it!).

Until next week...