By Buzz Byrne
You know a show has turned a corner in creativity when a baritoned narrator intones something drastic in the promos like “This week on THE BIGGEST LOSER…the UNTHINKABLE!” That’s what NBC did this week. It makes you wonder, has reality TV finally crossed the mortality line? Have they actually killed someone? I never want anyone to die, but that would make for an excellent rant.
Imagine my disappointment when it turned out that the contestants were evicted from the BIGGEST LOSER campus. I was relieved no one was dead of course, but is that really UNTHINKABLE!!? It’s rather mundane in the scope of reality TV so maybe in that sense it is unlikely, but not really UNTHINKABLE!! Luckily for us, the deep voiced guy returned.
Thankfully this show is no longer two hours. Unfortunately this means they left out the scene of Trainer Bob ripping his Blue team for ousting Jerry last week. We did get right to the action, though. The reward challenge started with a temptation for the trainers. Cupcakes. Buttercream frosted cupcakes. Jillian and Kim passed immediately even though if they ate the right cupcake their team would get a time advantage for the actual challenge. For Bob it was a different story. With his Arkansas like twang, he sounded positively Clintonesque eyeing a plus size intern as he looked over the treats. He eventually passed and they all dedicated themselves to winning the challenge the right way. Yeah team!
The reward was never told to the participants but our deep voiced friend assured us it would be “A TWIST THAT WILL ROCK TONIGHT’S WEIGH IN!!” It was immunity and, no, it didn’t exactly ROCK anything. Annoyed, perhaps. By the way Red team won the challenge and immunity. Ho hum.
Despite the injustice of this, considering their weight loss numbers at the weigh in (5, 1, 1 and 2 pounds), and the innate goofiness of the show, there was a moment of startling emotion. Bob, having forgone the cupcake and still losing the challenge worked his team extra hard. Urging Patty to push through her workout, Bob invoked her children as reason to go on. He screamed at her that she was worth it and told her to scream it too. “Say “I’m worth it!”” She couldn’t do it right away. She was weak and couldn’t even fake it. Clearly it has been a long, long time since Patty felt she was “Worth it.” You have to be made of stone not to feel something after that.
The weigh in did not go well for Bob’s Blue team. They fell to Jillian’s Black squad. Earlier the Black team tried on some old clothes for Lunatic Trainer Jillian to show how their bodies were changing and it brought tears to her eyes. I expected the raven haired trainer to take the emotions of the moment and chew on some glass or punch a baby. Back to the weigh in and Jillian’s team won. Bob’s Blues lost.
They sent Patty home.
Patty lost a total of 61 pounds from her experience with the show. 36 of those pounds she lost on her own, after being voted out. Congratulations Patty, keep it up.