Biggest Loser: Families - Week Twelve

My Top 3

Aired 12-9-08

The show opened with a tearful Michelle talking about how she was glad that she made it to the final week at the ranch but it was going to be tough now that she was alone.  She and her mom came a long way in their relationship during this show and it’s amazing now to think about how far apart they were when this all began.  The Blue Team celebrated in one of their rooms cheering and bouncing on the bed.  At least this time they had the decency not to celebrate right in front of Michelle.  The next day the Black Team trainer, Jillian Michaels, met with Michelle because she knew Renee would be gone.  Michelle mentioned how cold and routine it all was for Blue.  Jill commented in an interview segment that she knew the time would come when Michelle had to stand on her own.  Once she found the strength to make it through the final week alone, she would be set to make it through anything.

The Blue Team trainer, Bob Harper, was surprisingly serious when he met up with his team.  He told them that, now that they have played the game and made it to the final four; they were going to play his game.  He told them about Ryan, the season one champ, who also played the “game” extremely well.  The problem was that he never fixed the real problems that caused his weight in the first place and has subsequently gained all of it back.  When Bob asked Vicky what she’d learned about herself, that would keep her from falling into old habits when she returned to real life, she replied with ”nothing”.  Bob told her that was exactly why he was so worried.

Trainer Tip:  Bob recommended beans, lentils and egg whites as alternatives to chicken and fish for protein.  Hey, a trainer tip with no product placement!

Bob made dinner for his team to show them how he eats - all the time.  It was salad, veggies and fish.  He did it to demonstrate that they all needed to figure out how they were going to eat at home.  Bob was still concerned about Vicky because she doesn’t like vegetables.  Vicky, the woman who has been telling us all along that she did this for her kids, said that she had no idea what she was going to feed them.  She didn’t even have the beginnings of a plan!  Here’s hoping that her husband, Brady, learned something while he was at the ranch.

Host Alison Sweeney met up with everyone at the house with a big box marked “special delivery”.  She quickly left them alone with it saying, “You have to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going.”  It turned out to be a box of their old clothes.  Of course, the clothing (especially the pants) were much too big for them now.  Heba suggested that they burn them all to signify that they were done with that part of their lives.  Over the fire, they all vowed to never put the weight back on.

Alison met the contestants at a race track for the final challenge.  She had them put on 11 body weights that corresponded to the weight they lost at each of the 11 weigh ins.  They then had to run the track stopping at 11 pit stops to shed the weight for that week.  The first person who crossed the finish line would win the Biggest Loser Meal Plan, for them and their family, delivered to their home everyday leading to the finale.  Plus, they would also get a cool $10,000.  After saying in an interview segment how much she wanted to win this challenge, Vicky pretty much gave up as soon as it began.  It was really a race between Ed and Michelle but Ed lead the whole way and eventually won. 

Next up, the remaining four watched videos of their BL journey with their trainer.  It was interesting to watch the now very strong Michelle struggle with wanting to quit the show.  Jillian was a complete mess after watching it.  She really is a big ‘ole smushball.  Before watching Vicky’s video, Bob explained that he really wanted Vicky to see it in the hopes of breaking through the shell she had created that kept her from seeing all the goodness that was happening around her.  Let’s put it this way - it was a very kind edit of her time at the ranch.  After it was over, Bob thought he saw something different in her eyes and felt she would be ok.  I hope so, I really do for her sake and for her kids but, I didn’t see anything different.  It all still seemed very calculated.  Ed and Heba’s video was also a kind edit, given that they left out all of Heba’s histrionics, but it did clearly show that these two are genuinely crazy about each other.

Weigh In

Going into the weigh in, everyone was feeling that it was highly likely to end up being an all Blue final three.  Jill knew the deck was stacked against her and Michelle because neither Ed nor Vicky had big loses the week before and Heba was very consistent.

Vicky - lost 6 pounds for a total loss of 3.41%.
Heba - lost 7 pounds for a total loss of 3.23%.
Ed - the look on Ed’s face leading into the weigh in was priceless. He just stood there with his mouth hanging open. This was followed by my jaw hitting the floor as the scale showed that Ed had GAINED 2 pounds. Gained?! At the last weigh in?! In his interview segment, Bob said it was clear to him that gameplaying was involved. He said, “Ed is a man that loves his wife and wants to give his wife anything and everything. Well, Ed’s wife wants to be a finalist in the Biggest Loser. Ed’s gonna do whatever he can do to give Heba just what she wants.” For crying out loud - you two are married! What difference does it make which one of you wins? Plus, you just guaranteed that Vicky will be a finalist. Ugh!
Michelle - lost 9 pounds for a total of 5.26%. Yay!!!!! That’s my girl! She did it the right way and kicked everyone else’s butt.

Alison then announced that America would be deciding between Heba and Ed and told them that they would each get a chance to plead their case to the American public.  In those pleas, Ed asked people to vote for Heba and Heba asked people to vote for Heba - so it wasn’t exactly the “Gift of the Magi”.

The trainers had one final meeting with each person to have them stand next to a life-size picture of themselves from when the journey began.  Bob met with Heba and Ed and gave them both encouragements as they go forward.  Jill did the same with Michelle and then, in a very sweet moment, thanked Michelle for staying and trusting her.  In Bob’s meeting with Vicky he again pushed her not to go backward once she got home.  Vicky said that the biggest change she made was in learning to concentrate on herself first and, yes, I would have to say she did a fabulous job of that.

We finally got our obligatory product placement moment as Vicky plopped herself down in between Heba and Ed while eating a Jell-O pudding cup with the lid still on so we’d know that was exactly what it was. 

Michelle was gorgeous and gracious (yes, I’m biased) on her way out saying that she wanted to show her family that all the sacrifices were worth it.

We got a glimpse of each person’s homecoming as the show closed.  Vicky’s featured her little boy running into her arms and her, effortlessly, picking him up.  Ed & Heba came back to a massive crowd of people and Michelle’s reception featured a big group all wearing pink.  She ran straight into her daddy’s arms. 

So, what a choice we get to make.  Should we vote for the guy who deliberately threw the final weigh in?  Or his trouble-making wife who probably put him up to it?  Frankly, I don’t want either of them.  I guess I’ll end up voting for the one who I think will give Michelle the best chance of winning but I’m not sure which one that is yet. 

For now, I’ll just leave it at - GO MICHELLE!!!!!

Full episodes and bonus clips are available at NBC’s website at the link below:

Tag: jillian michaels