With last week’s team shake-ups, wannabe quitter and scale-side shenanigans behind them, it looked as though this week might give the remaining contestants on “The Biggest Loser” a chance to catch their breath and readjust to life on the ranch.
Looks can be deceiving.
While the red, black, green and blue teams weren’t asked to shuffle members or change T-shirt colors for the first time in ages, there wasn’t any time to high-five over that fact before the latest team twist struck — a new team had the opportunity to join the game.
Twelve weeks into competition, the players (and viewers) learned about the white team for the first time. Evidently LeAnn and Vance, a mother and son pair, had been playing the game on their own since the beginning. All they had to do to win a spot on the ranch was to lose a higher percentage of weight than the on-ranch player with the lowest loss percentage so far — that would be Kaylee with just more than 25 percent behind her.
But dropping pounds without the built-in gym and sans personal trainers had been a bigger challenge than the white team expected. Shortly after their surprising arrival, LeAnn and Vance were on their way back out the door.
That was just one example of the twists and unexpected turns players experienced. As the week wore on, “Losers” soon learned to expect the unexpected.
For instance, a good thing turned out to be a bad thing when Olivia won a coveted golden egg and later learned that it meant she had the lone vote to eliminate a player this week — a task she didn’t want. And a bad turn appeared good when Courtney and Jen lost a simple ball-drop challenge and spent an off-ranch week getting spa treatments and working out at their own pace.
Of course, good and bad had a chance to take another switcheroo by the time the teams stepped on the scales.
In the end, Olivia’s prize wasn’t so bad, as she never had to use it. That’s because Jen and Courtney spent too much time on those spa treatments and no time with their trainer. The two-member red team landed in last place.
Courtney lost two pounds, which earned her immunity as the biggest loser on her team, and Jen’s zero-pound loss earned her an automatic exit.
Ree Hines thinks the red team’s bad luck was lucky for Rulon. Follow on Twitter and tell her your take.