BL9- week 11- Don't Call It a Comeback

Seriously.

The Biggest Loser producers must love spending money on travel. How many times have people left and comeback and left again this season? How many Brita water bottles can we put end to end to demonstrate the amount of miles logged?

Ali announces that the remaining contestants will be competing as SINGLES! No more teams. She also reveals that an eliminated player will be rejoining them on campus, and the previous players are shown standing on a platform with their stink faces on. Unfortunately for Melissa, this is a popularity contest: The Losers currently on the ranch will vote on who they want to return. "GOSH THAT'S CRAZY!!!" Melissa screams.

The eliminated contestants each weigh in and plead their case:

Darrell: From 413 lbs to 309 lbs- 104 lbs lost
"Iron sharpens iron."

Sherry: From 218 lbs to 156 lbs- 62 lbs lost
"You make me young!"

Miggy: From 218 lbs to 191 lbs- 49 lbs lost
"I don't know how to ask."

Victoria: From 358 lbs to 285 lbs- 73 lbs lost
"I've packed my bags three times."

Melissa: From 233 lbs to 182 lbs- 51 lbs lost
"It ain't time for friends."

Lance: From 365 lbs to 274 lbs- 91 lbs lost
"I don't know what my purpose is."

Cheryl: From 227 lbs to 176 lbs- 51 lbs lost
"Anything but to clean the kitchen."

John: From 484 lbs to 399 lbs- 85 lbs lost
"I need to help inspire more."

Patty: From 243 lbs to 197 lbs- 46 lbs lost
"For the first time it's been about me."

Maria: From 281 lbs to 224 lbs- 57 lbs lost
"I've worked really hard."

James: From 485 lbs to 413 lbs- 72 lbs lost
"I fought for my brother. Now it's my turn."

Cherita: From 277 lbs to 230 lbs- 47 lbs lost
"Allow my baby to stay."

"We're playing God," Andrea says. And on that note, the votes are cast:
Ashley: John
O'Neal: Victoria
Daris: Darrell
Stephanie: James
Sam: John
Koli: John
Sunshine: Victoria
Andrea: Victoria
Mike: Victoria

Victoria is staying! And we're done, right? I felt a huge but coming. . .

BUT. There is a challenge for the rest of the eliminated players. Another chance. Melissa starts to drool, "IT'S MY DESTINY!" And Miggy says, "I got this." We know about the bitter rivalry between Melissa and Miggy from previous episodes. Apparently time has not healed this wound.

Ali tells the players what the rules of the challenge are: They must go up and down on a step 1,000 times. Whoever reaches 1,000 first, wins. The winner stays on the ranch. Simple as that. The contestants begin steppin'.

The clear front runners are Melissa, Miggy, and Sherry. The other contestants, like John and James, are struggling. But Melissa is a "monster" according to husband Lance, and she quickly takes the lead, yelling, "I WANT BACK!"

After 25:55 minutes, Melissa takes the prize. Ali announces that Melissa and Victoria have immunity for the week, and everyone says goodbye. . .again. The competitors head back to the gym to meet with Bob and Jillian and reintroduce Melissa and Victoria into the game. "They gave Victoria a gift," Bob says. Yeah. The gift of $250,000!

As Bob and Jillian predicted, going into the singles has started the competitors showing their true colors. And not just the colors of their shirts. There is some MAJOR GAME PLAY a brewin'. And it doesn't involve Melissa this week. Koli of all people plants the seed with Ashley and Andrea that Stephanie threw the weigh in the week that Sherry was voted off. He even says he doesn't have concrete proof of this. MY OPINION? Koli thinks that Sam is being blinded from his goal of winning by his blossoming relationship with Stephanie. Maybe he is jealous. Whatever the reason, it's totally shady.

At the Last Chance Workout, Victoria gets her first schooling by Jillian, O'Neal learns to walk up the stairs by Bob, and Stephanie has a melt down. She tells Jillian she is scared of going home not on her own terms. Jillian tells her she has to stop trying to control the game.

Cut to Ashley confronting Stephanie about throwing the weigh in. Stephanie looks so crushed and hurt. Then Andrea says she doesn't believe it, either. They have each others' backs and all is well, right? RIGHT?

The final weigh in feels as shaky as the scale the losers are standing on:

Victoria: From 285 lbs to 283 lbs- 2 lbs lost

Melissa: From 182 lbs to 178 lbs- 4 lbs lost

O'Neal: From 295 lbs to 291 lbs- 4 lbs lost

Ashley: From 276 lbs to 271 lbs- 5 lbs lost

Mike: From 389 lbs to 381 lbs- 8 lbs lost

Koli: From 287 lbs to 281 lbs- 6 lbs lost

Andrea: From 232 lbs to 227 lbs- 5 lbs lost

Daris: From 244 lbs to 237 lbs- 7 lbs lost

Sam: From 264 lbs to 262 lbs- 2 lbs lost

Sunshine: From 208 lbs to 202 lbs- 6 lbs lost

Stephanie: From 199 lbs to 198 lbs- 1 lb lost

In a terrible twist of fate, Sam and Stephanie have fallen below the yellow line. Like Romeo and Juliet if they were on a weight loss reality show. Everyone votes for Stephanie, and Ashley realizes, "I betrayed a good friend." Hopefully this won't come back and bite her in the butt later.

At the reveal, Stephanie looks beautiful, smiling, and confident. She has lost 96 lbs! I hope she is a serious contender for the at home prize of $100,000. She and Sam could go on a serious vacation with that dough!

Next episode looks like more Melissa drama. . .stay tuned.

Oh yeah. Wayne lost 418 pounds. Go Wayne!

Bob and Brita: My Magical Bob Harper Experience

If you had asked me yesterday morning if I was going to meet Bob Harper, Biggest Loser trainer extraordinaire, I would have said, "Sure. Maybe I'll walk past him on my way to the subway. This is New York, after all." What I would never have imagined is not only did I get to meet him, but he touched my feet.

Intrigued?

On the twitter yesterday, fellow fitness blogger Jacqueline aka Fitarella (check out her site here and her twitter here) asked if I was going to the Bob yoga class in the morning. Hmmm? What? Yes, please! With a couple a quick e-mails, I was confirmed for a car service (!) to pick me up at 6:15 AM for an early morning Bob yoga class sponsored by Brita. We all know Brita from the Biggest Loser ranch, and Bob is a big fan of not using disposable plastic water bottles.

When I arrived, I got to meet Jaqueline in person with her coach Jodi from Model Per4mance (check it out!) and fellow fitness blogger Gym Belle from Gympressions (you can meet her here!). It was almost like getting to go to Fitbloggin'. They are the cutest sweetest ladies! And so full of information. THANK YOU for the opportunity!

When Bob arrived at the New York Health and Racquetball Club on Park Avenue South, we all filed into the yoga class to see some awesome swag from the Brita folks! Of course a Brita pitcher and those green bottles like the ones shown on the Biggest Loser, but also a nifty canvas tote bag and yoga mat. HOLLER! Nothing is better than free cool stuff.

Bob hopped right into the yoga, and although it was only about 40 minutes, I did break a sweat! What a way to wake up! In table top pose we did a balance exercise where Bob pulled on my feet and then my hands. All I could think about was how I haven't had a pedicure in months. I hope he doesn't have a thing about feet. If so, I apologize profusely. We also went into a plie squat move where he pushed down on my legs until I was shaking like Jell-O. My own personal abuse from Bob!

After the workout, the bloggers and news people got to ask Bob questions about everything from exercising to his thoughts on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (he liked it!). I asked him how he got started on The Biggest Loser, and he told a great story about how he had come to LA from Tennessee in a little Toyota, started training out here for "celebrities" (his quotes, not mine) and was asked by NBC to audition for the show. he was skeptical at first, especially about the title, but after much research and a 6-week audition period, he landed the gig. And here he is nine seasons later.

I also want to point out that Bob is an EXCELLENT plugger. We always tease about this during our live tweetfest during #BL9, but Bob does it so seamlessly you don't even know it is happening! Here we are, talking about the importance of working out and hydration, and BAM! Brita plug. Hilarious. If he had pulled out Extra gum or some Ziplock baggies I might have wet myself.

After a quick photo op, I had breakfast with my new lady blogger friends. They are all so cool, I am totally jazzed to be in their company.

All in all, it was a magical day for this lady. I love my life!