On “Biggest Loser,” Victory Brings Responsibility

The “Biggest Loser” contestants have been living and working together long enough to stop being polite. Week four began with fireworks as the players blasted the White team’s Michael for not working hard enough in the gym. Trainers Bob and Jillian also confronted the Red team about Melissa’s failure to lose weight for two weeks in a row — coincidentally, two weeks where the Red team’s weight would not count toward elimination.

“I am 99 percent sure that there was game play involved,” said Bob.

Jillian was even more convinced. “There is no question in my mind,” she said; Melissa “threw the weigh-ins. Trust me.”

Despite their trainers’ suspicions, the Red team’s Melissa and Lance continued to be strong contenders in the challenges. In the week’s first competition, the married couple beat the other teams by most quickly circumnavigating a mile-long course and collecting three cards with hidden checkmarks. Though there was luck involved in retrieving the correct cards, the victory suggests that the Red team will continue to be a force.

The win also gave the couple immunity, meaning that Melissa’s weight at the end of the week again would not be counted toward elimination.

But the winning couple’s joy was brief when host Alison Sweeney explained that they would have to choose three other teams to be burdened with disadvantages. “With ultimate power comes responsibility,” she told them.

The Red team gave the first disadvantage, “no elimination vote,” to the White team’s Michael. John, of the Brown team, was penalized with a “No access to the gym” handicap, forcing him to confine his workouts to the pool and the ranch grounds. The pair assigned the last penalty, a “2-pound weight disadvantage,” to the Green team’s Miggy and Migdalia, reasoning that they were strong enough to surmount it.

The Green team — and all the other teams — needed every ounce of strength they possessed for this week’s final challenge. In it, the teams were enclosed in metal cages that they were able to slowly hoist on cables by pulling down on a heavy bar. The team that raised their cage to the finish line, 120 feet above their heads, first would win phone calls home as well as the ability to bestow phone privileges to three other teams.

Cousins Sam and Koli of the Gray team won the challenge, followed closely by the Red team. The winners granted the Red team’s Melissa and Lance, Green’s Miggy and Migdalia and John, the sole survivor of the Brown team, phone calls home too.

At the week’s weigh-in, nearly half of the “Biggest Loser” challengers continued to see double-digit weight losses on the scale. Michael, of the White team, lost 15 pounds, bringing his total loss at the ranch to 70 pounds and putting him in position to set a new record for losing 100 pounds in the shortest time.

As trainer Jillian had predicted, Melissa, after losing no weight one week and only 1 pound the next, posted a loss of 11 pounds. “Peer pressure has cured Melissa’s problems,” Jillian remarked.

However, the Green team’s mother-daughter Miggy and Migdalia fell short, losing just 5 pounds combined. Though the pair blamed Melissa’s game play for their loss, host Alison pointed out that their poor showing would have put them below the yellow line even without the 2-pound disadvantage.

In a close vote, the other contestants opted to accept the Green team’s wishes and send daughter Migdalia home to her family.

Do you believe the Red team’s Melissa when she swears that she has not been tricking the scale? Weigh in!

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