Mon, Sep 19, 2011
Since the theme for the year is battle of the ages, the fifteen contestants, who are dropped in the middle of the California desert on their first meeting, are separated into three teams based on age: under thirty, over fifty, and those in-between. Each team will run a mile race across the desert as a team to be able to choose their team trainer: Anna's blue team, Bob's black team, and Dolvett's red team. At the end of the race, they learn that they will all be back to that spot just before the finale to run a marathon, the winner of that race to become an automatic finalist no matter if he/she has already been eliminated. The first workout is an eye opening experience for most, but especially for an ex-professional athlete who ended up being in worse shape than he ever imagined. In the middle of the week, one contestant receives some bad news from home, which ends up being a focusing experience. The first weigh-in yields mixed results, which in turn leads to the first eliminated contestant of the season.
Mon, Sep 26, 2011
There are fourteen contestants remaining after Debbie is voted off the campus after the first weigh-in. The fourteen return somewhat to the real world in that for the next week, they will only have access as a team to the gym and their trainer at one of three two-hour prescribed times per day: early morning, midday and late night. The winning team of a temptation challenge - eating the most donuts - will assign the gym times for all three teams. They find that training at a specific time not only affects them, but also their trainers, who have different energies at different times of the day. Beyond individual issues of training, one team faces an internal back stabbing issue. Each contestant with his/her trainer meets with Dr. Huizenga, who gives them the bad news about their health. One of the youngest, who has previously resisted visiting a doctor if only in the want not to know, has one of the worst results. The teams compete in a reward challenge - maneuvering a ball through a maze using only their body weight - with the winning team receiving a two pound advantage at the weigh-in, and the second place team receiving a one pound advantage. At each of the challenges and the weigh-in, the black team is the one which the others are gunning for as the black team has thus far established itself as the leading team.
Mon, Oct 3, 2011
With Johnny being voted off the campus after the latest weigh-in, the blue team is feeling desperate having lost the first two weigh-ins and thus the only team to have lost members. The remaining thirteen contestants enter into NFL week, where the challenges are football oriented - one which will be done in competition with pro players - the prizes are football oriented, and the last chance workout is assisted by pro players. The first individual challenge, with the winner to receive $5,000, tests both speed and football throwing accuracy. The team challenge, styled after a football game, is a workout consisting of four fifteen minute quarters, the winning team, who will receive a spa day, being that that burned the most calories per team member. The winning team ends up making a unique decision. And the contestants learn that the one person who wins the weigh-in for the week will receive two tickets to the Super Bowl, a prize coveted especially by the many ex-football players, Antone who is an ex-NFL player himself, and Mike who is a long time football coach. Jennifer faces a set-back with an injury which limits the use of one of her legs for the next three weeks. Antone expresses his insecurities being in an environment where he is no longer seen as being in the elite class with the visiting NFL players. And Vinnie opens up about the abusive reason which led to his weight gain.
Mon, Oct 10, 2011
The red team's emotional elimination vote after the last weigh-in resulted in Patrick being the third contestant eliminated. Each team starts the week with some inspirational words and assistance from a Big Loser alumnus, each chosen to fit the appropriate age category of the specific team and each who has maintained their weight loss after their time on the show. The reward challenge is a relay where only the "baton" can move from person to person, while the person at the back on the chain moves to the front and so on. The relay takes the teams through extreme weather conditions, from heat to wind to snow to monsoon rains. The "baton" for each team is actually a box filled with the winners' rewards: letters from home. Alison announces bonus rewards at the race's end. The last chance workout takes each team to a different part of the ranch and a different activity, which especially for Anna feels like home.
Mon, Oct 17, 2011
After the latest weigh-in when Coach Mike was voted off campus, the blue team is left with only two contestants. A game of Plinko - a game of total chance - provides the winning contestant a multitude of rewards. One, the contestant gets to go home for the week. Two, their trainer will go with them. And three, they receive immunity from elimination for this week. But these rewards come with much pressure as that winner will be the only person from his/her team whose weight will count for their team at this week's weigh-in. Many of the contestants voice their concern about possibly winning this reward, but the contestant who does ultimately win is excited, which is the exact opposite feeling of their trainer, who doesn't want that person to feel like this week will be a vacation, especially as their teammates are totally relying on them. The departure of that contestant and the trainer brings about a different vibe on the ranch. Cracks start to appear in all three teams, two based on relationships with the trainer, and the third based on not having the trainer around to be the team's glue. The team challenge - whose goal is to fill a glass cylinder with liquid the fastest - is one of speed, endurance and balance. Each winning team member gets to send one person of their choice for a two week stay at the Biggest Loser Resort. The weigh-in brings back the Plinko winning contestant and the trainer from their week away, with that contestant the last to step on the scale. There is much anticipation if that trip home was a boon or a burden.
Mon, Oct 24, 2011
Courtney being voted off the ranch after the latest weigh-in brings the remaining ten contestants into "all-for-one" Halloween week. They learn that they will be competing as one group, all with common goals. They will be aiming for a 100 pound total weight loss goal, which if met will mean that no one will be eliminated after the weigh-in. If they don't reach that goal, one person will be voted off, with only the biggest loser of the week having immunity. Their week long temptation challenge has a ten pound bowlful of candy in the middle of their kitchen. For every pound of candy they eat collectively, they will receive a one pound advantage at the weigh-in. And the team challenge has them collecting apples hidden throughout a maze over a ten minute time period. They will receive additional weight advantages at the weigh-in if they collect certain weight amounts of apples, but if any contestant is in the maze at the ten minute time limit, they will have a weight disadvantage at the weigh-in. Most of the trainers and contestants see this week as the first real opportunity to get to know everyone on the ranch, and to experience working out with different people. There is one, however, who makes no bones about the fact of missing their regular trainer. And a romance blossoms on the ranch between two of the contestants. Although most are happy for them, one trainer also cautions them on not losing focus on the healthier lifestyle goal.
Mon, Oct 31, 2011
With Jennifer's elimination after the latest weigh-in, there are nine contestants remaining. With three trainers and nine contestants, it is a perfect time for a team realignment with three contestants per team. The new teams will be based on each individual's knowledge of their favorite foods before coming to the ranch. There is much apprehension among the nine, as they know under the rules of the pop quiz, there is no way any of the teams will remain in their current state, which is especially difficult for couple Jessica and Ramon. The contestants also learn that whoever their new trainer, that person will be their trainer for the duration of their time on the ranch. The resulting teams have some rough moments, both because of contestants missing their old teammates, but also because of some animosity between some contestants and their new trainers. The trainers themselves are determined to get over these issues. The team challenge is a race using water slides and unscrambling a puzzle. The winning team is the first to unscramble the puzzle, which has three possible outcomes, each outcome spelling out the prize to be won. The winning team finds that their prize is a mixed blessing. The trainers take their respective teams each to a different part of the great outdoors of Southern California for the last chance workout. By the time of the weigh-in, there is a sense that the new black team will not dominate like the old black team did in the past.
Mon, Nov 7, 2011
Jessica being voted off the ranch after the latest weigh-in causes some hard feelings by Ramon, especially against his blue team mates Joe and Sunny, both who voted for Jessica. This animosity is just the most blatant manifestation that the old team alliances are still stronger than the current team alliances. The fate of the contestants is in the hands of the trainers more this week as each trainer must pick only one person on their team for this week's weigh-in. Some contestants relish the opportunity to be chosen to have symbolically the confidence of their trainer, while others fear the responsibility. Beyond the week's training, the trainers also have to factor in history, especially in that most of the biggest losers of the season had huge weight loss last week which may not bode well for a huge weight loss this week. The week's team challenge is a cooking one, where the winning team will have its meal featured in the latest Biggest Loser cookbook, has a one-on-one session with season 11 winner Olivia, and gain a one pound advantage at the weigh-in. Dr. Huizenga brings in a medical colleague who speaks about the issue of brain chemistry and eating. At the weigh-in, the trainers begin to second guess their choice as their other team members get on the scale.
Mon, Nov 14, 2011
Alliances are perceived to be breaking as Joe is voted off the ranch after the latest weigh-in. Those alliances take on new meaning for the remaining seven as they move into competing as singles, with this week's weigh-in being the first for the season with a yellow line. The challenge for the week is modeled on a pentathlon, with each of the five events garnering the contestants scores of up to 7. Events test athletic prowess (whether it be in the form of speed, strength, agility and/or balance), knowledge or pure luck. The contestant with the highest score by the end of the fifth event receives immunity for the week. The contestant with the lowest score receives a one pound disadvantage at the weigh-in. With those events where strategy comes into play, some contestants remain true to their alliances while others play solely for their own benefit. Dolvett uses the week to bond with the two he is training, most specifically John who he wants to open up more both to himself and to his training methods. Bob remarks on a Biggest Loser first, where the last chance workout for the week is not true to its name as the the last event for the pentathlon, an athletic one, occurs after the workout. The contestants are provided assistance in that event by multiple Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno.
Mon, Nov 21, 2011
After Bonnie's eviction from the campus after the latest weigh-in, the remaining six contestants enter into Thanksgiving week. Their temptation challenge has one hundred plates of Thanksgiving types of food in front of them, each plate with an unknown value from one to one hundred. In five minutes, each contestant is allowed to eat as many plates of food as he/she wants. The contestants who draw the lowest three numbers have their choice of the three prizes available (with one contestant conceivably winning all three prizes): $500 for each pound lost at this week's weigh-in, a $25,000 home gym, and a three pound advantage at this week's weigh-in. The latter is seen as almost a guarantee of immunity. The contestants get a Thanksgiving dinner of another sort: a healthier version cooked for them by their trainers. At dinner, Bob opens up about his own family for the first time. Much of the week's focus is on the one with that three pound advantage, and John, for who some have dire predictions for his post-Biggest Loser life. As the only red team member left standing, John realizes that not only is his Biggest Loser life on the line, but Dolvett's is as well. The reward challenge - a one mile climb on Jacob's ladder - results in prizes for the top three finishers: a one pound advantage and assignment of a one pound disadvantage to another contestant, a 6 month supply of the Biggest Loser meal plan and assignment of that same prize to an eliminated contestant, and $2,500 cash prize for that contestant and another contestant of that winner's choice. The winner of the one pound draws ire from the other contestants which intensifies during the post weigh-in vote.
Mon, Nov 28, 2011
There are five contestant left at the ranch after Ramon is voted off at the latest weigh-in. The five hit two annual Biggest Loser milestone events. The first is the shedding the pounds challenge, where they symbolically place on all the weight they have lost to date, and shed that weight based on weight lost during each week of their stay on the ranch at markers along a race course, which this year is on a steep uphill trail. The challenge, which will award the winner a one pound advantage at this week's weigh-in, is an emotional one for most if only because of the memories associated with that extra weight. The second is makeover week, which includes their made-over selves walking the red carpet to attend a special presentation of "Iris" by Cirque du Soleil, and attending that event with a loved one. The loved ones also accompany the contestants back to the ranch, where the trainers take the opportunity to prepare them for their collective post-ranch life after this week, as this week marks the last for all on the ranch. But before everyone heads home, they must find out who will be in the final four, a difficult task if only because of the historically low weight loss numbers associated with makeover week.
Mon, Dec 5, 2011
Sunny, the latest eliminated contestant, is not the only one going home, as life on the ranch has also finished for the four remaining contestants. Although all four go home to hero's welcomes and deal with how they will handle life off the ranch, Vinnie in particular deals with a painful part of his past, and makes an important decision about his future. Each of those four also receives not only a video visit from their trainer, but a real life visit from them as well, plus a video visit from an important person from their past who will hopefully be a reminder to keep them on their new life path. But their life at home is short lived as the four, plus all the eleven eliminated contestants are finally at the stage of competing in the Biggest Loser marathon. Alison tells them that the winner will not only be an automatic finalist, but that the top five finishers will also receive cash prizes, the winner receiving $25,000. One contestant opts out of the race due to medical reasons. The remaining fourteen are all determined to finish the race, but Dr. Huizenga may have a different opinion for a few based on his diagnosis for their long term healthy life. Regardless of the race outcome, the final four (or three if the marathon winner is one of the four) enter into the week's weigh-in to determine the finalists, who are automatically the ones with the highest percentage of weight loss.
Mon, Dec 12, 2011
Alison first introduces the band Train, who perform their new song, "Brand New Book", which they wrote specifically as the new theme song for the show. After doing a retrospective of the season, Alison introduces the three trainers - Bob, Anna and Dolvett - who provide their perspective of the season, for Anna and Dolvett their first. She then introduces the twelve eliminated contestants in three groups of four. One person in each of those three groups have the highest percentage of weight loss of the at-home contestants, those three who will step on the scale for one last time to determine the winner of the $100,000 at-home prize. She provides some glimpses into season 13 which she mentions has some Biggest Loser firsts and new twists. She then introduces the three finalists - Antone, John and Ramon - who too will step on the scale for the final time to see who is the winner of the $250,000 and the title of the Biggest Loser Season 12.