Good morning.  I opted to hit the snooze button and get a little more zzzzzzs this morning, which means a short and sweet (can I say sweet when talking about this season of BL?) entry…so here goes.  The show opens with Alison bringing the contestants a birthday cake to celebrate Buddy’s day, but we all know that birthday cakes are not part of their eating plan and a temptation challenge awaits.  Alison leads the contestants to a room with a huge round rotating table, filled with all of their favorite foods.  As if I don’t dislike temptation challenges enough, this one opens with Alison asking who likes the venison, and a discussion about deer meat follows.  In my brain, I don’t really find deer meet any more offensive than the meat of a cow or a lamb or a pig, but whatever.  We learn that they will each get 3 minutes alone in the room and the person who eats the most calories will be able to change the teams up how ever they want.  Wow.  Bonus is, no one will know who ate what or how much.

5 people end up eating, and Daphne decides she will eat as much as she can to try to guarantee the win.  I don’t blame her.  She is such an underdog.  She eats 18 peanut butter cups for a total of 1890 calories and does win the challenge.  The single change that is made to the teams is the swap of Conda and Jeremy.  While who won is supposed to be a secret, these people are stupid, they just have some weight to lose!  They know it is Daphne and she keeps denying it.  Everyone is pissed.  Drama drama drama.  Lots of tears and bitching.  Then the weekly challenge which is a puzzle (again) with each piece weighing 200 pounds.  Once again, so unfair.  One team has lots of men, one team has just one.  Red team wins, easily and their prize is that each contestant on the team gets two weeks at the BL Resort, working out with Ramon and other past success stories!

There are several interactions between the trainers and their contestants, but this viewer chose the fast forward mode.  Daphne picks up on how much bread her teammates are eating and wonders if they are trying to throw the weigh in hoping to send her home.  We quickly learn from Chris that this is true, but they are risking Daphne winning the weigh in, giving her immunity and sending someone else home, probably Chris, herself.  There is also a 5.9 mile hike to Subway for breakfast with Dolvett and his team.  Really?  If I am hiking 6 miles for my breakfast, it definitely is not going to be Subway….

At some point, Daphne does come clean about eating the most calories and making the switch.  It really doesn’t matter in the end.

At the weigh in, Red Team blows up the scale with Jeremy and Buddy both taking off double digit numbers and everyone else dropping nice chunks of weight for a total loss of 43 pounds.  Nice job.  Black team will need to lose 54 pounds to beat them.  They didn’t have to eat SO much bread as they only lost a total of 33 pounds and everyone knows they have thrown it.  Ironically, Daphne threw it, too.  She has obviously had enough of the entire toxic situation and put on 2 pounds easily turning off her fridge light and sending her home.  Good news for her is she was VERY successful losing weight at home the first time.  There was so much drama in the elimination room, matching the rest of the show…I have renamed this season, The Season of Discontent (at least for me).  Still I watch….

Next week there is an EMOTIONAL reunion with loved ones as the contestants go home…and the most EMOTIONAL elimination yet.  OIY!

Though I am still watching Biggest Loser every week, it is getting easier and easier to hit fast forward through what has definitely become a soap opera.  Considering this is the season of no excuses, it seems like we hear more than ever and clearly there is more drama than ever.  Bob has gotten sucked right into the he said, she said…taking sides and encouraging competition in a not so nice way.  This week each trainer would get to pick one contestant and go home with them.  Of course Bob picks Daphne and Dolvett picks Conda.  The rest of the contestants are upset they don’t have their trainers, but the team that loses the most weight gets a one pound advantage at the weigh in, where only Daphne and Conda’s weights will matter. On a side note, I do love the new  heart health, forever stamp they introduced.

At home, I see a different Bob than the one I adore.  He is egging Daphne on, reminding her how they sent her brother home, using that to fire her up and keep her stoked.  I didn’t like it.  Dolvett takes Conda stair climbing and then babysits for her daughter, Brooklyn, while she goes out with her girlfriends.  Back at the ranch, the challenge.  It was a a race with logs that they had to crawl under.  I didn’t like that, either.  The team that wins the challenge will gain another pound advantage at the weigh in (for Conda/Daphne).  Red team wins this…and Valentine letters from home.

All back together for the weigh in, everyone does well on the scale.  My boy Chism has a nice 7 pound loss, but red team wins the pound advantage for Conda, giving her a total 2 pound advantage.  With no advantage, Daphne pulls a 12 pound loss…Conda loses 10 pounds, but falls short by a pound, even with the 2 pound advantage.  I am wondering what special thing they are doing (taking, not doing, ???) at home that they were able to both take off double digits at this point of the competition…anyone else wonder the same thing????

Red team sends home Roy aka Santa who wasn’t on his game this week, even though he still took off 9 pounds.  At home we see him down 76 pounds and still playing Santa.  We watch him with the kids at the Boys and Girls club, leading a workout.  He hopes to start and adventure camp for kids to stay healthy.  Nice, idea!

Next week, temptation challenge and lots of weight gain.  Oh boy.  I shed no tears last night.  A very bad sign for BL and NBC.  This show has ALWAYS made me cry tears of joy…

Thanks to everyone who came out to class as we emphasized cardio for our heart health at 6pm and opening our hearts during the 7pm class.  Thanks to Mitch for bringing home Valentine dinner from Falafel Bistro, tolerating the show…and for being my rock!  Now it’s time to hit the gym.  Happy hump day, everyone.  Take care of that heart of yours…always and forever.

This week, Biggest Loser opened up with wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much drama.  Crying, b*itching, moaning…this on a season of “no excuses.”  ENOUGH!!!  This week’s “excuse” was I can’t lose weight without a trainer.  As night falls, they all gather by the pool…the cold pool.  Alison tells them that the team who loses this week’s challenge will lose their trainer for a week, and not see them again until last chance workout.  Giving them all the chance to hang on to their trainers (literally) as long as they can…it’s a dunk tank challenge!  With Bob and Dolvett suspended above the pool, the contestants have to hang on to a rope and if both their hands slip off they are out and leave the burden of holding on, to the rest of the team.  If they all let go, their trainer will fall 12 feet into the cold pool and the first team to do that loses. After about a half-hour, hands start slipping and red team member start falling out fast, leaving only Roy and a much disliked Adrian, hanging on while black team is still hanging on…and in the end, it is black team that wins.  Dolvett gives his advice, telling his team he wants cardio and and strength training, back and forth, always amping up the intensity.  What the team doesn’t know is that Dolvett will be watching them on a monitor all week.

There is a tender and seemingly impactful few minutes as Bob has a sit down with Megan.  We see video of her training horses but she is limited to groundwork as she has become too heavy to hoist herself onto the saddle.  Her dream is to be a rodeo star and Bob talks to her about finding the acceptance in herself that she needs to achieve her dreams and goals.

Then Bob is off to take the black team for a hike using mountains, ditches and anything he can find outside as their gym for the day.  I love that.  After their hard work they are rewarded with a lunch out and this time, it’s not Subway.   They go to a real restaurant with Rachel, their nutritionist, who talks to them about the calories in the choices they used to make, and what choices they should make now…the big take away is pretty much salad is a good choice, no crouton and dressing on the side.  Welcome to my world

At the end of the week, Dolvett returns and and they talk about how Kimmy played Dolvett Jr., leading the red team in their workouts and Dolvett tells them that he was watching all week.  Kimmy says she wants part of his paycheck, for she feels a lot of responsibility for her teams weigh in.  More talk about how Adrian doesn’t fit in with his team and we all know that the next time red team loses, he is going home.

Red team weighs in first and does outstandingly well.  Kimmy did a great job of leading the pack.  Everyone has a good weigh in, but Mark is still not satisfied with Adrian, even after he lost 9 pounds.  Some suspect he threw last week’s weigh in because he had immunity.  I, too, would have my doubts about him.  It’s a game.  He wants to play it.  But I would never accuse without proof.  Black team has to lose more than 48 pounds and that might be tough…but everyone has a decent weigh in and Jeremy and my boy, Chism, blow up the scale losing 12 and 13 pounds, respectively!  I was soooooo happy for Chism, who only lost 2 pounds, last week.

This sends red team to the chopping block and though Mark got a couple of votes, Adrian gets 4 and out goes his fridge light.  At home we see him down 100 pounds, from 420 to 320.  We see a very different Adrian  with his baby and his pregnant wife, as well as at work at his recording studio, where he runs a non-for-profit for local kids and seems like a really nice guy.  I guess they chose to edit out that side of him on the show.  Biggest Loser…a show that’s made a little in the gym and a lot in the editing room.  By season 14, I finally get it!

It took me until week 5 of the season of No Excuses to realize that each week has an “excuse” theme and this week it was “I’ll Never Reach My Goal.”  I am not exactly sure how the episode reflected that theme, but that’s what it was.  The entire season should be call “We Have an Attitude Problem.”  First we see the Aqua Team back on the ranch for their weigh in.  Adrian and Daphne had to lose a combined total of 50 pounds to return and they lost 60.  Good job.  Having to split up, but both wanting Bob, they do a little Rock Paper Scissors and Daphne “wins” Bob.  With Adrian on the Red Team, we watch the attitudes and drama unfold immediately.  Really, were those girls so pissed that they have Adrian on their team.  It’s not HIS fault that these were the rules of this season.  Conda has THE worst attitude…or maybe Kim does.  Admittedly, when Adrian told them he worked out 14 hours a day at home, I would have also jumped all over his sh*t.  14 hours a day?  Did you eat?  Did you sleep?  Who are you kidding?  And with the tension on the Black team, after almost sending Chris home last week.  Oiy.  And how awkward and weird was that”powwow” she had with my boy Chism and Jeremy?

The challenge was OK.  They basically had to bounce  balls off of a trampoline, over a wall, into a net held by others on their own team who would run the balls to their bin.  Different size balls equaled different points and the first team to get 100 points would win.  Winning team gets to pick one person from their own team who’s weight would not count at the weigh in…and one person from the opposing team.  Red team wins.  Ugh.  I don’t like the Red team at all, except for Mark, Chism’s dad.

More drama between Adrian and his team.  Conda rolls her eyes a lot.  More working out and it’s time for the weigh in.  Megan is chosen to sit out for Black and Nancy for the Red.  Choosing Megan turned out to be a wise decision but Nancy, not so wise.  Week 5 there are NO double digit losses and Adrian and Daphne both only lost 2 and 1 pound, respectively.  I wonder if they were eating at all at home…or what else they might have been doing or not doing.  In the end, Black team pulls out the win (yay!!!).  I can’t believe no one voted for Conda to go home.  They must be scared of her.  They sent G-Ma Nancy home and out went her refrigerator light.  At home we see her 39 pounds lighter, surrounded by her 13 children, 55 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.  WOW!

Next week’s excuse:  “I can’t lose weight on my own,” as one of the trainers will end up in the dunk tank and with a week off!