Michelle Obama, official White House portrait. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wow.  Of the many cool things Bob Harper gets to do, I bet introducing First Lady, Michelle Obama, was right up there!  Mrs. Obama gave each remaining BL contestant a hug and joked with them about the show and how she increases the incline on her treadmill when working out and watching the show on Tuesday nights.  Then they all workout together, with their families, and our first lady does some mean, one foot off the floor, push-ups.  She sure has some great arms!  Conda’s daughter, Brooklyn, was adorable and very focused on her workout.  After the workout Mrs. Obama tells the contestants she has one more challenge for them.  After explaining the Presidential Active Lifestyle Challenge and saying it is something she would like every American to do.  This challenge, asks people for a 6 week commitment to eat healthfully, exercise 30 minutes a day (adults) and 60 minutes a day (children) and the contestants challenge is to sign up as many people as possible under their name.  Whoever wins the challenge will have a gym built in their community.  Very cool.  The First Lady leaves with an honorary BL t-shirt as she says goodbye and reminds them to keep moving.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we see a phone call between Chris and Roy who is already at home.  He misses her and wants her to come home.  OUCH.  What is a wife to do?  In Chris’ case, she eats.  A lot.  A burger with mayo, grilled cheese, peanut butter, chocolate.  Wow.  A lot of things started clicking in this trainers brain, but I have to save those for another day.  I think I now understand a lot more about over-eating, over-drinking, over-drugging, over-everything.

Last chance workout.  Bob and Chris talk.  Though she is very torn, it does sound like she would like to stay at the ranch and she tells Bob she will work her ass off, but in all fairness, a marriage is a big commitment and I don’t know what I would have done in her shoes, but I do know I wouldn’t have eaten the burger   Dolvett says his 4 remaining contestants WILL be the final four.  As it turns out, he just might be right!

At the weigh in, Buddy has a 1 pound advantage and Conda a 1 pound disadvantage.  That didn’t end up mattering at all.  Jeremy kicked butt with a 11 pound loss.  That boy can definitely take the whole season.  He is a fat melting machine!  It is Kim and Chris who fall below, Chris putting on 2 pounds — probably she binged more than we even saw.  WHERE THE HECK DO THEY GET THESE FOODS???  Why is mayo even at the ranch?  Where do the chocolate bars come from?  I have questions!!!!

It was pretty easy for the contestants to send Chris home.  At this point, there is no reason to be at the ranch if you are not 100% there, physically, mentally and emotionally.  The great news is, when we see her at home she is 156 pounds, down from her final ranch weigh-in of 172.  She looks great as we see her biking with Roy and says that after the finale the two of them plan to take a cross-country bicycle trip.  THAT is a big deal.

Next week we see previous season winners John, Olivia and Patrick come back to join the remaining 5 in a “Tough Mudder” competition and someone will win a new Ford Escape SUV.  Then we will have just 4!

White House Front (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Leave it to NBC and BL to do something or other every week to piss their viewers off.  We waited all season for the makeover episode only to find it was only one hour and left us with a TO BE CONTINUED ending.  All week they had promos for the First Lady and we saw her for just a minute, no doubt the reason they split it into 2 weeks.  They can promo it and her again all week.  That said, I thought that the makeovers were good and it had to be incredibly exciting for the contestants to have a chance to go to the White House.  I think I like Mark better with the beard, but of course they shaved it off.  They cut and colored Conda’s beautiful long hair, but it looked great and so did she.  Jeremy looked quite adorable.  Buddy looked pretty much like Buddy, sans the glasses.  Chris definitely took at least a decade (or 2) off her age, with the new cut and color.  They also traded her glasses in for some contacts and all and all she looked awesome.  But in the end, it was Kim who knocked me out.  Wearing a tight size 6 dress, she has not only lost tons of weight, but has a gorgeous figure, now that we can see it!  I don’t know if she has enough weight left to lose to win the whole thing, but she is MY pick for the “most dedicated.”  It’s quite clear that if a contestant once had a knockout body, they are most likely to have one again.  In the very beginning of the season we saw a picture of Kim at her “fighting” weight and she was HOT.  She is once again.

It was great to see everyone reunite with their families, but sadly we couldn’t see how the at home partners are doing.  I am anxious to know how Chism is doing …and how Santa is looking, too!  He better do something with that white beard or he is definitely going to look more like Chris’ dad than her hubby!  And it looks like I’ll have to wait another week to see them work out with Michelle.  That was mean, NBC and BL, but I will keep forgiving you and watching because the transformations make it all worthwhile.

On a totally different note, it is definitely spring (aka summer in South Florida)!  Yesterday I “opened,” the pool with a quick 10 laps.  It felt FABULOUS.  Tonight, opening night for the Marlins. Have I mentioned lately how much I love spring and it’s fever?  Hoping wherever you are the fever has hit as well.  Enjoy.

Newman's Own (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How exciting to see them giving away so much food to the contestants local food-banks last night, thanks to Newman’s Own, as part of the pop challenge on BL.  Contestants would load up trucks with 15 and 20 pound boxes of Newman’s Own and the one who finishes first would win a 1 pound advantage at the weigh in.  Mark has a great strategy and skates past Kim and Megan to win the challenge and food for his local pantry, but then Alison announces that if the rest of the contestants finish loading, their local pantries will also get a truckload of food donated.  Mark has plenty of energy left and helps them and they all complete the challenge.  Nice.

This week’s excuse was “exercise is boring.”  I had the same reaction as Bob….WHAT? EXERCISE BORING??  REALLY???  But I understand that many people feel this way.  Bob takes his group biking (not my favorite at all!) and Dolvett takes his group to a Zumba class….definitely NOT boring.  Dolvett’s team has a blast, totally getting into the whole spirit of Zumba.

The contestants meet Alison at the grocery store…enter the challenge…a cook-off.  The contestants will have 7 minutes to shop for the foods they will need to prepare a dish that will be judged on its nutritional value, creativity and taste.  They will have 20 minutes to prepare that meal.  I have to say that even in as much as I cook, I am not sure what my go to dish would be?!?  Poor Jeremy is clueless.  He was going to make french toast, but forgot to buy eggs.  He ends up making a cooked banana open faced thing.  Conda makes a cabbage stew, Buddy a grilled chicken salad, Megan seared tilapia, Mark a chicken dish, Chris and undercooked chicken dish and Kim a stuffed portobello mushroom.  Enter the judges, Vinnie, Antone and Becky from Season 12.  The judges pick Kim’s stuffed shroom and her prize is $1000.00 for every pound she loses at the weigh in.  NICE!  There is some drama between Chris and Antone.  She is hurt and offended by his comments.  I probably would have been, too…but she can go home and I wouldn’t be sad.

At the weigh in Kim loses 7 pounds and wins $7000.00!!!!    Mark loses nothing and falls below the yellow line with Megan.  I am sure they all voted Megan off because Mark doesn’t seem like he can win this thing…he is already looking so good, not sure there is enough weight left for him to lose.  Megan posed a bigger threat and went home like her mom did last week.  At home we see her down 70 pounds (189) and  back in the saddle, racing her horse just like she used to before she gained all her weight.  Her boyfriend, who has lost 80 pounds at home while she has been on the ranch, has proposed to her and we see her shopping for a wedding dress.  I cried a lot of happy tears for her.  A lot.

Next week is makeover week!!!  OMG will they color Chris’ hair?  Will they cut Conda’s?  Will Mark let them shave off his beard thing?  They are, after all, headed to the White House with their new look, where they will meet a great advocate for health and fitness, Michelle Obama.   How cool is that?