The Biggest Loser--Couples: Week Two
Weight is Not the Only Thing That Has To Be Cut in Half!
Whoever decided that "The Biggest Loser--Couples" had to be two hours each week was clearly ill-informed. In order to fill that time, we are now subject to nearly one hour of the "weigh-in", which on a good night is a tense and often painful experience. And that's just for the audience. This week the average weight loss was about a pound. This surprised everyone, including Bob and Jillian, who for some reason joined forces to become the self-described "dynamic duo." (We have our own thoughts on why they might have teamed up.)
The only thing there was less of this week was interest. But there were a few things worth discussing.
There was the dramatic visualization across three enormous screens which showed each couple just how much fat, sugar and calories they consumed over a day, a year, their lives to date. It was shocking. And hopefully, a wake up call. If you're like us, you were imagining your own screens and wondering what they would look like!
In the gym, Jillian, clearly the most popular trainer and the one who gets the greatest results, reached the end of her rope with Neill, the laziest and least motivated of all the contestants. His wife, Amanda, works very hard and is always frustrated by her husband's attitude. Jillian took him aside and rather than simply berate him for his lack of desire, she went for the jugular, forcing him to face his demons and helping him to see that his emotional issues have stopped him from feeling anything. He broke down and it seemed to be a turning point for him. Jillian may have been the first person to break through his considerable defenses and as a result, everyone noticed Neill's improved performance.
The big challenge this week involved the teams completing 100 reps on a seesaw. Up and down 100 times sounds almost like fun, but the teams struggled to gain the momentum necessary to complete the task. The black team--the brothers Jay and Mark, won the challenge and the much desired reward--calling cards with which to call home. Jay and Mark are clearly the team to beat, as they have come in first before. They seem to communicate well, which we think will be key to this season. Once Jay and Mark won, only a couple of other teams bothered to finish the task. In a surprising twist, Jay and Mark, in addition to their own calling cards, were given three other sets, to present to three teams of their choosing. This was an understandably difficult decision, but in the end they gave the cards to the ex-football players, the loving parents, Mallory and Curtis, and Neill and Amanda. They explained their choice of Neill and Amanda, by saying that Amanda works hard and deserves it and Neill needs some incentive to get back on track. And, importantly, these teams all had left young children behind to come on the show.
Part of the LOOOOONG show was the way the phone calling was dragged out over several show segments. Emotions were running high on The Biggest Loser campus, as the tearful calls to home were made.
As the weeks go on, we'll be looking a little more closely at people's motivation for becoming contestants on The Biggest Loser. Many of them say they are doing this for their children--so that their kids don't grow up with a bad role model or no parent at all. This is obviously of great interest to us at Safety4Kids. It's also of interest to us how exactly any of these people got here--the choices they made, the emotional issues, other factors that brought them to a place where their lives were in jeopardy.
Back to the show. Another interesting segment related to the "temptation." This is a challenge where the contestants are tested to see how they will do faced with a real life temptation. They have to choose their own course of action and live with the consequences. In this temptation the couples were separated, and each person was given four minutes at which they could graze at a massive buffet, filled with corn dogs, cookies, cakes, and other high fat, high sugar, hugely caloric foods. The kicker was that the couple that consumed the most calories would win $5000. The temptation took place the night before the weigh in. Of all the people, only three actually ate anything--Mark, Mallory, and Paul. And once again, Mark, representing the Black Team, won the challenge.
So here's the thing: two out of three of the people who consumed the crap had called home. Perhaps after hearing their kids' voices and getting in touch with just how much they missed them, subconsciously they wanted to go home. Or perhaps whatever reason they overeat in the first place was triggered by a call home. Interesting...
We're beginning to think that the original "team concept" pitting Bob's Blue Team against Jillian's Red Team got better results. It's possible that having a loved one with you on this journey is emotional and supportive, but perhaps not as competitive an environment as when you're there relying on yourself, with your teammates being your support. (This is why we'll be paying close attention to the team who were total strangers before this began.) After all, the results this week were dismal.
And what about the teaming up of Bob and Jillian. We think Bob is losing his popularity and Jillian is clearly the more effective trainer. As a result, the producers decided to put them together thus making it more difficult for us to see which of them is actually getting the job done. Poor Bob. He's very sweet, but it seems that in the gym, sweet just doesn't cut it. Let's see how the rest of the couples do!
(c) Photo courtesy of NBC/Universal.
Related Topics:
Whoever decided that "The Biggest Loser--Couples" had to be two hours each week was clearly ill-informed. In order to fill that time, we are now subject to nearly one hour of the "weigh-in", which on a good night is a tense and often painful experience. And that's just for the audience. This week the average weight loss was about a pound. This surprised everyone, including Bob and Jillian, who for some reason joined forces to become the self-described "dynamic duo." (We have our own thoughts on why they might have teamed up.)
The only thing there was less of this week was interest. But there were a few things worth discussing.
There was the dramatic visualization across three enormous screens which showed each couple just how much fat, sugar and calories they consumed over a day, a year, their lives to date. It was shocking. And hopefully, a wake up call. If you're like us, you were imagining your own screens and wondering what they would look like!
In the gym, Jillian, clearly the most popular trainer and the one who gets the greatest results, reached the end of her rope with Neill, the laziest and least motivated of all the contestants. His wife, Amanda, works very hard and is always frustrated by her husband's attitude. Jillian took him aside and rather than simply berate him for his lack of desire, she went for the jugular, forcing him to face his demons and helping him to see that his emotional issues have stopped him from feeling anything. He broke down and it seemed to be a turning point for him. Jillian may have been the first person to break through his considerable defenses and as a result, everyone noticed Neill's improved performance.
The big challenge this week involved the teams completing 100 reps on a seesaw. Up and down 100 times sounds almost like fun, but the teams struggled to gain the momentum necessary to complete the task. The black team--the brothers Jay and Mark, won the challenge and the much desired reward--calling cards with which to call home. Jay and Mark are clearly the team to beat, as they have come in first before. They seem to communicate well, which we think will be key to this season. Once Jay and Mark won, only a couple of other teams bothered to finish the task. In a surprising twist, Jay and Mark, in addition to their own calling cards, were given three other sets, to present to three teams of their choosing. This was an understandably difficult decision, but in the end they gave the cards to the ex-football players, the loving parents, Mallory and Curtis, and Neill and Amanda. They explained their choice of Neill and Amanda, by saying that Amanda works hard and deserves it and Neill needs some incentive to get back on track. And, importantly, these teams all had left young children behind to come on the show.Part of the LOOOOONG show was the way the phone calling was dragged out over several show segments. Emotions were running high on The Biggest Loser campus, as the tearful calls to home were made.
As the weeks go on, we'll be looking a little more closely at people's motivation for becoming contestants on The Biggest Loser. Many of them say they are doing this for their children--so that their kids don't grow up with a bad role model or no parent at all. This is obviously of great interest to us at Safety4Kids. It's also of interest to us how exactly any of these people got here--the choices they made, the emotional issues, other factors that brought them to a place where their lives were in jeopardy.
Back to the show. Another interesting segment related to the "temptation." This is a challenge where the contestants are tested to see how they will do faced with a real life temptation. They have to choose their own course of action and live with the consequences. In this temptation the couples were separated, and each person was given four minutes at which they could graze at a massive buffet, filled with corn dogs, cookies, cakes, and other high fat, high sugar, hugely caloric foods. The kicker was that the couple that consumed the most calories would win $5000. The temptation took place the night before the weigh in. Of all the people, only three actually ate anything--Mark, Mallory, and Paul. And once again, Mark, representing the Black Team, won the challenge.
So here's the thing: two out of three of the people who consumed the crap had called home. Perhaps after hearing their kids' voices and getting in touch with just how much they missed them, subconsciously they wanted to go home. Or perhaps whatever reason they overeat in the first place was triggered by a call home. Interesting...
We're beginning to think that the original "team concept" pitting Bob's Blue Team against Jillian's Red Team got better results. It's possible that having a loved one with you on this journey is emotional and supportive, but perhaps not as competitive an environment as when you're there relying on yourself, with your teammates being your support. (This is why we'll be paying close attention to the team who were total strangers before this began.) After all, the results this week were dismal.
And what about the teaming up of Bob and Jillian. We think Bob is losing his popularity and Jillian is clearly the more effective trainer. As a result, the producers decided to put them together thus making it more difficult for us to see which of them is actually getting the job done. Poor Bob. He's very sweet, but it seems that in the gym, sweet just doesn't cut it. Let's see how the rest of the couples do!
(c) Photo courtesy of NBC/Universal.
Related Topics:
2 Comments:
What an enjoyable blog this is! I find it more interesting and entertaining than the actual show, which I agree is in need of some serious editing. I realize that NBC likely has a lack of shows to put on the air right now, given the writer's strike, but an entire hour devoted to the weigh-in is extreme. I've always thought that this show would be improved if it spent a longer time on the challenges and devoted, oh, 20 minutes at most to the weigh-in.
I also believe that the original team vs. team concept probably provided more motivation for weight loss than this couples concept, though of course we'll see if this theory proves true in the coming weeks. But being on a team brings out a fierceness and fire in people that can motivate weight loss in a unique way. It also means that people make new friends and learn to adjust to a variety of people in a new situation. I wonder how much of that will happen with this couples concept.
I'm recapping the gray team (football players). Episode 2 blog is here: http://wadeonbirmingham.com/2008/01/14/weight-and-see-cinema-scary-diso/
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