‘Biggest Loser’: A water bed made of soda, butterflies, and slaying dragons

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The hardest part of this season of ‘The Biggest Loser’ won’t be the Bob-and-Jillian smackdowns. It will be choosing who to send home. Unlike other reality TV shows, where everyone begins sizing each other up and forming alliances early on against the biggest threats, ‘The Biggest Loser’ contestants usually start out as a tightknit group and urge each other on to work hard and lose as much weight as they can. In fact, the group can turn on a teammate who is seen as slacking off. (Exhibit A, Julio.)

To be sure, this season will have its share of cutthroat maneuvers. But right now, we are in that honeymoon stage.

Admit it. Weren’t you happy that everyone got another week on the ranch?

Abby has already won everyone’s heart. And Coach Mo isn’t far behind as he steps up to be this season’s spiritual and emotional guidepost. Sean and Danny are just sweethearts putting family first. Tracey is shaping up to have the determination that you’d expect from a Marine’s wife. You can’t help but think that Allen, Dina and Shay have hit rock bottom, with no place else to turn, and have been working that behind off, literally. Liz is just a sweetie. Daniel earned this second chance -- can’t vote him off. Antoine is deserving too. Julio shut everyone up this week with his monster weight loss. And then there’s Rudy, who is supporting teammate Dina in every way possible, making him a candidate for the bestest ‘Biggest Loser’ teammate ever.

That leaves Rebecca and Amanda, who might have ended up on the chopping block this week had it been a normal weigh-in. This marks Amanda’s second week in a row with less-than-stellar weight loss. Arguably, she has the most to prove: America chose her as its wild-card candidate going into this season. If she doesn’t pull a big number soon and prove that America chose the right player, she may be gone.

Some other highlights:

Sean talking about his love of soda -- ‘I swim in it.... My water bed is filled with soda, I love soda so much’ -- and finding out about his pregnant wife’s test results: It’s a girl!

Words of wisdom from Abby, who cherished her call home to her mom: ‘You’re never guaranteed tomorrow, so it’s just really glad to talk to them today.’ I had to reach for the Kleenex when Abby, who lost her two children in a car accident, tearfully told her mom of her latest accomplishment: ‘I climbed a mountain. I did. Two little butterflies followed me the whole way. It was just so pretty.’

Bob and Jillian conspiring like two serial killers: ‘Who are you gonna go after? That Julio ... he is not doing the work ... kill him.’ Cut to Julio pulling Bob aside in what appeared to be a bid to make him go easy on him: ‘Between you and me, my legs are dead. I’m just letting you know.’ Ha, ha, ha Julio. Good luck with that one.

Rudy playing tug of war with Bob and Jillian ... and winning. (‘Pull Jillian!’ ‘I am pulling, Bob!’)

Insight from Jillian about those gym beat-downs: ‘The gym is almost like a truth serum. I can beat on them, and beat on them, and beat on them, and all their defenses are down. And then everything that they’ve been stuffing down comes flooding up.’

Bob to Shay: ‘I’m going to make sure you find your happiness.... You deserve to be happy.’

Shay on Julio: ‘I hope he gets a bad number, because then he’ll realize he has to do the work.’ (Memo to Shay: you might want to watch that attitude. That’s the kind of thing that has a way of circling back on you.)

Abby, on losing 11 pounds the old-fashioned weigh (pun intended): ‘It works! Watching your diet, counting your calories, moving ... it works!’

Shay and Danny on slaying the Week 2 dragon: ‘The 15 of us just told Week 2 where to shove it.... We conquered Week 2.’

--Rene Lynch

Photo credit: NBC Universal