‘The Biggest Loser’ recap: Betrayal

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I need some smelling salts. Mark is out, and so in Brendan?!?!? And Elizabeth is in the Final Four?

So many more questions: Do you think that Patrick betrayed Mark by sending him on his way? Or would it have been silly to do anything else? I wonder if Mark regrets his earlier decision to keep Frado around. And do you think the producers had any hand in this outcome? (Would it have hurt the show if the Patrick-Frado-Brendan triumvirate succeeded?) And was Brendan’s ouster a bit of karmic retaliation for all his game-playing (and then his bragging on his game-playing prowess)?

One thing is for sure: Elizabeth should buy a lottery ticket. Her luck never seems to run out.

This week brought us the now-classic ‘put-the-weight-back-on’ obstacle course challenge that showed us just how far the competitors had come. It’s easy to forget. Ada Ada Terminator won and earned a one-pound advantage that helped catapult her to the finale. (She also won a Cybex home gym. Sweet!) Hopefully, she gained even more this week thanks to her heart-to-heart talk with Jillian, who is still concerned that Ada is seeking validation from without -- and she’s just not going to get it from her family when she goes home.

It’s a reality that all six face as they go home to spend several weeks on their own before the finale. (Is it me, or does this season seem like it just flew by?) Jillian and Bob tried to give everyone a talking-to about how they need to revamp their lives once they return, or they are sure to lose their motivation and slip back into their old habits and regain the weight. Perhaps the biggest wake-up call was delivered to Frado: He was given a clean bill of health, kicking his daily pill and injection habit to keep his diabetes under control. But that could all come back.

Like lambs to the slaughter, they had their last last-chance workout. And the weigh-in included a red line as well as a yellow: Two people were going home. Brendan lost just five pounds and fell below red, and looked crushed, even though he said his tears were mixed with tears of genuine joy for the remaining competitors. When Elizabeth and Mark fell below yellow, the rest had a tough decision to make.

Should they eliminate one of the biggest threats in the house? Or do the honorable thing and keep him around.

‘Sorry man, I’m not sure I can beat you,’ Patrick said, explaining his decision. Then he made it worse by insisting that Mark would have done the same thing had the tables been reversed. (Actually, that might not be true, given his decision to save Frado.)

‘I’m a little surprised,’ Mark said. ‘Someone I thought had my back didn’t,’ he later added.

In the end, everyone went home as they prepared for the finale. Mark’s father barely recognized him. Looks like he took Bob’s and Jillian’s words to heart: He moved to Arizona so he could stay focused on his new quest to win the at-home prize. So great to see Sunshine, and kudos to Mark’s cousin for losing 100 pounds on her own. This is indeed the season of paying it forward.

Who do you think will be the last person standing in this Final Four: Frado, Ada Ada Terminator, Patrick or (!)Elizabeth?

-- Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch