Jackie Evans the tenth contestant eliminated from 'The Biggest Loser'

Jackie Evans and her son Dan got blind-sided by the rest of their Blue Team members, resulting in Jackie, a 49-year-old non-profit organization CEO from Frankfort, IL, becoming the tenth contestant cut from The Biggest Loser: Couples during last night's broadcast of the NBC reality show's fifth season.


"Over the years, I kind of have built this whole big package of reasons why I'm not able to lose weight -- age, metabolism... and that's been totally shattered," said Jackie following her ouster.  "I'm not going to doubt myself anymore.  Dan and I have always been very close.  We've been each other's loser's limp, and now we can be each other's encouragement and strength.  I'm so proud of him... Totally proud of him."

The Biggest Loser: Couples' fifth episode began with Black Team trainer Jillian Michaels speaking to her squad about their poor eating habits on The Biggest Loser campus, which she thought contributed to them being below the yellow line during last week's weigh-in.

The two teams then arrived at a Temptation Challenge, and host Allison Sweeney explained the rules.  In the spirit of Super Tuesday, each contestant would stand in a voting booth with 100 caramel-filled chocolate candies spread-out in front of them.  The contestant who ate all 100 chocolates --each of which was 26 calories -- or ate the most in the allotted five-minute time period would win the Temptation and have the ability to switch the teams of any two players, including themselves.

"As soon as I heard the reward, I knew what I had to do," said Mark Kruger, a member of the Blue Team, which has been considered on campus to be the stronger of the two squads.


Mark continuously ate the chocolate pieces as soon as the clock started, while all of the other contestants stood their ground.  Eventually, Black Team member Brittany Aberle also started to stuff her face with chocolates, however she made the decision way too late and was well behind Mark's pace.

Once time expired, Allison revealed Dan, Bernardo Salazar, Trent Patterson, Jay Kruger, Kelly Fields and Maggie King all abstained from eating any of the chocolates.  Paul Marks ate three; Roger Shultz ate one; Brittany ate 15; and Mark devoured 43 -- for a total of 1,118 calories -- giving him the Temptation victory.

"Okay... I'm going to throw-up," said Brittany after she was informed her effort was fruitless.  She was "very nervous" Mark won the Temptation because he obviously had a good reason for eating all those chocolates.  Mark then revealed eating the candy was "pure strategy" because he "likes the teams the way they are," and thus nothing would change.

After the challenge, Mark revealed his right shin had been bothering him, so he went to have an MRI taken.  Mark's fears were confirmed when he was told he had a stress fracture, which meant no running, walking on the treadmill or doing anything else that required him to use the lower half of his body -- basically restricting him to the pool, bike and upper-body exercises.

"If I don't continue with the weight loss, I might not be here very long," opined Mark.


Back on campus, Dan was reaping the reward from being The Biggest Loser player-of-the-week.  However instead of being met by the traditional reward selections that dealt with family, game play and luxury, all of Dan's options were family-oriented.  He didn't even get to choose, as his older brother Joe emerged and the two embraced.  Dan took Joe onto campus, and Joe also shared a nice reunion with his mom Jackie.

When Mark returned and told Blue Team trainer Bob Harper about the stress fracture, Bob looked bummed.  However he was confident the injury wouldn't slow Mark down.  Mark realized there were "alternate methods to continue" with his weight-loss, and that was the path he chose to travel.

The two teams then met in a culinary school kitchen for a cooking-themed Reward Challenge, and Allison explained the rules.  Each team would cook a three-course meal -- appetizer, entree and dessert -- based on recipes concocted by former The Restaurant star Rocco DiSpirito, who would also judge the dishes based on taste and nutrition.  The twist was that the teams had to make the meals as healthy as possible.  The winning team would receive a dinner cooked by Rocco and a gifts made from family members at home.

The challenge commenced with each team having 15 minutes to shop for the ingredients at a Whole Foods market, with the Blue Team brimming with confidence since they felt they had more of the "cookers" on their squad.  Back at the kitchen, each team had only 15 minutes to prepare the appetizer; 30 minutes to prepare the entree; and then the dessert had to be delivered to Rocco's table 10 minutes after that.

Mark and Jay prepared the Blue Team's scallops wrapped in turkey bacon appetizer, while Maggie and Paul prepared the Black Team's shrimp wrapped in turkey bacon appetizer.  Paul commented how he thought their shrimp was "a little raw," but if it was Rocco didn't seem to notice.


Dan and Jackie prepared the Blue Team's fresh salmon on a cucumber salad entree, while Brittany and Bernie prepared the Black Team's filet mignon and salad entree.  For dessert, Trent and Roger prepared the Blue Team's orange custard -- which contained a whopping three tablespoons of butter -- while Kelly prepared the Black Team's fruit and yogurt concoction.

Rocco commented there "wasn't a bad tasting dish in the bunch" and added he would have to really split hairs to determine a winner.  The Blue Team's total calorie content was 1,177 calories, while the Black Team's total calorie content was 787 calories.  Rocco then revealed the Black Team had won the challenge, which Maggie described as a "huge motivator" for the team.

After enjoying an interactive eating experience with Rocco, in which he showed them how to prepare healthy and tasty meals, the Black Team received videos from their loved ones back home.  Paul -- who is divorced from Kelly -- took it hard when he saw her boyfriend's video message, which included mentions of kisses.

"I can't take that because I still love Kelly," said an emotional Paul.

Kelly was upset that Paul was taking away her personal moment, and he apologized.  Kelly explained Paul's a "good man," just not her "life partner."


The two teams then participated in their last-chance workouts before The Biggest Loser: Couples' sixth weigh-in then commenced.  The team with the highest weight-loss percentage would be safe from elimination, while the losing squad would have to eliminate one of their members.

The Blue Team was the first to weigh-in. Dan started the week at 251 and lost seven pounds; Jackie began at 206 and dropped two pounds; Roger started at 309 and shed eight pounds; Trent began at 366 and lost nine pounds; Jay started at 253 and dropped five pounds; and Mark began at 230 and shed nine pounds.

The Blue Team's combined weight loss following their second week competing as a team was 40 pounds, or a 2.48% weight-loss percentage.

The Black Team would have to lose a combined 28 pounds to overtake the Blue Team.  Kelly started the week at 240 and lost seven pounds; Paul began at 263 and dropped 12 pounds; Maggie started at 211 and shed five pounds; Brittany began at 199 and lost 10 pounds; and Bernie started at 236 and dropped 13 pounds.

The Black Team's combined weight loss following their second week competing as a team was 47 pounds, or a 4.09% weight-loss percentage.   Since Mark had the highest percentage of weight loss for the Blue Team, he was safe from elimination.


With only an hour to make their decision, members of the Blue Team retreated to their rooms and began packing.  Jackie eventually went to Roger and Trent's room, and she suggested Trent be the one to go home because he's been "very, very homesick."  Jackie asked Trent to go home and continue to lose weight, and while he agreed with what she was saying in her presence, he didn't look to thrilled at her suggestion.

"Competitors don't like to lose," said Trent, Roger's former college football teammate.  "So I don't like losing."

Seemingly receiving the answer she wanted, Jackie went to Mark and Jay's room and told them about the conversation she just had with Trent and Roger.

"Here's the thing.  Do I trust my team?  Not really," said Jackie, who only a few weeks ago butted heads with the Kruger brothers. 

"Would you guys swear on your children's lives that you would never vote for us without telling us?" Jackie asked Jay and Mark, who both answered in the affirmative.

"Alright, we're cool then," said Jackie.


The Black Team then reconvened to cast their elimination votes, and things initially went according to plan, with Dan and Jackie voting for Trent, while Trent and Roger voted for Jackie.  Mark and Jay then went back on what they had told Jackie and voted to give her the boot without telling her, meaning she became the tenth contestant ousted from the competition.

"Mark and Jay swore on their children's lives that they would not vote me or Dan off," accused Jackie.

"That's not exactly how it went," correctly stated Mark, as the brothers only broke their promise about telling Jackie it was her turn to go.

"I played the game every step of the way, and I admit that," said Jackie, becoming emotional.  "You shouldn't have sworn on your children's lives though."

Dan looked absolutely crushed that his mom would be leaving the campus.

"I think I'm upset because I'm going to be here by myself now," he said.  "I wanted to do this with my mom, and she's been helping me get through this so far.  I'm going to have to figure out how to do it on my own now.  I'm also upset because I feel like people I thought I really trusted said one thing half-an-hour ago, and they're doing something totally different now."


"You're still part of our team," Jay assured Dan.  "I know you're pretty pissed right now, and I understand."

Jackie told Dan while Mark and Jay have an issue to work out between them, he should hold his head up high and continue to focus on the task at hand.  Jackie and Dan embraced before she left the campus.

The Biggest Loser: Couples' next episode will air Tuesday, February 12 at 8PM ET/PT on NBC.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio