Jerry Lisenby the third contestant cut from NBC's 'The Biggest Loser 4'

The Blue Team had a bad week and captain Jerry Lisenby bore the brunt of it, as the 62-year-old from Peoria, IL became the third contestant cut from The Biggest Loser's fourth season during last night's broadcast of the NBC reality weight-loss competition series.


"This has been a fantastic ride," said Jerry, who was the oldest The Biggest Loser contestant ever.  "I look at what I accomplish with my age, and I just hope the people who are my age will watch this and know that it can be done."

The Biggest Loser 4's third episode began with the 16 remaining contestants being reunited with some real-world temptations in the form of 400,000 calories worth of food. 

Each of the contestants would be given four minutes alone in a room with the food, and were allowed to eat as much or as little of it as they wanted.  The contestant who consumed the most calories would earn a three-pound pass for their team which, would be used at the next weigh-in.

Most of the contestants avoided the temptation all together while others took a more interesting approach, such as Jez Luckett, a 24-year-old from Garden City, KS, who ate a piece of pizza while doing jumping jacks.  However the Blue Team decided to approach the temptations with a strategy that actually included one of them eating food.


"We discussed already as a team that if there are going to be food temptations and the prize will be benefiting the team, that I will be taking the hit for the team as far as eating bad food," explained the Blue Team's Neil Tejwani, a 25-year-old from Marblehead, MA.  "It will give us the edge as far as the weigh-in goes."

Neil ate as much of the food as he could, shoveling fistfuls of french fries into his face in order to "do whatever it takes to win."  While he was unsure exactly how much he ate, Neil estimated it to total "at least 1,700 calories."  But the Blue Team's plan backfired when Patty Gonzalez, a 34-year-old from San Diego, CA, misunderstood a comment from Neil when he returned after his four minutes.

"Neil was going to eat for our team because he had the opportunity to lose the most weight," explained Patty.  "When Neil came back, I was watching his face, and he nodded that he didn't eat it.  So I thought I needed to take it for the team."

Patty did in-deed take one for the team, eating egg rolls and cereal bars to her heart's desire.  Once all the contestants had their four minutes with the food, The Biggest Loser host Alison Sweeney revealed Patty had won the three-pound pass for the Blue Team.

"There was an unspoken rule that no one was to touch anything except Neil," said Jerry.  "I was mad, and I couldn't hide it."  Added Neil, "Patty messed up.  At the end of the day, I consumed 1,700 calories for no end result whatsoever.  It wasn't worth it."


While trainer Kim Lyons interrogated her Red Team as to what they ate, they were able to overhear Neil blasting Patty for her decision.  Blue Team trainer Bob Harper seemed confused as to why Patty ate when the squad had a plan and questioned her decision.

"When he came back and sat down, they all shook their head and it looked like they said nobody was eating," explained Patty.  Bob answered that "didn't matter" because of the agreement and she should have known "Neil was going to take it for the team."  Kae Whang, a 27-year-old from Clark, NJ, said she was upset about all the shouting before Patty decided to apologize.

"To upset my team the way I did, it was a huge disappointment in myself.  It was emotionally shattering.  It was a train wreck," she said.  Bob reminded them that they have "a long way to go" and implored them to move on, which he helped facilitate by having them train extra hard. 

While the Red Team did sprints in a lush green field and the Black Team sprinted with weights, Bob decided to have Blue Team members carry each other on their backs as they ran through the narrow space in the gym.  The plan took a turn for the worse when Ryan Rodriguez, a 29-year-old from Jackson Heights, NY, fell to the ground with Jerry on his back.  Jerry let out a moan of pain and said he bent his left leg back behind him.

"This has been the toughest week for the Blue Team," said Ryan.  "We had no conflict, no conflict, no conflict and then all of a sudden we get slammed with everything in one week."


The Black, Red and Blue Teams then met for The Biggest Loser 4's Week 3 challenge.  One member from each team would be racing one of three heats and competing against members of the Yellow Team, which consisted of kindergartner Cooper, third-grader Jack and fourth-grader Keala.  The goal was to cross the finish line before the member of the Yellow Team.  The team with the most wins against the Yellow Team at the end of three heats received a call home.

The fourth-grade heat was first, which pitted Keala against Jim Germanakos, a 40-year-old from Long Island, NY who raced for the Black Team; Bryan Washington, a 29-year-old from Riverdale, GA who raced for the Red Team; and Nicole Michalik, a 26-year-old from Philadelphia, PA who raced for the Blue Team.  Keala smoked them all.

The third-grade heat was next and pitted Jack against Kae for the Blue Team; Jim's twin brother Bill for the Black Team; and Phil Hawk, a 27-year-old from Powell, OH for the Red Team.  As a former professional football player, Phil apparently knew a thing or two about sprinting and was able to defeat Jack.

"Once I crossed the finish line, quite honestly I was exhausted but excited," said Phil.

The kindergarten heat had Cooper racing Ryan for the Blue Team; Amy Zimmer, a 28-year-old from Rochester, NY for the Red Team; and Hollie Self, a 28-year-old from Phoenix, AZ for the Black Team.  It was close, but Cooper pulled away from Ryan at the end and was able to win the heat.  The Red Team won the challenge for the third week in a row.


"We're 3 and 0 in challenges and 0 and 2 in weigh-ins," said Bryan.  "We're happy we won today, but challenges are not as important as weigh-ins."

All the teams participated in last-chance workouts the following day before the Week 3 weigh-in.  Bill revealed that he hurt his knee during the challenge and got no sleep the previous night, so he was a little agitated when fellow Black Team member Isabeau Miller, a 21-year-old from Franklin, TN, began to yell at him because he was late for the workout.  However Isabeau was hounding Bill at trainer Jillian Michaels' request, so he was actually shooting the messenger.  He realized his mistake and apologized.

The three teams then arrived for the Week 3 weigh-in.  The two squads having the greatest percentage of weight loss following the third week would be safe, while the other team would have to eliminate a member.
The Black Team was the first to be weighed in.  Jim began at 334 and lost nine pounds; Hollie started at 242 and shed three pounds; Jez began at 320 and lost four pounds; Julie Hadden, a 34-year-old from Jacksonville, FL, started at 213 and shed three pounds; Bill began at 301 and lost three pounds; and Isabeau began at 285 and shed five pounds.   The Black Team's total weight loss following the third week was 27 pounds, a 1.59% weight-loss percentage.

The Blue Team was the next to be weighed in.  Kae started at 200 and lost three pounds; Ryan began at 349 and shed two pounds; Jerry started at 256 and lost two pounds; Nicole began at 265 and shed three pounds; Patty started at 265 and lost five pounds, which was added to the three-pound pass she won, giving her a total weight-loss of eight pounds; and Neil began at 389 and lost three pounds. The Blue Team's total weight loss following the third week was 21 pounds, a 1.22% weight-loss percentage.

The Red Team was the last to get on the scale.  David Griffin, a 31-year-old from Cedar Hill, TN, started at 344 and lost six pounds; Bryan began at 325 and shed four pounds; Amy started at 285 and dropped six pounds; and Phil began at 372 and lost nine pounds.  The Red Team's total weight loss following the third week was 25 pounds, a 1.89% weight-loss percentage, meaning they had won the third official weigh-in.


"This first victory for the Red Team is sweeter than all the challenge wins," said Bryan.  "Knowing that everyone's going to be here for another week to live and learn with Kim... It's definitely the best feeling I've had since I've been here."

The next morning the Blue Team began to discuss the upcoming elimination.  Patty couldn't be booted because she had the highest percentage of weight loss at the weigh-in, but was able to take some solace in the fact that she still would have been immune even without the three-pound pass she won.

The Blue Team told Bob they took a "secret vote," which had it been official would have sent Jerry home.  Needless to say, the Blue Team's captain wasn't too pleased.

"It just doesn't make sense," said Jerry.  "None of them would have been on this team had it been for me.  I took the leap of faith and asked them to be on my team.  I just hope they understand that if they want to continue, they need me."

Neil argued (loudly) that the secret vote wasn't the "end-all, say-all" but was instead used to generate discussion.  Jerry said he believes in "loyalty" and "respect," and decided to turn the attention to Kae.  He said she was the "most logical person" to eliminate because she's the smallest.  Ryan said he agreed with Jerry.

Unfortunately for Jerry when it came time for the official vote, Patty, Neil and Nicole all voted for him and ousted him from the competition.  Jerry voted for Neil and Kae voted for Nicole, and Ryan's vote wasn't revealed because Jerry had already received enough to be eliminated.


"When I picked the team I thought I picked the team that would have The Biggest Loser on it," said Jerry.  "I don't think the Blue Team is going to have The Biggest Loser anymore... I wish them all the luck in the world, but they're going to have some tough competition."

The Biggest Loser 4's next episode will air Tuesday, October 2 at 8:30PM ET/PT.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio