'The Biggest Loser: Couples' eliminates Curtis and Mallory Bray

Mallory Bray momentarily gave into temptation, and her brief lapse of judgement was enough to cause the 36-year-old business owner and her husband Curtis,  a 35-year-old graphic designer, to become the second team eliminated from The Biggest Loser: Couples during last night's broadcast of the NBC reality show's fifth season.


"I'm a little heartbroken.  I would have loved to of been here for the long haul," commented Curtis following the Los Angeles, CA couple's ousting.  "We absolutely plan to continue this when we get home.  I think we're ready for it."

"Yeah," responded Mallory.  "We'll be alright."

"We'll be more than alright," corrected Curtis.  "We'll be fantastic."

The Biggest Loser: Couples' second episode began with trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels revealing to the nine remaining teams that both of the show's fifth-season trainers will work together in helping to slim down the contestants.  Jillian described she and Bob as the "ultimate training duo."


As the duos were training that night Bette Sue Burkland -- who is competing with her daughter Alison Vincent -- stumbled while exercising on the treadmill and fell to the ground, which Ali described as "really scary."

"I think I just lost myself for a moment," said Bette Sue, who got right back up and continued her workout.

The nine remaining teams then gathered in The Biggest Loser "Hall of Truth," where they were confronted by the bad food facts that landed them on campus to begin with. 

Neill Harmer -- who is competing with his wife Amanda -- said he was "fighting homesickness" since the couple has a baby at home, which is understandable, except it slowed the pace of his training.  Not only was it rubbing some of the other duos the wrong way, but Jillian noticed and tore into Neill for taking a treadmill break.  She told him that until he completed an hour on the treadmill, nobody else would be able to leave the gym.

Jay Kruger - who is competing with his brother Mark -- said he felt "angry" and "vindictive" when Neill started to hem and haw about continuing his workout.  Neill later commented he was "that close to leaving" before he started walking.


The nine teams then gathered for The Biggest Loser: Couples' second Reward Challenge, and host Alison Sweeney explained the rules.  Each team would seat one member on one end of a giant seesaw, and the first duo to go up and down 100 times would win.  The prize was two The Biggest Loser calling cards, which would allow them to make calls home to loved ones.

The challenge began, and as was the case with the first Reward Challenge, Jay and Mark used communication and grabbed an early lead.  A few of the teams -- including "Former Football Teammates" Roger Shultz and Trent Patterson -- quit because of the physical toll the challenge was taking.

While their pace slowed towards the end, Jay and Mark were still able to win their second Reward Challenge in a row.

"The only thing that could have stopped Jay and I from winning this tonight was a catastrophic failure to the seesaw," boasted Mark.

"Strangers" Brittany Aberle and Bernardo Salazar and Curtis and Mallory also finished the challenge even after Jay and Mark had already claimed victory.  Alison then revealed that -- in addition to the set of calling cards they received -- Jay and Mark also would receive three additional sets that they could distribute to whichever three duos they saw fit.


After Jay and Mark deliberated, they decided to give the cards to Curtis and Mallory, Trent and Roger and Neill and Amanda, three duos who all have at least one little one at home.  The brothers hoped it would be an eye opener for Neill since his wife had been working so hard and he hadn't.

"Losing something that meant a lot to me really pissed me off," said Brittany.  "Had I won, I probably would have given the calling cards to the people who finished."

The next day, as the teams participated in their last-chance workouts, Neill immediately informed Jillian that he wanted to make his phone call home in the middle of his training.  He and Jillian had words once again, and she took him outside of the gym to explain the situation.  Jillian said she was at a "crossroads" with how to train Neill and asked him to drop his guard a bit and work harder to improve his health.

"I want to be here because of my health and I want to feel better about myself," said Neill, who took Jillian's advice.  "But it just came with a lot more than I ever would have realized.  I'm having a hard time dealing with it."

After Jay and Mark, Neill and Amanda, Curtis and Mallory, and Trent and Roger all made some emotional phone calls home, the teams met Alison for their first Temptation of the fifth-season.  Alison split up each team by placing members in different rooms.  Each team member would walk outside alone, where they'd be met by a BBQ feast and were given four minutes to eat as much as they wanted.  The team who ate the most calories would win $5,000.


As each person waited for their chance, Mark was sure his brother Jay wouldn't be tempted.

"Jay won't eat it because I'll break his jaw," said Mark.

Paul Marks -- who is competing with his former wife Kelly Fields -- revealed he had a "secret weapon:"  he still had 1,000 calories left to eat for the day.  He strategically attacked the BBQ buffet. However Paul's mistake was that he revealed his "secret weapon" to his competitors, and Mark used it against him, also deciding to eat because there were "more pros than cons."  The only other contestant to eat was Mallory, who downed a handful of chocolate candies.

Alison revealed those candies cost Mallory 210 calories, and Curtis was surprised she made the decision to eat them.  Alison then revealed Paul ate 912 calories, and Kelly was immediately upset.

"I think 912 calories is a lot," she said.  "I'm scared for the weigh-in tomorrow."


When Alison asked Jay if he thought Mark ate, Jay said he didn't think so since he overheard his brother's threat when it was made.  Alison revealed Mark ate 925 calories, barely edging out Paul and winning the $5,000.

"Before going into the Temptation room, I heard Paul say that he had calories left to eat for the night," explained Mark.  "I had some good information, I knew it was a sure thing, and I was going to use it to my advantage as part of my strategy."

"That's what I get for talking too much," opined Paul.

Needless to say, Bob and Jillian weren't too pleased when they learned Mallory, Paul and Mark ate, especially since it was just prior to the weigh-in.

The Biggest Loser: Couples' second weigh-in then commenced, with the two teams who have the lowest weight-loss percentage finding themselves below the yellow line and thus up for elimination.  The contestants who are safe would have only one hour after the weigh-in to make their decision on who to boot.

"I don't think the Temptation is going to have an affect on me tonight," said Mallory with a laugh.  "I ate little, bitty chocolate candies, I figured they're just going to kind of like disperse throughout my body.  I don't think it's going to make a difference."


Trent began the week at 407 and lost six pounds while his buddy Roger started at 343 and shed three pounds for a combined weight loss of nine pounds or a 1.20% weight-loss percentage.  Brittany began at 211 and dropped one pound while Bernie started at 266 and lost five pounds for a combined weight loss of six pounds or a 1.26% weight-loss percentage.

Paul began at 286 and lost three pounds while his ex-wife Kelly started at 258 and dropped only one pound for a combined weight loss of four pounds or a 0.74% weight-loss percentage.  Mark began at 268 and shed seven pounds while his brother Jay started at 280 and lost five pounds for a combined weight loss of 12 pounds or a 2.19% weight-loss percentage.

Jennifer Widder started at 242 and dropped two pounds while her BFF Maggie King began at 229 and also shed two pounds for a combined weight loss of four pounds or a 0.85% weight-loss percentage.  Bette Sue began at 245 and dropped six pounds while her daughter Ali started at 215 and lost three pounds for a combined weight loss of nine pounds or a 1.96% weight-loss percentage.

Jackie Evans started at 231 and lost eight pounds while her son Dan began at 285 and also shed eight pounds for a combined weight loss of 16 pounds or a 3.10% weight-loss percentage.  Curtis began at 359 and dropped three pounds while Mallory started at 203 --but became the first The Biggest Loser: Couples contestant to gain weight -- adding a pound.  The married couple's combined weight loss was two pounds or a 0.36% weight-loss percentage.

"The only regret in terms of the candy is still just taking care of yourself first even above your teammate," stated Mallory while still on the scale.  "But I'm still not going to say it's that..."

Neill and Amanda were the final team to weigh-in.  Neill began at 304 and dropped six pounds while Amanda started at 190 and didn't lose any weight, for a combined weight-loss of six pounds or a 1.21% weight-loss percentage.


Paul and Kelly and Curtis and Mallory had the lowest weight-loss percentages for the second week of the competition, placing them below the yellow line and up for elimination.

As Paul and Kelly packed, Kelly became extremely emotional and broke down, explaining how she felt that remaining on campus was a matter of "life or death" for Paul since he's so overweight.  In addition, she said since they are divorced, they won't have each other to rely on once they get home because they'll be going their separate ways.

Curtis and Mallory also packed, and Curtis said the couple wouldn't be lobbying for support among the other teams.  That would be a costly mistake, as Paul and Kelly confronted the other duos and explained their aforementioned rational for wanting to remain in the competition.

"We need to be here.  We clearly need to be here," sternly stated Kelly.

Amanda and Neill, Roger and Trent and Mark and Jay all voted to boot Paul and Kelly.  However Bette Sue and Ali, Jen and Maggie, Jackie and Dan, and Brittany and Bernie all voted to oust Curtis and Mallory, who became the second team eliminated from the competition.  Mallory immediately broke into tears.

"I wish you all the best.  Work your hardest," said an emotional Curtis.  "I understand and we'll continue to be focused... We're going to do this babe, okay?  So keep your head up.  We've got no regrets.  None..."


The Biggest Loser: Couples next episode will air Tuesday, January 15 at 8PM ET/PT on NBC.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio