'The Biggest Loser' cuts both Maggie King and Brittany Aberle

The odds of The Biggest Loser having its first ever female winner just got a lot smaller.


Maggie King and Brittany Aberle were both eliminated from The Biggest Loser: Couples during last night's broadcast of the NBC reality weight-loss series' fifth season -- leaving four males and two females left in the running for the show's $250,000 grand prize.

"I'm just excited about life, and I wasn't excited about life before," said Brittany, a 22-year-old hair stylist from San Jacinto, CA, after her elimination.  "I'm so excited to go start my life and begin a new chapter of 'The Book of Brittany.'"

The Biggest Loser: Couples twelfth episode began where the previous one left off, with both Maggie and Brittany up for elimination after they found themselves below the yellow line at the previous weigh-in. 

Kelly Fields voted to oust Brittany -- however Dan Evans used both of his votes on Maggie and Mark Kruger and Alison Vincent also voted to boot Maggie, who became the thirteenth contestant cut from the competition.


"I had a really good time here and I'm glad I had this opportunity.  This really is one of the most amazing things I've done in my life -- and because of it -- I'll get to do a million more amazing things," said Maggie, a 23-year-old weight-loss camp counselor from Denville, NJ, after her ouster.  "I've lost a total of 55 pounds, and that feels amazing.  I don't ever want to be morbidly obese again.  I don't want to have to not live my life because of my weight.  I'm super grateful for the whole thing."

The seven remaining contestants then met host Allison Sweeney at Macy's, where she explained they'd be participating in a runway photo shoot for Prevention Magazine.  Allison then surprised the contestants by introducing them to Project Runway fashion guru Tim Gunn, who would help them dress their new, slimmer bodies.

The contestants picked out several outfits and Tim had the final say for putting together what each would wear during the runway shoot.  In addition, he also revealed each would be able to keep their outfit and would receive a $1,000 Macy's gift card for new clothes.

As they were having their hair and makeup done, Allison introduced the contestants to Prevention editor-in-chief Liz Vaccariello, who explained the health magazine's mission.  Each finalist then strut their stuff on the runway and were met by a loved one once their turn was complete.  The contestants then took part in the Prevention photo shoot and celebrated their new bodies.

Back on The Biggest Loser campus, trainer Jillian Michaels suggested Brittany balance her electrolytes.


"Literally, 11 weigh-ins we've had and seven of them have been two [pounds] and under," explained Jillian.  "Brittany's body is like my own personal rubics cube.  It's just extremely difficult to balance."

"To me it just frustrates me," said Brittany.  "I get so stressed out because I just want to pull good numbers -- I just want to lose the weight."

Since Brittany had done so poorly at the previous weigh-ins anyway, Jillian said she had "nothing to lose" and added some extra sodium to her diet for the week.

"I'm taking a really aggressive step -- something that could be a huge mistake with her," said Jillian.  "I think that's going to hurt her in this weigh-in, but I think it will save her if she makes it through the rest of the game."

The seven remaining contestants then gathered at a pool for a The Biggest Loser: Couple's Reward Challenge, and Allison explained the rules.  Each would be on a treadmill suspended 10-feet above the pool, and who ever could remain on it the longest would receive a trip to Utah's Fitness Ridge Resort & Spa.  The twist was that the contestants would be walking backwards on the treadmill, the speed and incline of which would increase as time passed.


Everybody was able to remain on their treadmill past the 40-minute mark, which is when Roger Schultz said the challenge really began.  Kelly was the first off at 40:19, followed by Roger (40:25), Dan (41:35), Brittany (45:00) and Jay Kruger (56:10).  With the challenge down to Ali and Mark, Ali eventually stepped off at 1:05:00 and Mark claimed reward.

After winning the challenge, Mark apologized to Ali for not relenting -- explaining his competitive side kicked in and he couldn't help it, which hurt him earlier in the season.  The apology didn't sit too well with Roger.

"Mark's been back now a couple of weeks, and he's kind of been a little different," said Roger.  "I think he's worried too much about what other people are thinking.  Just be Mark.  I don't think Mark needs to apologize for being competitive."

Back on campus, Mark explained why he wasn't in high spirits despite winning.

"I just keep flashing back to the beginning of this game and how much that competition got me in trouble with a lot of people," he correctly stated.


"You've got to quit apologizing!" said Roger, cursing at his former teammate and encouraging him to yell and scream like before.

"I'm not apologizing to anybody about it," said Mark.  "It's just that at the beginning of this contest, people saw that as a real threat and it got me into a lot of trouble because people wanted to get me out of this house.  In the beginning it worked better for Roger because it took attention away from him... Now he's got more of the attention and I don't think he cares for it."

The seven remaining contestants than participated in their last-chance workouts before The Biggest Loser: Couples' twelfth weigh-in commenced.   The two contestants with the lowest weight-loss percentage would find themselves below the yellow line and thus be up for elimination. 

"A lot of things are going through my head when I'm walking up to that gym," said Brittany.  "But each week I can tell myself that I've done everything that I could... I think that there is a fire that is lit inside of me that I do not want to blow out anytime soon.  I don't want to go home. I don't want to see one of the boys win this show.  I wanted to win this show since Day 1."

Ali started the week at 160 and lost five pounds for a 3.13% weight-loss percentage; Mark began at 188 and dropped three pounds for a 1.60% weight-loss percentage; Dan started at 207 and shed eight pounds for a 3.86% weight-loss percentage; and Brittany began at 172 and lost two pounds for a 1.16% weight-loss percentage.


"Brittany goes up on the scale and she loses two pounds.  I'm frustrated for myself and I'm frustrated for Brittany," said Jillian.  "I feel bad for Brittany right now."

"When I saw that number I was immediately crushed," added Brittany.  "I was like, 'Oh no!  Please do not make me fall below the yellow line with a boy.'  Because there's a strong Blue Team -- we're not teams anymore -- but there is a Blue Team."

Roger started at 251 and dropped nine pounds for a 3.59% weight-loss percentage; Jay began at 209 and shed three pounds for a 1.44% weight-loss percentage; and Kelly started at 202 and lost three pounds for a 1.49% weight-loss percentage.

Brittany and Jay were both below the yellow and would be up for elimination.

"I was just like, 'Ugh... This did not work out in my favor,'" opined Brittany.  "I want to be here more than anything.  I really do.  It's just the opportunity of a lifetime."

Jillian described Brittany as "like a little sister," and the two shared an emotional goodbye as the five contestants above the yellow line began to deliberate their decision.


Kelly felt like she was being pressured by Roger to vote for Brittany and said she didn't want to do it because the girls need to try to stay as strong as possible for as long as possible.

Ali also opined that since coming back into the competition last week she had started to form an alliance with Brittany, who realized Mark wouldn't vote for his brother and Roger wouldn't vote for Jay either. 

Brittany knew her only choice was to approach Dan and see if he would correctly recognize Jay as a bigger threat.  She pleaded her case.

"It would be stupid not to vote out Jay because I'm the least threat here," she said.  "To send me home is really stupid!"

"I've started to realize that it's either you or me in this game -- that's how it goes," said Dan in a confessional.  "Brittany pulls low numbers.  It wouldn't hurt to keep her around.  She's no threat to me.  On the other hand, Jay -- he's one of the guys.  But that's the problem.  The guys are clearly much better at losing weight.  By keeping him around, I'm keeping around a threat... We're all just battling for the No. 1 spot, and it makes for a tough decision tonight."

However Dan decided to stay true to his former Blue Team alliance, as he voted to oust Brittany along with Roger and Ali.  Brittany became the fourteenth contestant cut from the competition.


"You cannot put a price on what Jillian taught me," she said after her ouster.  "There's now way I'm coming to the finale without have lost a mass amount of weight... It was so hard saying bye to Jillian.  I'm going to miss those workouts because obviously it's working.  There's results."

The Biggest Loser: Couples' next episode will air Tuesday, March 25 at 8PM ET/PT on NBC.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio