'The Biggest Loser' cuts no one after cast hits weight-loss target

The Biggest Loser's eighth season eliminated no one during last night's NBC broadcast of the season's second episode.


"Congratulations to all of you, there is no elimination tonight -- no one is going home!" The Biggest Loser host Alison Sweeney told the season's 15 remaining contestants after they completed their Week 2 weigh-in.

Alison's announcement came after the cast learned they'd lost enough weight to satisfy a Week 2 twist which allowed them to all earn a third week at The Biggest Loser campus if they managed to collectively lose an additional 150 pounds by the time of their second elimination weigh-in.

"The fifteen of us just told Week 2 where to shove it," Shauntina "Shay" Sorrells, a 30-year-old social worker from Newport Beach, CA, joked afterwards.

"Week 2 is just a myth, we blew it away," said Danny Cahill, a 39-year-old land surveyor and musician from Broken Arrow, OK.  "We conquered Week 2."


The Biggest Loser's second eighth-season episode began immediately where last week's premiere had left off -- with Alison still meeting with the contestants following the departure of Alexandra White, a 20-year-old student from Harrisburg, PA who had been eliminated at the season's first elimination vote.

"As you have seen, this is a difficult decision... wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to send someone home?" Alison teased the remaining contestants.

After receiving an enthusiastic response, Alison then revealed her "proposition."

"At the next weigh-in, you will have the opportunity to keep everyone above the yellow line and you can guarantee that everyone will get one more week on campus.  This is how it will work: Your goal at the next weigh-in is for all 15 players to lose a combined total of 150 pounds," she explained.  "If you can do that -- lose more than 150 pounds -- all of you will earn one more week on campus, no one will fall below that yellow line."

However after giving them a moment to think about the twist, Alison revealed that it also had significant downside potential.


"But if you don't lose more than 150 pounds then two people will be going home," she explained.

Many of the contestants were initially skeptical that they could accomplish the 150-pound feat during The Biggest Loser's second week, which has developed a notorious reputation for difficult weight loss.

"You know I've watched the show a lot... so when she said '150 pounds for Week 2' I said there's no possibility that we can lose 150 pounds," said Sean Algaier, a 29-year-old youth pastor from Tulsa, OK.  "Week 2 is the hardest time to lose weight."

After learning about the twist the next day, The Biggest Loser trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels were similarly skeptical.

"One hundred and fifty pounds in Week 2? I mean you got to be kidding me, they probably won't even lose 100 pounds," Jillian said afterwards.  "We should just pick two people to go home right now."


"That is a tall order to fill in Week 2," Bob said.

The next day, Tracy -- a 37-year-old homemaker from Allen, TX who had become hospitalized while attempting to complete a one-mile run all 16 contestants had participated in on their way to The Biggest Loser campus -- was released from the hospital and finally arrived at the campus.

"By that time it'd been a while and we weren't sure she was even going to come back at all," said Julio Gomez, a 40-year-old mortgage loan officer from Algonquin, IL.

However despite being discharged from the hospital, Tracy had still not received medical clearance to fully participate in The Biggest Loser's workout activities, resulting in Bob meeting with her to discuss the impact of her restrictions.

"You can't workout the way everyone else is working out," Bob said.  "The doctor's not giving you the go for the workouts everyone else is doing, so what you need to be able to do is get your nutrition completely in check.


After participating in a nutritional quiz and physical challenge that allowed them to drop their collective weight-loss target from 150 pounds to 115 pounds and each earn a phone call home, the contestants told Bob and Jillian about the new reduced goal, however both trainers still remained skeptical they could achieve it.

"That's great, but like you still have 115 pounds to lose and that's going to be really challenging for Week 2," Bob told the contestants.  "I mean you've seen the show."

"People gain weight in Week 2," Jillian added. "That is really good news but I'm certainly not feeling confident because of that."

"I'm not [either]," Bob replied.

After discussing the situation privately, Bob and Jillian decided to modify their remaining Week 2 training approach to include some changes that could potentially negatively impact the contestants' Week 3 weight loss.


"We could hit them all really hard and just take a hit on Week 3," Jillian told Bob.

"If we [squeeze] out bigger numbers this week we're for sure going to pay in Week 3," Jillian explained afterwards.

After participating in their second Last Chance Workout, the contestants began their second elimination weigh-in

The Pink team went first, with Amanda Arlauskas losing four pounds and Rebecca Meyer losing six pounds for a disappointing combined 10-pound weight loss.

However things quickly got better from there, with Tracy losing 10 pounds and her Purple team teammate Mozziz "Mo" Dewalt losing nine pounds for a combined 19-pound weight loss.

The big numbers then continued, with Sean losing 11 pounds and his Red team teammate Antoine Dove losing eight pounds, Green team members Allen Smith and Abby Rike losing 10 and 11 pounds respectively, Danny losing 12 pounds while his Brown team teammate Liz Young dropped 10 pounds, and Blue team members Rudy Pauls and Dina Mercado dropping 14 and 8 pounds respectively.


Combined together, the weight loss left the contestants only two pounds short of their 115-pound requirement -- a target they easily passed when Julio, who had lost his Black team teammate when Alexandra was eliminated, lost 19 pounds.

Although the contestants had already hit their target, Orange team members Shay and Daniel Wright still weighed-in and discovered they had lost 16 and seven pounds respectively -- giving the cast a combined 155-pound weight-loss that would have still cleared the twist's original 150-pound target.

"I really think this week will be remembered throughout the rest of the season as one of the best weeks in this house," Rudy said.

The Biggest Loser's next eighth-season episode will air Tuesday, September 29 at 8PM ET/PT on NBC.






About The Author: Steven Rogers