Fall TV Blog

As The Biggest Loser contestants headed to Washington D.C., they also embarked on their first week of individual competition. When Liz and Tracey fell below the yellow line, both were up for elimination, but it was Tracey Yukich, 37, the most controversial person on the Ranch this season, that was sent home. Tracey, a homemaker from Allen, Texas, spoke to reporters about returning to run the mile that took her down, how she balances family and fitness and why she’s keeping her current weight-loss a secret. –Nina Tyler

Were you surprised you were sent home?
I was not surprised that I was sent home once I fell below the yellow line. I always knew [I would be] on the chopping block because of the choices that I did make in the beginning when I got to the Ranch. But … there’s a lot of people who have gone home that have wished they didn’t go home and maybe had the feeling of “Maybe I should have done this or maybe I could have done more,” and I never felt that way. (more…)

First let me begin with answering some of your comments and questions about Daniel and Shay. Daniel has been struggling lately and it’s apparent that both Jillian and Bob are wondering what is wrong. I think he is uncharted territory for them. He has been on an extreme weight-loss kick for some time now, much longer than other past Biggest Loser contestants. His gaining a pound could be his body telling him that it is stressed and needs a break. Don’t look at Daniel as only losing approximately 60 lbs. so far, but rather look at him as losing 142 lbs. plus all the weight he took off this season. That’s a whopping 200 lbs.!

As far as Shay goes, she can’t be compared to the men in the house who used to be athletes and have a greater amount of muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn. Men and women lose weight differently. Even though Shay is bigger than the men in the house, it’s still difficult because a woman’s body naturally maintains more fat than a man’s. The hard part for Shay is that she still has to lose more pounds to be competitive and stay above the yellow line. In the coming episodes, I am interested to see if it will be easy or difficult for her. (more…)

After losing the weigh-in, the Black Team was forced to deliberate over which member of their team to send home. The remaining contestants voted off Abby Rike after she offered herself for elimination. The 34-year-old teacher from Mabank, Texas, captured hearts early in the season with her tragic story of losing her husband and two young children in a 2006 car accident. She recently spoke to the reporters about how The Biggest Loser has helped her to rejoin life and how she has managed to go from 247 lbs. to 167 lbs. — and keep it off! –Nina Tyler

You used to use food as a coping mechanism. What did you replace food with, or how have you confronted your issues?
At this point I’ve just learned about ‘what do I really want out of life?’ and it’s about feeling good physically for me and so I choose foods that physically make me feel good, but I also I reach out and I lean on my support system … I make plans and I maintain and have made some great new friendships that I treasure. I’ve joined into fitness classes that are a wonderful outlet. I think I’ve just really made it a point to actively engage in my life and that is what I use now. (more…)

Neil Tejwani, 26, the 6′2″ chemical engineer-turned-fitness consultant who weighed as much as 460 lbs. before he competed on the fourth season of NBC’s The Biggest Loser in 2007, had three things to celebrate this Saturday — his wedding to longtime love Stefanie Nigro, his two years of maintaining more than 200 lbs. of weight loss, and the fine figure he cut in his Wilke-Rodriguez tuxedo after skin removal surgery this spring shed another 15 lbs. from his frame.

“This was by far the best day of my life,” Tejwani tells PEOPLE after sharing his wedding day with 175 friends and family in West Babylon, N.Y., including trainer Bob Harper and past Biggest Loser winners Erik Chopin and Bill Germanakos among others from the show. “Everyone seemed to really have a great time, and I’m sure I probably burned a few thousand calories by dancing up a storm!”

Even though guests didn’t have to worry about a post-vow weigh-in, Tejwani says he and Nigro had their health in mind when planning a menu. “We both eat relatively healthy,” he says, “but we also have friends who eat whatever they want and not a gain a pound, and a few guests that are vegetarians. So we had a very diverse menu of appetizers from salad to seafood, and seven entrée choices ranging from fish to vegetables to Peking duck, and lean cuts of beef. We did however make sure to bank up a few extra calories for our big day, so we don’t feel too guilty indulging a bit or enjoying the open bar!” (more…)

Although the Blue Team won the chance to go home during a grueling sand-digging challenge, they gave up their tickets to the Black team and stayed at the Ranch with Bob for a week. Their choice paid off as the Black team lost the weigh-in. Although Daniel disappointed the group by gaining a pound, the Black Team ultimately sent Dina Mercado, a 27-year-old custodian from Commerce, Calif., packing. Beginning her journey at 253 lbs., Dina now weighs 178 lbs. She spoke to reporters about her time on the Ranch and more importantly, her time back home. –Melody Chiu

Even though Daniel gained weight, did you sense that you would still be the one to go home?
That’s initially what I was hoping for … I wish they would have thought twice and kept the Black Team strong, but instead they went with friendship, and I wasn’t too surprised. (more…)

Let me start by answering a few of your questions and responding to a few comments from last week’s blog!

In regard to team eliminations, like I said, “Let the games begin!” Because alliances and friendships formed on the Ranch are real, there will always be some drama. Some contestants do get too caught up in their teams because so many factors may cause you to go home. It’s a lot easier to hold accountable one teammate than juggle five others since, at this stage, your success is contingent upon everybody. During my season, if the Black team ever fell below the yellow line and I did not win immunity, I knew I would have been gone faster than you could say, “it’s with a heavy heart!” (I hate that line, by the way.) That’s why the Blue team kept someone (Tracey) on their team whom they all would be okay with voting off later.

A few of you asked about the weighing in process. Well, your official weigh-in is in the morning with producers and medical staff. You step on this huge metal box that is connected with a small cord to a five-inch digital screen at the other end. The screen faces the producers and staff so you can’t see your weight, which is captured by a video camera. Not knowing our weight, we were all sure the way we were brought up to the scale was suppose to create the most suspense for the viewers — and us! (more…)

Get ready for more tears! But the healthy ones as Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels gets her own show on NBC next year, the network announced Tuesday.

In addition to The Biggest Loser, Michaels will star on Losing It With Jillian, an eight-episode series slated for 2010. The famed take-no-prisoners trainer will travel the country, living with families for a week and thoroughly examining the choices they’ve made that have caused them to be unhealthy and unhappy.

“When your health is out of balance everything else suffers — finances, relationships, work and family dynamics,” Michaels says. “I’m moving in with families across the country, getting down and dirty and rooting out bad habits in every corner of their lives that are preventing them from health and happiness.”

Michaels will get some help along the way from celebrity chef Curtis Stone, who will offer tips on cooking with healthy ingredients and teach families about nutrition.

“I love the idea of Jillian crisscrossing America to actually move in with unhealthy families in desperate need of her tough love wake-up call,” says executive producer Ellen Rakieten. “It’s the knock on your door that could save your life.”

Excited about helping families, Michaels encourages PEOPLE to “go to NBC.com/casting and get my bed ready, America, ’cause I’m heading out and you never know, I might just end up on your doorstep, so watch out!” (Casting information will be up on their site very soon.) –Cynthia Wang

Tell us: Are you ready to lose it with Jillian?

Mitchell Haaseth/NBC

After losing the weekly weigh-in to the Black team, the Blue team seemed almost certain it would vote out Tracey, the most disliked woman on the Ranch. The remaining contestants, however, sent Mo DeWalt home instead after he pleaded with them that Tracey was a stronger competitor. The 55-year-old youth mentor from Louisville, Ky., started at 355 pounds and is now down to a healthy 275! Coach Mo spoke to the press about why he decided to save Tracey and how his life has changed since being on NBC’s The Biggest Loser. — Nina Tyler

Tracey is portrayed as the villain of this season. How calculated was she really?
Tracey was in a bad spot. She was injured, she wasn’t allowed to work out and the panic mode continued to set in. She conferred with me a lot of times on some of her decisions. The thing I tell everybody is: Take a look at her decisions. They were not really bad decisions. They came out pretty good for her and for us and pretty much she was not the only one playing the game. Other people were playing the game as well. I think she acted appropriately, I really do. Majority of the time I do. Sometimes she would act in haste but majority of the time I think she did very well. (more…)

Ah, it’s here — Blue v. Black! When you’re on the Ranch for 4 or 5 weeks, you get used to your wardrobe, and then the change comes — literally. I think all of the season 8 contestants were not happy!

Let’s put it all out there — relationships have formed. I am sure most contestants already have a trainer whom they feel more comfortable with and already have a core group of friends. Although one might think, ‘Well, either way I am going to be working out an excessive amount and will lose weight,’ the truth is Bob and Jillian do have different training methods and some methods work better with certain people. This is why going Blue v. Black is kind of a big deal.

But let’s talk about my favorite scene — spinning a wheel for a golden ticket that gives one person the power to alter everyone’s stay on the Ranch! At this point in the episode, I was laughing uncontrollably — how did Tracey do it? Maybe Tracey truly does have the super powers that Coach Mo was talking about. Tracey or not, the ticket winner has a lot of responsibility and would most likely disappoint someone. So, whom do you hurt? It must have been a very difficult decision for her.

However, I do not quite understand Tracey’s team-picking strategy. I would think you would either take the people you are closest to on the Ranch and therefore have safety in numbers, or make the teams skewed toward your benefit. But she didn’t seem to do either. (more…)

After a wrenching choice between Liz and Danny on the Brown Team and Julio Gomez of the Black Team, the remaining contestants on season 8 of The Biggest Loser sent Julio packing on Tuesday in another heart-breaking elimination. The 40-year-old mortgage loan officer from Algonquin, Ill., started at 407 lbs. and is now down to 279! Julio spoke with reporters about his emotional episode, working out with Jillian, cooking at home and kicking his fast-food habit after leaving the show. –Melody Chiu

Since fellow contestants on the show agreed to never vote you off, did you feel betrayed?
Not in the least bit. They voted from their hearts. They were very sincere and if you watch last night’s episode closely, they agonized over those votes. You had a firefighter and a coroner, who was a strong competitive guy, that just completely fell apart during the vote — and that was truly the relationship I had with those people.

(more…)