Fall TV Blog

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…)

When Allison Sweeney started off week 4 by locking the refrigerator doors, I could NOT believe it! I was horrified for all the contestants. Watching your caloric intake and writing everything down that you put into your body is a must do (non-negotiable) on the Ranch. I can only imagine the fear they had when they found out they had to order out every day for the entire week.

I can personally say that I special-order everything. At first, I was shy about making requests because I didn’t want to be a hassle, nor did I want my friends and other dinner companions (i.e. dates) to think I was being high maintenance. After time I realized that it’s not high maintenance because my fellow diners want me to stay in control. They’re all so proud of what I have accomplished.

More importantly, because I’m PAYING (well, most of the time), I should get a meal I’ll enjoy, just like Shay said this episode. I am so happy she has already learned this! (Also, two tips when eating at a Mexican restaurant: when the chips do come and your friends want to dig in, ask the waiter for a side order of corn tortillas to nibble on. And always substitute flour tortillas for corn tortillas.) (more…)

After a wrenching elimination episode with the Red and Orange Teams falling below the yellow line, Red members Sean Algaier, 29, a youth pastor (pictured), and Antoine Dove, 23, a health insurance salesman, sacrificed themselves in order to keep Shay Sorrells and Daniel Wright on The Biggest Loser. The two men spoke to the press about their at-home weight loss (more than 200 lbs. combined!) and big life changes. –Cynthia Wang

Sean, you started at 444 lbs, and Antoine at 367 lbs. How are you both doing?
Sean: I’ve lost well over 100 lbs. at home.
Antoine: I’ve lost more than 100 lbs. as well.

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There is a method to Jillian’s madness, but Tracey’s? Hmm! I wanted to answer your questions and give my own insights from this episode so I will try to do both. Your comments are greatly appreciated, so keep ‘em coming!

Ashley was curious to know how many BL contestants keep the weight off after the show or whether they just fall back into old routines. I do not know the exact statistics but from what I gather the rule of thumb is that past contestants normally “settle” at the weight they were 30 days before the finale. As far as falling back into old routines, I would say old habits die hard, but they do die! For me, I know that I was the type who loved to watch TV in bed with a pint of ice cream and cookies. Now, I am very conscious not to bring any food with me to my bedroom. I have a kitchen for a reason! I also have a core group of past Biggest Loser contestants I call if I am having a weak moment. So I am enthralled to see how close this season is, because a support network is imperative when you are in maintenance and weight loss mode. The Red Team sacrificing themselves to help Shay, the contestants finishing the bucket challenge even though Allen had already won, those moments truly exemplified how these people will live their lives after the show — as champions! (more…)

You asked, and I’ll do my best to answer!

I have read most, if not all, your comments about last week and what I gathered is a lot of talk about Jillian’s yelling at Shay and whether this sort of thing is abusive and involves too much foul language — or if it is tough love, boot-camp style.

In my experience, both, Jillian and Bob look at you for the person you are. They see the fat but don’t pass any judgments. This immediately allows you to form a strong connection with them and when you are on that Ranch, Bob and Jillian are your EVERYTHING! Both trainers have an excellent read on people and they know how to pull things out — even if you don’t want them to be pulled out!

Trust me, there is a method to Jillian’s madness. From the contestant’s point of view, you wake up and normally get in two hours of exercise before you see your trainers, then you have a solid two or three hours with them and at the same time you are getting pulled for interviews. By this point, you are most likely cranky, sore, hungry, tired and just agitated. Now try picturing having a camera guy or gal in your face as you are throwing up and Jillian or Bob telling you to suck it up and push through another rep! At some point you will break and when it happens, it’s hard to deal with your emotions while on camera. It truly is a strange feeling. Shay went through this in episode 1, but the best part is she realized it and went back into the gym. That is hard to do and it shows how truly strong of a person she is. (more…)

Biggest Loser is back, and the first episode did not disappoint. If you pay close attention, you can hear Shay say, “This is our new beginning.” Everyone feels that way because when you are so overweight, you feel trapped being someone that really isn’t you!

As the show started, I kept thinking to myself, “this scenery does not look familiar. The Ranch is not on the water.” Then I realized they were driving down Pacific Coast Highway. Sure enough, Julio knew something was up! Immediately after the contestants got off the bus, the beautiful Allison Sweeney greeted them and let them know they will have to run the last mile of my first marathon to win immunity! Now it is extremely difficult to run at that size (or any size), but to run on sand and be morbidly obese is just cruel and unusual punishment. BUT out came a black town car, and it was Daniel from season 7’s orange team! While I was on the Ranch with Daniel, I had never met such a kindhearted soul. He is as genuine a person as they come, but his time was cut short when his partner didn’t put forth the effort. But now, sure enough, Daniel finished first and chose Shay, the heaviest contestant, to be his partner. (more…)