Biggest Loser season 8, episode 8: Campaigning for America
The “Biggest Loser” contestants packed their bags and headed to Washington, D.C., where they met with Alison in front of the Jefferson Memorial, and then Bob and Jillian raced toward the contestants. The first big news was they would get to meet and speak with senators about their journey on “The Biggest Loser,” and then they’d get to visit the White House. With this bit of news, the contestants’ excitement level increased.
Getting the city to exercise
Next, Alison told them they’d be competing as individuals, and their first challenge as individuals was a pop challenge. For this challenge, they had to take to the streets of Washington to see how many people they could gather for a workout with Bob and Jillian at the Washington Monument. The individual who brought the most people to the monument won Subway for their group.
The “Biggest Loser” contestants grabbed their stickers and raced toward the streets to hand them out to as many people as they could. Some of the losers had better luck than others did. Amanda, Daniel and Rudy seemed to have a large fan base cheering for them, and Allen, being a firefighter himself, decided to head to the local firehouse.
Liz thought she hit the jackpot with a group of about 30 people, but as soon as they turned around, she noticed their pink stickers, and they were all shouting “Amanda,” Amanda,” Amanda!” Nevertheless, Liz didn’t let Amanda’s cheering squad get her down; she kept on going. Then when Amanda and Daniel bumped into one another and Amanda heard a group of people chanting her name, she was all smiles until they saw Daniel. Recognizing Daniel from last season, they chose his sticker over hers. Her smile didn’t fade too much, though. She just laughed and said, “You gotta be kidding me.”
A large crowd, along with fire trucks and firefighters, gathered at the Washington Monument. Alison joined the crowd of happy people and announced the winner, which she said came down to one vote. The top two were Liz and Allen, and Liz won the pop challenge, so her group would enjoy Subway after the workout!
After Alison announced the winner, she introduced Bob and Jillian. Bob decided he’d control the workout while Jillian did what she does best: yell and scream. She enjoyed picking on everyone.
Later, Liz treated her group to Subway, and Jillian recommended the Fresh Fit menu. After each person ordered and received his or her food, Liz walked around to meet and thank everyone who came out to support her.
Lobbying the Senate
Bob, Jillian and the “Biggest Loser” contestants got together with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Senator Robert Casey. Daniel and Rebecca told the senators what it was like to be big in school and how they struggled with obesity. They all asked the senators to help them fight obesity.
Senators Gillibrand and Casey listened intently to the contestants, thanked them for sharing their stories and promised to help as much as they could.
Racing in stages
Soon after the contestants left the senators, they gathered on the beach with Alison to find out about their first physical challenge as individuals. Alison explained that there would be four stages. In the first stage, the “Biggest Loser” contestants ran one mile (two laps) around Constitution Gardens Lake. The first six contestants to cross the finish line moved on to the second stage. Because Liz won the pop challenge, she had the option to skip the first, second or third stage of the four-part challenge. She chose to participate in the first stage.
Rebecca, Daniel, Allen, Amanda, Rudy and Liz moved on to the second stage of the physical challenge. In the second stage, contestants headed to the Watergate steps, where they saw tons of pennies on the steps. Alison told them there were 17,954 pennies, which represented the number of pounds lost on “The Biggest Loser” thus far. Contestants had to race down the steps to gather as many of those pennies as they could, and then they raced back up the steps to place the pennies in a plastic tube that had a line toward the top.
The first four to fill the tubes and reach the line with pennies moved on to the third stage. Liz figured this challenge would wear her competitors out, so she chose to use her pass to sit out of the challenge. Since Liz automatically advanced to the third stage, three more had to follow, and those three — in order — were Rudy (his big hands gave him an advantage), Daniel and Rebecca.
During the third part of the challenge Liz, Rudy, Daniel and Rebecca balanced on a ledge that was on top of a platform. As they balanced on the ledge, they held a Pilates ball over their heads. The two who balanced the longest moved on to the final stage to battle it out for immunity at the weigh-in.
Daniel started off shaky and unable to steady himself, so he was the first out. Next, Rudy and Liz became unsteady, but Liz fell off before Rudy, so Rudy and Rebecca moved on to the final stage.
In order to win immunity, Rudy and Rebecca had to use the Stair Stepper, and the first one to 206 won immunity. Two hundred and six was the total number of “Biggest Loser” contestants thus far.
Rebecca was off to a great start. She managed to keep her lead and won immunity. Although Rudy lost the challenge, he continued until he reached 206.
Visiting the White House
Before participating in another last chance workout, the Biggest Loser contestants visited the White House. They joined Sam Kass, the assistant White House chef, in the First Lady’s garden. Sam started by telling the contestants that Michelle Obama’s garden is the first White House garden since Eleanor Roosevelt’s garden, which Eleanor planted in 1943.
Bob asked what the president’s favorite vegetable was, and Sam said he loves broccoli. Next, the contestants assisted the assistant chef by picking vegetables from the garden. Then they headed to the White House kitchen where they prepared and enjoyed a huge healthy salad. Sam explained that growing the salad cost about $12, and there was a lot of it!
“If this doesn’t show people that it is affordable to eat healthy, nothing will,” Bob commented.
Jillian and Bob trained the contestants during another last chance workout. Jillian had some of the contestants working out on the stairs, and Bob had the others in the gym. As usual, the “Biggest Loser” contestants worked hard to avoid the yellow line.
- Since Rebecca had immunity, she weighed in first, having lost 4 pounds (1.79 percent).
- Shay finally emerged from the 400s. She lost 9 pounds and now weighs 393 pounds. Her total percentage of weight lost was 2.2.
- Tracey lost 3 pounds (1.52 percent).
- Last week Daniel didn’t lose any weight and the week before he gained a pound, so he was nervous as he stepped up to the scale. However, he breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered that he’d lost 11 pounds (4.04 percent).
- Allen lost 9 pounds (3.44 percent).
- Danny lost 12 pounds (3.48 percent).
- Rudy lost 9 pounds (2.64 percent).
- Liz lost 3 pounds (1.36 percent).
- Amanda lost 4 pounds (3.27 percent).
With the lowest percentages of weight loss, Liz and Tracey were up for elimination. Liz didn’t fight too hard to stay, and, as expected, Tracey fought to stay on “The Biggest Loser” ranch. However, Daniel reminded Tracey of her game play in the beginning, and he asked her if she was still in game-play mode or really wanted to learn how to get healthy.
She assured him and her teammates that she wanted to lose weight and stay on the ranch. In the end, though, karma bit Tracey in the butt when the majority voted to send her packing.
Home update: Throughout Tracey’s “Biggest Loser” journey — from the ranch to home — she’s lost a total of 85 pounds.
(By Misti Sandefur for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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