From TV.com:

When they showed Jerry's weight, I was just in shock. I thought Bob was going to have a heart attack and litterally die of happiness. (Aw, Bob. Until my lovely Phil Keoghan comes back on, you'll be my reality TV boyfriend.)

In other news...at least I'm spared another round of "Shut up Amber" as I did enough of that on Big Brother. And I'm convinced that Jillian has possibly killed a man just by looking at them.

And as much as I love Alison as a person and an actress, so far I'm not feeling her as a host. I didn't expect her to be this bland.

There is no way in hell Jerry could have lost 31 pounds in a week. NO ONE loses that much in a week unless they are very sick and in a hospital. I'm thinking this has to be rigged.

Wow, that was a wonderful start to the season. This show is so inspiring and I was near tears a couple of times. (Maybe that's lingering post-partum hormones or maybe I am just a big sap for this show, who knows?)

I nearly died of shock when I saw Jerry's weight loss and Kae's right before that. It seems almost supernatural, kind of unreal. (His, not hers. Kae's was sort of believable although on the high side.) If it's true, that's amazing...but well...it's hard to be sure.

I think that the red team made the right choice. Amber just didn't seem quite as committed as the others to me. But it was nice to see her progress after she left the BL campus.

Alison was OK. I agree that she was kind of bland. She was sort of just there. Not all that inspiring.

Losing that much weight in Week 1 means the guy is likely to fall short a bit later on. He just isn't big enough to keep up a double digit pace from now on.

Jillian is laying it on a bit thick, but frankly having won two times out of two, other than being scared @hitless of her, her team should be celebrating how much better their chances are of winning now.

When I heard about Jerry coming into the season, and the fact that he was so much older than most of the contestants, I thought that he would probably be in better shape than the rest of them, otherwise he wouldn't be put on the show (too much of a health risk). He proved this by winning the race to be team captain, and I think the fact that he was at least in halfway decent shape probably helped him work off all that weight.

Great first show. Totally miss Caroline though. Loving the "Black Team"/Jillian twist...hope they kick ass.

I wasn't surprised to see that Amber got voted off. I was more surprised that she got picked in the first place. When picking teams of people you don't really know, wouldn't it make sense to consider that Amber was the last person to complete the race and probably wouldn't be much help to your team? The other women seemed like better bets to be on your team. Not that it really matters with the addition of the black team.... Anyway, Amber seemed a good choice to go home. And it was good to see that she is continuing to work on losing weight on her own.

Jerry's weight loss scared me. I did the math--he lost over 10% of his body weight. That just can't be healthy. Maybe he was severely dehydrated and that was mostly water weight. I won't be surprised if he only loses a little (or even gains) weight next week.

I am thrilled, thrilled that there doesn't seem to be any Heathers or Kais' this season. Coupled with that crazy bitch Jillian, who's batshit insane and an utter joy to watch, this is shaping up to be the best cycle yet.

So many women over 250 pounds though, I just can't wrap my little mind around the eventual transformations their bodies are going to go through.

Alison Sweeney didn't bother me that much, but she's no Caroline, and her "compassion" comes across as insincere. No Spami, you can't relate to these contestants. Boo-hoo, you were 15 pounds overweight and took dieting pills to lose your baby fat. Please. Keep that to yourself from now on.

I wish the whole black team/Jillian thing had been kept under wraps, at least until she came up on the motorcycle. It would have made a better twist for the viewing audience. That being said I was still happy to see that bit because you could tell the 6 leftovers felt so bad about being the last kid chosen on the playground.

I actually liked Alison as the host much more than Caroline. After a while Caroline's voice just grated.

I'm glad that Amber is gone. Every year I think to myself: "Aww...too bad they can't just keep everyone and make it about the weight!" and then I start hating some of the personalities that come out and start hoping that person gets voted off.

Also the "week" in TV land is more like 10 days/two weeks in real life according to past contestants. It's still a ton of weight, but maybe a little more understandable. I was stoked to see the teeniest girl and the oldest dude doing so well at the first weigh in. I'm a sucker for underdogs!

I thought it had been 2 weeks. I couldn't believe that Jerry lost THIRTY ONE pounds. Holy crap.

I only started watching this last season, so I never knew Jillian. She is scary! Man. I can't imagine having her for a regular personal trainer. She would so kick my ass.

Knew Amber was a goner....but glad to see she stepped up to the plate once she got home.

Didn't get a bad vibe from anyone...yet...will give it a few weeks until I see a little more of their personalities.

Did love Jerry...he made a very positive impression.

Also still love my Bob.

And am liking the Black team/Jillian twist...she's pretty harsh...but sometimes tough love is what it takes.

Of the original 18, there were 9 men, 9 women. What are the odds that the 2 teams , plus the 6 rejects (which turned to be team #3) would all be 3 men/3 women? You know that the producers had to have told the captains (both men) to pick 2 men, plus 3 women, to make it 3 + 3. Just like last year when out of the original 50, 14 were picked by Bob and Kim and they just happened to be 7/7. With the sides 4/3 and 3/4? I call bullshit!!

I didn't mind the show, I wished they had showed us whos idea it was to put 2 people on the red team to push the wheels of the plane, to get the plane going when the blue team had a huge time lead but couldn't get that damn thing going. They were slow on the uptake to follow the red team's lead of pushing at one end and pulling from the other. I NEVER would've thought of that!!

Loved the twist with Jillian, never watched the show before because there were too many others to watch at the same time, even with the dvd, so I was unspoiled (and thrilled!) about the Black Team. Also, Jillian reminds me of my very fit and rather OCD hot sister hee.

I am glad Amber got voted off. Didn't we all learn from Project Runway that if you make yourself vulnerable during a competitive show, your ass gets voted off that same episode? As soon as she said she wanted to go home, it was all over. I wasn't expecting her team mates to turn on her quite so quickly, but good riddance. It was nice that she lost 60 pounds after, I was happy for her.

I am a Days fan, so maybe I was predisposed to like Alison. But I have to say I thought she was much more fun and personable than Caroline Rhea. I was a bit surprised at how much I liked her more. I never got the impression that Caroline cared much for the contestants as people (except for some reason, Drea), but I got the feeling Alison cared throughout the show.

Loved having Jillian back. I do think her psycho thing is more of an act than the show lets on.


I have felt for awhile that the show fudges things. I remember the first season that eliminations were always blue, red, blue, red, etc. How does that work out with such consistency? The answer is: it doesn't.

I love Jillian!! The only disappointment I had with last season was she wasn't there. I can't wait to watch her kick ass this season. And how can you not love Bob? I mean his heart is there for each one of his team. I'm glad Amber is gone, even during their little meeting before the vote, you could hear in her voice that she wasn't going to be giving 100% no matter how much she said it. That said, I'm so happy to see that she's been working out on her own and I hope she accomplishes her goal.

I liked Alison, and even though she hasn't gone through tremendous weight loss like these people, I know personally that it feels like that much especially with the hollywood types probably telling her that she was fat. Learning you can do something is very tough too. I wish all the contestants good luck.

Hope the Black Team kicks ass!!

I was blown away by "pawpaw"s weight loss. 31 pounds in one week? I'm going to agree with others and say it was mostly water weight.

I'm 99% sure he will gain weight for his next weigh in.

I didn't like the way that the Blue Team seemed to pile on top of Amber during the elimination discussion. I know she did express the desire to quit and go home, but I felt they were quick to blame her for their loss.
But seriously, why the hell was she picked anyway? Her defeatist attitude was blatant during the desert-race.

The Jillian reveal and vote-off was so hokey, I felt nauseous. The raw emotion of the "voted off" members when they saw Jillian was the only thing that saved it for me.

Also, as much as I love Alison Sweeney, nothing she says sounds personable or real on the show. I hope she gets better with time.

I actually cannot wait to see Kim whe Jillian shows up and wished Amber had been on Jillian's team to watch her *motivate* her. All I know is the black team is so lucky to have been not picked - Jillian will not leave one extra pound on your body. I have to believe Kim's team is screwed.

Did I miss something?

I didn't see the Black team get their initial weigh-in. Did they weigh them?

I also was glad to see that Amber kept losing. I just hope she continues to keep it up. That would be great to show her really thin at the end. It would be so inspiring to let the home folks know that it can be done at home.

Maybe because the captain knew she would be an easy pick to vote off the first time around? Some people do play the game better than others.

You can go to NBC.com and watch the black team weigh in.

I can only imagine it's because the team captains really had very little power to choose their teams, or that they were highly persuaded in certain directions. I would guess that you would want the strongest players on your team, but since there was a secret black team, TPTB needed to have a more even distribution of perceived strong and weak players across all three teams.

Oh yeah, I teared up too. Much as I would like to believe I'm a big ball of bitter, I'm a sucker for the tears of others.

First impressions: LOVE the old man. Love him. I hope he doesn't go bad on us. Also, crushing on Phil (red team captain), I do enjoy a big man (6'5"!), and liked that he picked up Kim a few times. Ryan from the blue team is the hottie in the making. Even at nearly 400 pounds, he still has a handsome face. So glad that crybaby Amber is gone. Kudos to her for continuing the weight loss at home, but I really didn't need her on my TV each week.

Jillian scares the hell out of me. If she was training me, I'd alternate crying and flinching. And saying "Yes ma'am" a lot.

So assuming a Blue/Red gets voted off next week, will the Black Team be competing for 2 slots? I'm really confused.

Working late tonight, I caught only the last half-hour of the show, but since I like the weigh-ins the best, it was fine. First off, I kept wanting to hear Caroline's voice, so this Alison chick does absolutely nothing for me,and I think she's too young. Just one more insincere phony. In some ways, Caroline was like the housemother.

It appears to be a UO, but I absolutely cannot stand Jillian. I hate her macho theatrics (we get it, Jillian -- you've got a bigger dick than Bob!), and I don't find her at all motivational or inspiring. I can't stand Kim of the Mannish Shoulders because when she looks at her charges, I'm sure she's thinking, "You're disgusting, you fat pieces of shit." And how many times did we have to see her guppy face when the old man lost 31 pounds?

I couldn't believe that the first contestant voted off was a paramedic. If she was close to 300 pounds, how did she manage to do her job? Kudos to her for losing weight and trying to get healthier.

My biggest complaint about the Biggest Loser is how all the contestants basically say, "I was worthless until I decided to lose weight." To that I say, "No, you're not worthless just because you don't fit Society's ideals." It's one thing to decide to change because you don't feel comfortable at your weight, or because you want to get healthier, but being overweight doesn't automatically make you a loser (of the emotional kind). I think this show reinforces that concept that yes, you are worthless if you aren't a size 3 (women), or you don't have a 32-inch waist (men). Wasn't there a study a few years ago that said that liking yourself helped you change your image in the long run?

Thanks SueinFL . . . I went to nbc.com and watched the Black team's weigh-in.

But no where could I find their weight loss. Did anybody find it? and if so, how do I get there?

Yes, thank the stars TBL4's Amber bit the dust quickly. She really had to potential to give BB8's Amber a run for her money.


They're actually my favorite of the three teams for that alone. The twist was an excellent idea, and so far, I think it's being executed wonderfully.


I don't think all the others really felt that much ire toward her. I think that since the threat of elimination was so close to each of them, they all jumped onto Lezlye's bandwagon of chastising Amber since they were all looking for someone to boot first, anyway. Amber, in some ways, made herself the convenient scapegoat with her defeatism, and after Lezlye brought that up, the others were likely quick to agree just to keep the targets off their own backs.

I recognize this from what happened to Reuben in TBL2 after Matt needed someone to blame for the men losing the first weigh-in, and all the other men gladly jumped in, too, since he'd somewhat made himself the convenient target. Similarly, Amber made herself the easy target.

My assumption is that the black team is supposed to shock us/them with their weight loss when they reappear. So we probably won't see any numbers until they return to the ranch (campus?) to weigh in.

Well said, bartleby301. On one hand I find the show to be somewhat inspirational in that people are truly losing weight and changing their lives. On the other hand, there are some components that are more humiliating than they need to be. Why oh why don't they let the women wear t-shirts or tanks instead of those horrible, demeaning sports bras?

Dang, 31 pounds in ONE WEEK? Or is that time frame false? One of the contestants (the older guy on the blue team) said right after being weighed that he has never lost that much weight in two weeks, then he amended that to be one week.

In any case, I was impressed with all of them.

I am not fat enough to get on the show...a mere 180 instead of the 105 I was for most of my pre-computer job life. But I would love to have nothing to do in my life except have a trainer to bully me into exercising and a team to get me to eat right. At Jerry's rate I'd be done in about two and a half weeks.

Plus they have to pay AFTRA scale, don't they?

It is tempting to gain another 30 pounds to get on the show.

Nah.
.

I watched the first two seasons but haven't watched since then until tonight. Somdething that really bothered me in the first two seasons was that the men were REALLY fat and the woman were just fat. I don't know how it was last season, but I was glad to see that this season they actually have women who are close to being as fat as the men. It is still not equal. Why are there never 400 pound women? Can they not find 400 pound women or do they think America will be so repulsed by a 400 pound woman that they won't watch (but will happily watch 400 pound men, apparently)?

I LOVE Jillian - she is why I tuned in. She has a radio talk show every Sunday am in the LA area (on KFI - streams online) and she is so inspiring to listen to - not the same hard-ass you see on tv. I download her podcasts and listen to them when I am walking, they keep me going.

Allison as a host - yuck! Really blah and scripted, no enthusiasm - and not edited well either.

Amber will always be a big girl. Sorry to see her go but she just wasn't into it. Only 7 pounds from such a big girl. You guys are right about Jerry. Next week he will gain some weight back. I bet he intentionally put weight on so he would look good on his first weigh in. The asian girl who lost 20 pounds is in the same boat. Thats not natural for a woman to lose that kind of weight.

On the website, it looks like they took one picture of one of the twins and are using it for both profiles.

Go look at the profiles. It's the EXACT same picture.

Also, if you go here: http://www.nbc.com/The_Biggest_Loser/conte...s/current_cast/

It says the black team lost 69 lbs, which is WAY less than I would have thought, considering Jillian is such a hard ass.

If you can't handle the stress of working out, being away from your family, and being out of your comfort zone, why would you ever come onto a reality show? Contestants like Amber (on any reality show) with their defeatest attitudes truly annoy me. There were thousands of people chomping at the bit to be in the position that she was in (not to mention the 6 that were "sent home" only a few days prior) and she's begging her teammates to send her home? Shut it.

Though the trainers harp on the contestants for being fat, worthless slobs, I'd like to see a team of Bobs, Kims, and Jillians try to pull a plane.

Thanks, Honey Wheeler. I used to agree with you:until I realized (or read here at TWoP) about how they go about losing the weight -- six hours of exercise a day, controlled meals, etc. -- and then starve themselves or do whatever in the final weeks before the final weigh-in. That's not about being healthy or changing your life. I do still watch the weigh-ins to see how they're losing the weight, but I've come to realize that what they've done is unrealistic. That the old man lost 31 pounds the first week shows how unrealistic it is.

Wait, bartleby301, are you saying that the average person doesn't have time to work out 6-8 hours a day with a personal trainer?! Next season I'm going to open a kiosk near the Biggest Loser location that sells only laxatives and diuretics! ITA that the show's methods are deplorable, but I can't help but root for some of the contestants. I'm a sucker like that.

Is it possible to get in shape by weight/resistance training alone? A curious mind wants to know. tia

Well, men tend to weigh more to begin with. On average, a 400 pound woman is going to be more overweight than a 400 man, and is likely to have more health problems. I don't see a problem with being on this show when you are "just fat." I wouldn't mind to see a "REALLY fat" women either, but I've noticed that as the season's go by, the contestants seem to getting more overweight. I like it being a mix of overweight, obese, and morbidly obese.

Anyway, for the season, I'm rooting for the black team.

This show always turns me into a teary eyed loser. They get so emotional! And they have great sob stories.

(Also, eating Häagen Dazs while watching these guys work their arses off makes makes it only sweeter). I can't believe the old guy lost 31 pounds!! How is that even possible? I was rooting for him and the smaller woman too (I can't believe she lost 20 pounds!). I almost think they pre-weigh them and then set it up in order of shocks.

I think it's off to a good start. I didn't find the new host as warm as CR, but who knows. Love the Jillian twist (though I would die if she was my personal trainer! Erm.. If I had one). I don't dislike any of them yet, not even Amber. I don't know why the captain picked her anyhow.

Yay! Our only whiner is gone already! What pissed me off about Whaamber 2.0 was that when she was complaining, she barely looked out of breath! I mean, if she was panting until she was vomiting, I could see giving up, but honestly, when she was walking to the finish line, she was not out of breath at all! Color me shocked that she found the inner strength to lose a significant amount of weight on her own at home!

As for Jillian, I went through all of season 1 actively hating her for being so cold and so bitchy, until right at the end, when she got so emotional about their success. Suddenly she melted for me and I just see her as a big softie. I am super glad she's back.

I am sad, though, that the stupid refrigerators were back in the background of the eliminations. That, the dinner plate eliminations, and the stupid puns ("loser" "weighing you down") are the only things that make this show awful. I wish that NBC could get over the gimmicky stuff that makes the contestants seem like fatty caricatures and just let them tell an inspirational story.

How do people get on this show? They find a weigh-in. :)

That has bothered me since I started watching this show (season 2). I don't think they need 400 lb women (although if they can find some willing to do it, go ahead), but how about some women in the 300s? There are lots out there. They finally got some that were close this year, but still none that have broken that 300 mark. It would be inspirational to a lot of women out there who have a lot to lose.



Ah yes, only when watching TBL can we say someone lost "only 7 lbs". In the real world, that's a fantastic loss, but on the show? Meh. Keep in mind too that females have to deal with something men don't every month, and many of us ladies know how that can make us gain temporarily (in some cases up to 5 lbs). I'm not making excuses for her, but it's a possibility. If it happened to be that time of the month for her, her actual loss may not have been as much due to water retention. Still, I think they made the right choice in voting her off as her heart didn't seem to be in it.

Same here. Give me two weeks on the ranch/campus/whatever and then send me home! Is it mean that I like that I look at them and go, "Well at least I'm not as fat as them! I'm not fat enough to BE on this show!"?

Jerry...I love him, but, I smell a rig. He wins the race AND loses 31 pounds? One week or two, that's just insane!!

And I'm thinking that the women, for their height, qualify as REALLY fat in the same way a 400 pound man does. Plus, it's just harder for women to lose weight, so I don't think they have any advantage by being smaller.

Allison...meh...I HATED her on the "Did They Keep the Weight Off?" special. And I mean serious HATE, I thought I wouldn't be able to watch. But she calmed down a little. I guess live tv isn't her thing (that was live, wasn't it?). I'll prepare myself to hate her at the finale. ;)

What was the purpose of blindfolding the Red/Blue teams and bringing them into a room to show them the 'junk' they ate in a week? One table looked like it had orange juice on it.

I did have to laugh at the graphics: "X ate 6 hot dogs in one sitting" "Y ate a gallon of ice cream in one sitting". Yeah? Big whoop.

I had to laugh at Amber's measly 7 pound loss, versus the 225 lbs woman's loss of 20 pounds. Usually you pick the really fat people to be on your team because they lose proportionally more weight than the 'lighter' people, but Amber certainly threw that statistic out the window.

And what's with all the whining? Aw, losing weight is hard work! Waahh! Did they think they were going to Camp Liposuction?

I was very pleased with Jillian being back (as much as I LOVE Bob, I'd want someone to kick my ass when I'm working out) and I thought that it was great the way they have them training in the desert like a guerilla fitness crew or something. All sneaky and stuff.

One thing I never understand on reality shows (among so many things) is why people weep about letters from home. I mean.. you JUST left. Didn't they? And maybe I'm callous but if I'm gone for a bit, yeah I'll miss people but I'm not going to weep about the prospect of a letter. I know they're there supporting me and I'll get it done. I don't know that also struck me as well as sobbing about people being voted off. They're going home to the people they've been crying about missing not going to their death!

I think we'll really see some dramatic losses.

See, maybe this is me being selfish but eventually I'd like to see a show called "The last 15 lbs" because to me those are the hardest. What if they took in-shape active people that just needed to drop the last 15 that takes them from in-shape to DAMN what have you been doing?? I like TBL best because of the dramatic loss, but when you're THAT big, idle and don't eat right then weight will come off with activity and diet change. No shocker there.

I really liked the loan officer. I think she'll go far. Was she the same woman who was just bolting it down in a red/pink jogbra in the desert? I just loved that woman's enthusiasm.

I'm glad Jillian's back but I wonder if they're going to keep her as a third trainer. Some of the things she said last night made it sound like she was getting them "ready" to be inducted back into the house, but that she would be leaving after she turned them over. I also didn't like how she constantly harped on how they weren't good enough, they weren't picked, etc. I wish they'd show more of the sensitive Jillian.

The motorcycle scene was over the top and totally reminded me of Days of Our Lives.

Allison Sweeney cannot enunciate properly and it bothers me. It always impacted her delivery of lines on DOOL and she's apparently got the issue when non-scripted as well. I've never thought she was a good actress, and I'm not fond of her as the host. Nothing personal, but her timing and cadence when she speaks is always so rushed and off that she never sounds natural.

It says on the website that Jillian's team only lost 69 pounds. First thing that came to mind is that one of the reasons these six weren't picked is possibly that they weren't the absolute biggest (people were looking to pick those who could lose the most weight). I wonder what their percentage of weight lost was.

HA HA HA!! Another reason why I'd never get on that show. They wouldn't get a single tear out of me over that! Maybe it's different if you have kids but..the lady with the 15 year old? I think he'll be okay without you for a couple of months! Mama's boy maybe?

They always like people with some sort of dramatic back story on these reality shows. Not all, but most. The ones with the stories get more air time, for sure.

I wonder if they built more muscle with their workouts. They say muscle weighs more than fat and I've often wondered if the guys who look like they built a lot of muscle (and also look really great) have actually screwed themselves out of a win because of that.

I am so happy Jillian is back. I love her.

I thought it was interesting that they had Bob and Kim there for the initial weigh-in. I really love Bob. He got so emotional during the weigh-in. I would love to work out with him some time.

I wanted to smack Kim though. Did anyone catch what she said after she watched the weigh-in? She said something like "It's heartbreaking to see how far these people have let themselves go." I just thought that was so insensitive. Maybe it's easy for her to look like she does, considering it's her job to work out. But not everyone has that luxury. I just couldn't believe she said that.