The Biggest Loser

I've been a fan of The Biggest Loser ever since it first came on. Season after season I fall in love with each and every contestant. At the end of the show each week I'm on pins and needles waiting to find out which of my new friends is going home.

I especially like trainer Jillian Michaels. She's just the right amount of tough balanced with just a dash of sensitive. In person she'd probably scare the hell out of me and make me cry. I'm impressed with the way she seems to get inside the heads of the fatties on her team. Her methods get results, too. I'm thinking about getting her work-out video game for the Wii, just to see how it would be to have her yelling at me.

This year there is a contestant that I absolutely cannot stand: Vicky. She is the most mean-spirited bitch they've ever had as a contestant. She has a nasty attitude, and is more into the game aspect of the show than anyone has ever been. I cheered when her husband went home last week. My only problem with him was that he's Vicky's husband. Nonetheless, it was great to see Vicky's alliance with Heba and her husband busted up.

Last night, after three commercials during the weigh in, we learn that Vicky was in the bottom two, and hence, up for elimination with sweet Coleen--the baby of the losers this season. She was in the bottom two because Michelle, the winner of the challenge, earned the right to give someone an extra pound. Vicky got it, and it made the difference.

For the first time ever, instead of dreading the vote to see who was going home, I relished it. The cards were stacked in such a way that Vicky's demise seemed certain. Amy, who Vicky had treated like dirt all week for breaking the alliance and voting her husband off the week before, was the deciding vote. After a few more commercials, Amy's vote is revealed.

Rather than voting off the Biggest Bitch, she sends sweet little Coleen (a former teammmate) home, pretty much guaranteeing that the black team will vote her off first chance they get. Having ticked off the blue team the week before, they'll vote her off first chance they get. She needs to stay above the yellow line or she's gone.

I will say it's more than a little annoying that the producers stretch what could easily be a one-hour show out to two hours. To get around TiVo, they have commercials for various products integrated in to the show, along with a regular commercial break any time something interesting is about to happen. Like that's not enough, they repeat the minute or two that took place before the commercial break immediately after the commercial break. Those kinds of tactics are standard with reality shows now, and will likely lead to their eventual demise. Or at least, I hope so.

Yours,

The Crotchety Old Man