Biggest Loser: Special Edition, Episodes 1 & 2 Summary
“How Many Losers Are In Your Family?”Welcome to the first-ever special edition of The Biggest Loser, specially tailored for those of you who don’t like to wait for months to find out who wins. We follow two families for just under 5 months and get it over with in only two hours! Woo and Hoo!
Our two families:
The Samuels: Don (dad) at age 44, Melony (mom) at age 43 and Revee (daughter) at age 19. They live in Atlanta, Georgia and love to eat! About a year and a half ago Melony was diagnosed with kidney cancer right after Don lost his job. They compensated their depression with eating. Revee loves to sing and has a beautiful voice but wants the body to go with it. Mom used to be a beauty queen and wore teeny-size dresses. Dad was an athlete. Mom is cancer-free but they still love eating. In fact, they receive their special blue-wrapped package while eating at their favorite soul-food restaurant. The package contains a compact DVD player with a message from Bob informing them they’ve been chosen to be on the Biggest Loser and that he would be their trainer. (and they were totally surprised, having not noticed the camera crew at the restaurant filming them.....)
The Muhas: Otto (dad) at age 43, Shaun (mom) at age 41 and Erica (daughter) at age 18. They live in Tampa, Florida. The son (Bob) is in the Air Force and they haven’t seen him for a year and a half. They take comfort in food. Erica’s dream is to join the Air Force but is at least 50 pounds too heavy to be accepted. She is taking all college classes and has a 4.8 GPA , works two jobs, etc, etc. She has no boyfriend and didn’t go to her prom. Their red-wrapped package arrives at their home with a message from Jillian on their compact DVD player. They also have been chosen for Biggest Loser and she will be their trainer. (again, it is a total shock, despite the presence of a camera crew in their home)
Part One: At the ranch:
They pack. They fly. They arrive at the ranch.
They meet Caroline in the gym. The doors are closed in front of the giant scale-o-rama. With much drama and nice little confessional comments from the families, the doors open to reveal not only the scale but the steps leading to the scale filled with plates and plates of their favorite foods.
Don tells us, “Seeing all those foods that I like all together kind of looked like death.”
Shaun tells us, “When I saw all the food, it repulsed me, I didn’t want to ever eat that garbage again.”
We have our oh-so-fun first weigh-in when everyone is faced with the reality of how overweight they really are.
Samuels: Don - 243, Melony - 297, Revee - 177
total weight: 617
Muha: Otto - 259, Shaun - 232, Erica - 233
total weight: 724
They will weigh-in again in 11 days and the winner by percentage will get 5 nights at Green Valley Spa in Utah.
The battle of the bulge begins!
The families go to their bungalows to find pictures of themselves on the wall. It’s tough for them to see but it is motivation. The Muhas want their son to be proud of them when he sees them again.
Ten days to weigh-in:
The Samuels decide they want to be on the treadmill when Bob comes so he won’t find them sitting around. The Muhas must have decided the same thing because when Bob and Jillian make their dramatic entrance (they run energetically and athletically up a hill and across the lawn) everyone is treadmillin’ it.
Bob takes the blue team (Samuels) on a nice little hike up a nice big hill. Melony really struggles but she makes it. Don emotionally tells us how much it means to see her climbing hills when a year and a half ago he just wanted her to be alive.
At this point we go to a commercial break (not the first) and I usually don’t comment on them, but I find it somewhat cruel to have a McDonalds commercial during a show about losing weight. Not judgin’, just sayin’
Nine days to weigh-in:
We have a challenge. It’s out in the middle of a desert of some sort. The winner will receive a computer, digital camera and printer.
The teams find giant six-foot long sundaes on trays with handles. They have to carry them to the finish line. And -dramatic pause- they will be followed by ice cream trucks! Oh the horror! Oh the inhumanity! Oh the terrible music!
The race begins. The teams start out walking and they each stop occasionally to rest and change postions. The lead keeps changing whenever a team stops. But finally the Muha family makes it to the finish line and win the challenge. (I’m disappointed, I couldn’t hear the ice cream truck music and the trucks really didn't get much camera time!)
Six days to weigh-in:
The red team is working out and Jillian has a chance to see how they enable each other. She comments that Shaun is so caught up in being Erica’s mom that she doesn’t know who she is when she’s not that person (a mom). “I need her identity to be Shaun.”
Shaun is really having a tough time watching Erica workout. Jillian tells Shaun she can’t help her now. “Let me worry about her.”
It’s hard for Shaun to hear that she has been enabling Erica. Jillian tells her she has to let Erica learn to do it on her own. “It’ll be hell for you to watch but it’s a good thing.”
Erica recognizes that it’s hard for her mom to let go of her since her brother is overseas.
Three days to weigh-in:
Bob and Jillian go to the bungalows to test the teams on their knowledge of nutrition to see what they’ve learned in a short amount of time.
The teams are informed that it’s a Biggest Loser pop quiz and the winning family will get a $2,500 shopping spree. They have 20 minutes. (timed with oh-so-attractive red or blue kitchen timers) Revee is so excited she grabs the quiz out of Bob’s hand. Melony informs us that Revee is a mall-a-holic.
The Samuels sit down at the table together to do the quiz while the Muhas do the quiz while doing other things in the kitchen. I think it’s important to note that they each have books so it’s really an open-book quiz.
They meet together and go over the quiz. With one question left it’s a tie. The Muhas win the quiz and the shopping spree. “We’re on the high road and they’re on the low road, “ Otto tells us. The Samuels are bummed. Don tells us the house has a down vibe in it.
Last chance workout time! Don “mouths off” (good-naturedly) to Jillian and Otto says he’s not going to stand for it. After some bantering back and forth he challenges Don to a race. They go outside to race from fencepost to fencepost. Otto starts out ahead but Don pulls into the lead and wins by a pretty good margin.
Don sees it as an encouragement for his family. “We may have lost the challenges but we can still win the weigh-in.”
The weigh-in:
Muhas: Erica - 233 starting, 218 current with a loss of 15 pounds; Shaun - 232 starting, 214 current with a loss of 18 pounds; Otto - 259 starting, 234 current with a loss of 25 pounds.
total loss: 58 pounds, 8.01%
Samuels: Revee - 177 starting, 159 current with a loss of 18 pounds; Melony - 197 starting, 193 current with a loss of 14 pounds; Don - 243 starting, 220 current with a loss of 23 pounds.
total loss 55 pounds, 8.91%
Samuels win the weigh-in and the spa trip.
Now they go home until the final weigh-in in three months.
Part Two: At home:
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