Last night, Mark and Kevin had their second Biggest Loser Trek. Miriam’s self confidence was at an all time low and one of the contestants couldn’t take the pace.

Biggest Loser Trek

Mark and Kevin had to explore the 50 acre site for a second time to find the Biggest Loser Trek instructions. Kevin said,

‘Do you ever get that kind of feeling that we’ve been here before?!’

Back at the house, the other contestants were discussing what the possibilities were. Michaela said,

‘I thought it was going to be something really good. I thought maybe a week of sunbeds or something,’ Wishful thinking from the Pink ladies there!

Jamie said,

‘If it is something good that benefits the team, me and my dad definitely won’t get it!’ Miriam asked why because he was in the same training team as the Browns now. Jamie said that would make the rivalry between him and Mark worse in Mark’s eyes.

Kevin and Mark found the instructions which were:

You must choose any two people from your training team to complete a rowing task. You may not choose yourselves. The pair must row the 35km of the English Channel over the next 48 hours. This distance is to be covered between the two.

If the pair you pick do not complete the task in the time, both you and the pair will forfeit a training session with Richard.

That meant that Dave, Miriam and Sadie were safe. Mark said that they had to make sure they picked someone who was a good rower and that they could trust them because he didn’t want to miss a session with Richard.

A Game of Two Halves

Because the Biggest Loser Trek decision could sometimes divide the team, Angie and Richard decided to have a football game with their teams. Richard said,

‘The idea of the football was, basically to get everyone outside, have a bit of fun, kind of lighten the atmosphere because it’s very intense in the house. And, obviously, to get a bit of a cardiovascular workout,’

Rather than stick with their training teams, they decided to pick teams just like at school. Angie said,

‘We thought we’d have a bit of fun and mix it up a bit!’

Angie’s team scored first with Mark getting the ball into the goal. But not all of the players were playing fair! Angie said,

‘Carol was a huge cheat! Every time I saw her she was cheating. She was doing something ridiculous!’

Carol caught the ball with her hands and, when Dave was awarded a free kick, she ran up to him with her top up and flashed him to put him off his stride! Dave said,

‘Carol flashed me as I was about to take a free kick. I’ve now got to go and see the psychiatrist tomorrow!’

In her defence, Carol said later,

‘I can’t play football. What the hell was I gonna do?’

Then there was a clash of the titans! Jamie and Mark were tackling each other and either a shoulder or an elbow went into Mark’s ribs by accident. After the game, he wasn’t sure if he had just bruised them or cracked them but, they definitely hurt. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot that can be done for ribs.

Just after half time, Michaela scored again for Angie’s team.

Angie’s Team 2 – Richard’s Team 0

Michaela said she scored the goal and couldn’t believe that she had done it. Angie had said to her when she picked her,

‘Michaela, you’re not letting me down okay? You’re gonna score at least one goal!’

There was another collision in the second half. Dave was running one way up the pitch, Maria was running the other and . . . yep, they collided sending Maria crashing to the floor. She thought she was going to get knocked out by the force but didn’t. She got straight back up and carried on!

Then Mark scored again, even with the pain from his ribs.

Angie’s Team 3 – Richard’s Team 0

Dave scored next. His celebration was running up the pitch and launching himself into a forward roll. For a larger man, he did very well and could, almost, have been mistaken for Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible!

The final score was Angie’s Team 4 – Richard’s Team 0

Richard said to his team,

‘Guys! What can I say? That was disgusting!’

Angie said,

‘My team were absolutely brilliant! What was the score Dave?

Dave,

‘Four nil,’

Richard,

‘Yeah, whatever! Whatever!’

The game definitely lifted their spirits and it seemed like everyone had enjoyed the distraction – even the trainers!

Miriam said later,

‘Our team absolutely thrashed the other team. We won four nil easily and I’m really pleased I was on the winning side. Definitely not the strongest player but, you know, it’s all about team isn’t it?’

Wounded

Mark’s injury, although an accident, meant that he wasn’t able to take part in the boxing session that Richard had planned for his training team. But, instead of doing the training outside, Mark took himself off to the gym for some cardiovascular work – that’s dedication for you!
Richard started his team off with a brisk jog, US Army style and then got them boxing. He said,

‘I was keeping a very close eye on Jamie. He’s only just transferred to my team after being nothing but trouble for Angie from the word go. Angie felt that Jamie was a disruptive influence and I was worried this would continue. So far, he’s been on his best behaviour. I just hope it will continue,’

During the boxing he asked Jamie how much he weighed. Jamie told him, between pants, that he was 27 stone.

‘So you’re past heavyweight? You’re super-heavyweight? You’re super-duper-heavyweight right? So come on! Punch like it!’ Richard told Jamie.

Later Richard said,

‘Supersized he may be but in his training, he actually did a super job!’

Mr Belly

Kevin’s son calls him Mr Belly at home. During the boxing session, Richard told Kevin he wanted Mr Six-Pack and that he knew he was in there somewhere!

After the boxing, he made his team run from him to the front gate and back. They power-walked this in their first week at the Biggest Loser house. He was really, really happy with Jamie and Katey’s performance and said that Kevin had the best training session so far. He hadn’t expected Kevin to run all the way to the gate and all the way back again!

Panic Attack

They were on their way back to the house when Michaela said she heard a commotion behind her. It was Katey. She was struggling to breathe and was panicking. Katey said,

‘Just out of nowhere, my breathing just went and I didn’t know what was happening and then I realised I was having a panic attack. When it gets that intense, it feels like you’re going to die!’

Carol and Richard were trying to calm Katey down to get her breathing back to normal when Carol started singing nursery rhymes to her. Richard said,

‘Carol started to sing nursery rhymes! That pretty much says it all about their relationship! Carol still treats her like a child,’

Carol said later,

‘Richard wasn’t too happy about me signing. He said never, ever, ever again does he want to hear my freaky singing!’

No Fear

Angie said,

‘My team aren’t doing the rowing challenge but, you know what? If they think for one minute that means they’re in for an easy ride, they really are in for a shock! Today’s session is all about strength and functional movement,’

Miriam was scared when Angie explained what she wanted her to do. Angie said,

‘Before we even started the drills I could see fear in Miriam’s eyes!’

Sadie had a really good training session. Angie said that she thought Sadie had loved it and that she had got her head down and absolutely flourished. She was well ahead of Miriam. Angie also feels that now Dave hasn’t got to worry about Jamie he can focus and really fulfil his potential.

But Miriam wasn’t coping well with the exercises that Angie wanted them to do. Sadie said,

‘I looked over to Miriam and she was kind of on the floor crying. I thought, oh god, she’s given up! What’s Angie going to do to her?’

Miriam was on the floor sobbing and saying,

‘I can’t do this, I can’t do this!’ over and over again.

Angie said later,

‘She’d just done it and she’s saying I can’t do it. It just shows where her head’s at. It’s just this total lack of self belief,’

She said to Miriam,

‘What’s the matter?’

Miriam replied,

‘I just can’t breathe and everything hurts,’

Angie said,

‘Listen, you know what that’s called? Exercise. That’s the way it goes. Can’t breathe, everything hurts. Happy days! That’s it! That’s what happens. That’s how it works. You can do it. You can survive it. Don’t bail on me now man!’

Miriam said,

‘I’m not as strong as Eunice,’

Angie told her,

‘You’ve got to stop talking to yourself in this negative way! You are as strong okay? You just keep giving up on yourself. Don’t be scared. You’ve got to be proud of yourself. Look how far you’ve come. When things get tough, you get tough okay? That’s the deal. Law of the Universe! Otherwise life will chew you up and spit you out. You’re not going to let that happen right? Two choices Miriam – it’s gonna beat you or you’re gonna cane it!’

Wow! Couldn’t we all do with an Angie now and again?

Her second session with her group for the day was really a test for Miriam because she was getting worried about her. She got them to do three drills, each for 40 seconds and they had to keep swapping until she said stop. If any of them failed there would be consequences for all three of them.

Miriam started well but then she began to struggle. Angie kept pushing her and encouraging her and Miriam managed to complete it. She said,

‘Actually having completed the exercises, I felt fantastic. I couldn’t believe I’d survived!’

Easy Ride?

Richard felt that some of his team had had a rough few days so he thought he would give them a change of pace for their next training session. He decided to do a Tai Chi session. Kevin said,

‘Richard was doing these moves, these Karate Kid moves and he just looked so impressive! I thought this could be quite an easy session but, as it slowly, slowly progressed it was a muscle churning, pain sensation session!’

Richard said,

‘They should know by now, I never give them an easy ride!’

Kevin said he felt like a Jedi during the session and that his muscles afterwards felt like a million dollars. Michaela agreed. She said,

‘I find it very hard to switch off and relax. I always have done. My mind is always somewhere else. So that, to me, was like, oh God how am I gonna get through this? But it was really, really chilling and so relaxing. I will definitely be going to those classes!’

Richard said that Jamie impressed him. He had good balance, nice co-ordination and awesome focus.

Richard said later,

‘People will look at that work out and say, you’re not going to lose weight doing that. The fact of the matter is, you’re still burning calories, you’re still loading muscles. It’s weights and resistance,’

Trek Decision

It was time for Kevin and Mark to reveal who they had chosen to do the Trek Challenge. Kevin said,

‘I’ll be short and sweet about this. Obviously, it’s to do with our training group. Carol and Katey last week you done really well on the spin bikes. Jamie, you’re the new guy so, for that reason we’ve picked the Pink ladies,’

It needed to be someone they trusted to get the job done so that no one had to forfeit a much needed training session with Richard. Kevin went on to say,

‘I’m absolutely confident in your abilities,’

Maria said,

‘There’s a lot of pressure because, if we fail we miss out a session with Richard. So it is a lot of pressure and we’ve got to get it done!’

It’s Challenge night tonight. What will it be this week? Will the Pink ladies complete the Trek Challenge? Will Jamie keep up the new improved focus?