It was Challenge time at the Biggest Loser house yesterday and the contestants were in for probably the hardest one yet. Someone tried a little cheat, the Challenge proved too much for one contestant and there was tension between some of the contestants.

Trek Challenge

The Pink ladies had the Trek Challenge to do. They had to row the 35km of the English Channel on a rowing machine and only had about 24 hours left to do it in. The Browns brought the rowing machine into the house and the ladies were shocked that there was only one. They had wanted to do it side by side but, it looked like they would have to take turns.

They started rowing and carried on, even when everyone else had gone to bed! Then Michaela realised that they had actually rowed too far. Kevin said they had crossed the Channel and were now in a little croissant shop in France! Once they had finished, they went and woke everyone up to celebrate their achievement and the fact that they wouldn’t be missing a training session with Richard.

Reminiscing

After the challenge, Maria, Michaela, Carol and Kevin met in Carol’s room and were looking at old photos of each other when they were slimmer and younger. Michaela had a photo of herself at 14 with her best friend. She said it was nice because,

‘I think it was the only time I have ever worn a belt!’

Then she had a photo of when she was big. She said she used to buy clothes that were three or four sizes too big to cover up the fat. She said,

‘When I look back, I think it was the worst thing I could ever have done,’

Kevin agreed. He said,

‘It’s made you look bigger,’

Kevin had a photo of him with his dad. Kevin said that when they took the picture, his dad was having real trouble getting his arm around him because of his size.

Carol’s photos started with a picture of her on the beach, sunbathing at 21. She had a healthy body shape but then, the photo of her about at about 30 showed her in a costume again and looking very different. She also had a photo of herself at the age of 30 with her husband and Katey. Michaela said,

‘I can’t believe you’re 30 there!’

Carol replied,

‘It does age you being fat doesn’t it? I look about 50 in this photo! It’s a shame that I’ve wasted my young years isn’t it?’ She said that she looks back and feels that she has wasted 20 years and doesn’t want Katey to do the same.

Maria said that she was always slim, fit and quite active when she was younger. She could eat what she liked and not worry about it. She had a holiday snap of herself when she was about 18 looking amazingly slim and toned. Carol said that she looked like a model. Maria said,

‘I don’t normally look back on photos like that when I was that age. It just makes me feel so disappointed with myself because how I used to look and how I look now. So it’s not very nice to look back at those photos really. I remember being very confident at that age and to get that confidence back would be very good,’

 

 

 

Doctor’s Surgery

All of the contestants have a checkup with the show’s obesity expert, Dr Ian Campbell, before they are cleared to do the Challenge. He said,

‘In the fourth week everyone seems to be settling down and reaping the benefits of their lifestyle change. In particular, Kevin and Dave. Their blood pressure has dropped significantly,’

He told Kevin,

‘That’s quite spectacular. A blood pressure of 126 over 73 is what you would expect to find in a 25 year old who’s very fit you know, it’s that good! Basically, you’ve increased your whole life expectancy in the space of four weeks. You’ve added a few years to your life,’

It was the same story with Dave. He used to smoke 20-30 cigarettes a day and ate generally unhealthy food. But the Doctor told him his health is now on par with a 25 year old.

Dr Ian Campbell said,

‘Overall I’m delighted with their progress and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the next few weeks,’

Down on the Farm

On the way to the challenge, Carol said that it was her turn to win this time. She was determined to beat the Brown team and get the prize. As were the Pink ladies. The looks on their faces as they pulled up outside a farm were a picture! Michaela said,

‘Ohhhh My God! I’m not doing anything with animals!’

The first part of the challenge was to clear dead strawberry plants out of the 50 metre row of boxes and dump them into the compost heap. They had to do this as quickly as possible to win. They had to fill the wheelbarrow, run back up to the compost bin, empty it and go back for more until their row was clear. One of each pair would do this part and the other person would do the second part. That meant that Sadie and Miriam would have to do both parts themselves as they had no partners!

Michaela was not happy! The thought of getting dirty and muddy, digging it, touching it – she was horrified!

So, up first were Katey for the Greens, Mark for the Browns, Michaela for the Pinks and Dave for the Greys, with Miriam and Sadie for the Oranges and Yellows.

The prize at stake was an extra 3lbs added to their combined total loss when they weigh in on Friday. That could mean the difference between falling below the dreaded Yellow Line or not! Miriam, keen to have the extra helping hand said,

‘If I won the 3lb off my weight loss, I know that I would be pretty safe so, it was definitely worth having,’

Mark wanted to win it for the bit of comfort zone that it would offer as he hadn’t been able to train as much because of his injury after the football match the other day. He thought the first part of the Challenge was going to be easy. He said afterwards,

‘Boy was I wrong!’

Sadie said that this Challenge was definitely the worst and the toughest and she had to complete both parts as she was on her own. The boys were head to head the whole way through. Katey was desperate not to come last, but the girls did seem to be struggling. Michaela said,

‘It’s not for me, getting muddy and dirty. I don’t ever want to do farming. I’d rather be the Farmer’s wife!’

Dave and Mark were obviously racing against each other, both desperate to beat the other one. Mark got a little carried away at the compost heap at one point because he threw the dead plants a little too hard and they went over the heap onto the floor the other side! He had to go round and pick them up, taking up valuable time. But, at the end, he just pipped Dave at the post to win the first part of the Challenge. Mark was very definitely pleased with himself. Carol said later,

‘To be honest, I’m getting a bit fed up with Mark winning something. He can be quite smug about it,’

Dave said,

‘It’s not that impressive beating someone 10 years older than you is it?’

Miriam finished next leaving Michaela, Sadie and Katey toiling away and getting muddier by the minute. Michaela was in pain and had about three runs to go when she came over really hot and had a headache. She was just about to make her way back up to the compost heap when she passed out. The Medic was called and he gave her oxygen and she was stretchered off to an ambulance. That was her out of the Challenge.

Katey came in next followed by Sadie. Katey was really pleased with herself not to have come last.

 

 

 

 

 

Rolling in the Hay

The next part of the Challenge was to get 10 bales of hay from one side of the farm yard onto a trailer at the other side. The first one to finish would be the winner. Each contestant doing this part of the Challenge were given different start times depending on where their partners had come in the first part. That meant that Kevin went first with a 10 second head start. Followed by Jamie, then Miriam five seconds later, Katey five seconds after her, Sadie five seconds after Katey and Maria last, five seconds after Sadie.

Michaela returned from her funny turn just in time to watch her teammate do the second part of the Challenge.

All of the teams were running backwards and forwards with their bales of hay when Jamie tried to cheat a little and take two at the same time. He was soon told he was only allowed to take one at a time. Miriam said,

‘I’m glad he was stopped in his tracks because that was just a cheat!’

Poor old Carol did really well considering the hay bale was almost as big as her! She had to cuddle the bale to carry it and couldn’t see where she was going. The hardest part of the task seemed to be getting the hay bale onto the trailer and it got more difficult as they got more tired and the bales got higher.

Kevin was the first over the line and, to celebrate, he did a little jig! He said,

‘When I crossed the finish line I felt absolutely fantastic. I was in pain, definitely. I felt proud of myself and I knew that the barriers had gone. I can achieve anything I want to now,’

The rest of the contestants just carried on, even though they had no chance of winning. A marked improvement from four weeks ago when they probably would have just given up. Jamie finished next, followed by Miriam. She said,

‘Considering I had to do both parts of the Challenge, I felt absolutely fabulous coming third. I feel like I came first for the ladies so I was really, really chuffed with that position,’

Carol came next and then Maria. Maria said that, although she started last she was quite pleased with herself to come second from last. Sadie soldiered on to complete the Challenge last. She had two bales left so Miriam joined her and walked the rest of the Challenge with her for encouragement. She said she knew how tired and exhausted Sadie would be feeling because they had both had to do all the Challenge on their own.

Later, Kevin said,

‘When Kate announced that we’d won again, the Brown team, oh no not again, Carol said. And, you know, she looked at me and she was gonna give me a little wink and she was laughing about it. But, obviously it’s also to have a little dig at Mark,’

Carol said,

‘I would have liked it today if Dave and Jamie would have beaten the Brown team. It’s not because I want them to beat Kevin. I just wanted to wipe the smug face off Mark once and for all,’

Sportsmanship

Back at the Biggest Loser house, Kevin was reflecting on Mark’s behaviour at the Challenge. He said,

‘There’s been a few comments that I’d heard on the field, especially when Carol was protesting. He was having an argument with her. At the end of the day it didn’t seem there was a lot of sportsmanship,’

Kevin does seem to be a little fed up with Mark’s behaviour at the moment. He went on to say,

‘The thing that annoys me with Mark at the moment is that he’s too focussed on winning and he gets a little bit selfish with it as well. I love being his teammate because he’s given me a lot of drive but, I feel in the last few weeks, that I’m ready to move on and start proving to myself that it was me as well that was doing well,’

The other contestants are also having issues with Mark’s behaviour. Michaela said,

‘Kev and Mark are so different. At first I thought they get on really well and they were really good for each other. But now, things are starting to show. You can actually see they are strangers,’

Jamie said,

‘They may wear the same coloured shirt but, they are two different people,’

Carol mentioned that Mark is a long distance lorry driver, spending a lot of time on his own. She said that, maybe, that didn’t equip him with the skills to deal with a large group of people.

So, what will the rest of the week hold in store for Mark and the rest of the contestants? Will there be more bad feeling or will Mark moderate his competitive streak?