It was Challenge day at the Biggest Loser house yesterday and The Blues had to get up at 5am to make breakfast for the Blacks – would they play fair or would there be tears before bedtime?

Walking Wounded

The Blues had to be up early and in the gym by 5am. Jamie and Mark were starting their early morning workout when, all of a sudden Jamie yelled out in pain. He had rolled over on his ankle while he was on the treadmill and has badly sprained it – Poor old Jamie. He’s had a great week with no problems and then this happens! The medic put an ice pack on it to bring the swelling down and gave Jamie painkillers but, there’s not a lot else that can be done.

Katey has also sprained her neck and can hardly move her head. She said she woke up that morning and couldn’t move and that she hadn’t slept well either because of the pain.

Mark is still having trouble with his bruised ribs since the football game where he and Jamie collided in a tackle. So, that’s three out of the Blue team that are injured and not up to full speed!

Early Morning Call

Even though the Blacks had won the challenge and didn’t have to be up early, Angie decided to get them up anyway and into the gym. She upped the levels on all of their cardiovascular equipment. Angie told her team that they all needed to up their game and be on the same fitness levels as Dave and Kevin.

Carol was so out of breath that she started to have a panic attack. Angie told her that she was panicking and to breathe and keep going. She told her to stop panicking and just get on with the job because she could do it. Carol said later that, although she hated it at the time, by the time Angie had finished getting her through it and telling her she could do it, she felt better because she realised she could!

Breakfast Time

Because the Blues had lost the assault challenge, their penalty was to make the Blacks their breakfast. Sadie said,

‘It’s a pretty good thing to have breakfast made for you because you’re tried when you come back from the gym and no one can really be bothered to be making their own breakfast, so it’s pretty good that they have to do that this week,’ But, she wasn’t so sure about it the day before. She had said,

‘The only thing we need to watch out for it make sure the other team doesn’t put anything in our food or tries anything funny because you never know what people do!’

Mmmmm. Was Mark going to prove Sadie right? He said to Jamie in the kitchen,

‘Right, we’re going to have grilled tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, poached eggs and these special beans I’m making up now,’

The camera crept up behind him and he was squeezing loads of tomato ketchup into the beans! (There’s about 30 calories in a normal serving of ketchup – 5tsp!)

Sadie said later,

‘I was happy because it looked good but Carol wasn’t really happy because she was a bit suspicious about whether Mark had fiddled with the beans. So there was a bit of an argument about that!’

Carol said she tried a spoonful of beans and they tasted like they had loads of sugar and salt in them. She said that where they had all been eating healthy, fresh food over the last four weeks, that their palates had changed and she could really taste things like extra salt and sugar. She asked if there was tomato ketchup in the beans. Jamie said no, it was tomato puree. So, Carol called to Mark,

‘Mark, Dearest! Mr Mark! Are you responsible for the organisation of this breakfast?’ Mark misunderstood and thought she was going to get the Blues to clear up after breakfast as well. She continued,

‘Can I just ask you, can we have the complete and honest and utter truth about the beans please? You tell me what’s in the beans,’

Sabotage?

Mark asked what was wrong with the beans and Carol told him she could taste extra sugar and salt in them. She asked him if there was tomato sauce in with the beans. Mark, trying to be clever, said that how else would they be tomatoey? So she rephrased her question and asked him if there was anything ‘additional’ in the beans that she wouldn’t see in the ingredients list on the side of the can.

Mark told her the beans weren’t out of a can. He had mixed free beans in with normal ones and a bit of tomato ketchup. (It was more than a bit though, wasn’t it Mark?) So Carol said,

‘So, it was sabotage then?’

Mark replied,

‘Well if it is sabotage it isn’t a very good one cos I had them!’

He swore they were okay and told Carol not to eat them if she was worried. She went on to say that she wasn’t going to but she wanted to know about his personal integrity and whether he would sabotage his fellow contestants’ food. He continued to deny it saying that he ate them so he wouldn’t sabotage himself. Tempers flared and voices were raised!

Maria said later,

‘I think Carol did overreact a little bit this morning about the beans. Saying that Mark had sabotaged them because he did eat them himself. So that proves that they were okay to eat. I don’t think she likes Mark that much!’

Mark said,

‘Carol, sometimes when she gets stressed out she really focuses on things that annoy her. It’s like an outlet for her and to be quite honest it was nothing about the beans. She’d had a stressful morning, things hadn’t gone well for her in the gym and she was just venting. Unfortunately, in my direction!’

Doctor’s Surgery

All of the Black team were passed as fit for the Challenge. But the Blue team definitely didn't have the same luck! The Doctor told Jamie that he had a bad sprain that would limit what he could do – maybe for as long as a few weeks.

The Doctor told Michaela that he was worried about the fainting fits she’s had and that they should exercise some caution, so she was out too. He told Katey that she had sprained her neck which could last three days or even three weeks! That left Mark as the only member of the Blue team with any semblance of health! How would they cope with the challenge?

The Black team were feeling very confident because of the injuries in the Blue team and the Blue team were feeling very nervous!

The Great Train Robbery

The contestants got off the coach and were at an old railway station that had closed down. They were speculating that it could be anything from shovelling coal to pulling coaches or pulling trains!

Kate Garraway explained that as this was the first of the weekly challenges since they were split into two teams, it was to test their team spirit because it was a relay race.

The idea was that two people from each team would use the pump truck to go down the track to a pile of money bags, load up two and continue on to the next load of money bags. There were three in total and the last one was a quarter of a mile from the start. Once they had got all the way to the end, they had to make their way back to the start, unload and swap team members. They had to do this three times and the team who got back to the finish and unloaded first would be the winners.

There wasn’t a prize this time. Instead, the losing team would have 4lbs taken off their total loss for the week.

They all seemed really keen on this challenge. Dave said,

‘It reminded me of the old Keystone Cops movies and it looked fun!’

Mark agreed. He said that he couldn’t believe it – it looked fantastic, like something out of an old black and white movie!

They planned their tactics for the challenge and the Black team definitely looked like they had the advantage because they had five team members and the Blues only had two that were even remotely able to compete in the challenge! The Black team had enough members to give their drivers a rest after each leg but, the Blues only had two members able to do it. Mark and Jamie were going to have to do the whole thing themselves. Because of Jamie’s ankle, they decided that he was going to be the driver and Mark was going to jump off at each money bag pile to grab the bags.

Pump Truck Trauma

The Blue team started off badly by going backwards. Pump trucks are not the easiest vehicle in the world to control and if you get it wrong, it takes a while to get it right. So the Blacks got a head start and were flying off down the track. Carol, obviously enjoying herself, screamed,

‘Girl Power! Yahoo!’ And was cackling her head off. But, by the time they had got to the first pile of bags, the boys had got their act together and had caught them up.

Then the Blues managed to get out in front. Then even further ahead! They were steaming down the track with the Blacks a little dot in the distance! When they got back to the platform, Michaela and Katey started to unload the bags even though both of them were declared unfit for the challenge. Adding to the Blues’ lead, the Blacks overshot the platform when they got back to unload.

On the second leg, the Blues were starting to lose their momentum – they hadn’t been able to change drivers and Jamie and Mark were doing it for the second time. The Black team started to make up a bit of ground. But the Blues were still in the lead when they all got back to the platform to unload for the second time.

At that point, it was almost calamity for the Blues as they started to leave the platform before they were fully unloaded which could have meant disqualification for them! So they had to go back and restart the third leg of the challenge.

For the Black team there was Dave, Kevin and Sadie on the pump truck this time. Sadie was alright as they got going, although she hadn’t quite got the technique. But, as soon as they picked up speed, Sadie was terrified she would fall off!

The Blue team still had a decent lead. In fact, as the Blues were on their way back, the Blacks were still on their way to the last pile of bags! Because they were so far ahead, Jamie suggested to Mark that they could go a bit slower to conserve energy just in case there was a sprint to the end. Mark said,

‘No, let’s give it all we’ve got Jamie and finish with style!’

The Blues finished in style and by miles! Considering there was only two of them they did brilliantly. Kate Garraway called it a ‘truly heroic win’!

Us and Them

Kate Garraway said that some winners are noble in victory and some losers are noble in defeat. Michaela and Katey are definitely not noble in victory!

They were in one of the bedrooms with Maria, Kevin, Carol and Dave from the Black team and were really rubbing their victory in their fellow contestants’ faces! Kevin was getting quite upset. He said the ‘them and us’ situation was really driving him mad. Dave pointed out that they had won the assault course challenge and Katey said it didn’t matter because it didn’t count towards anything.

Dave went on to say that the extra 4lb penalty they had received was nothing. All it meant was less than a pound extra for each of his team to lose. He said,

‘It means we’ve each got to lose less than a pound extra over the next two days. Which we can all do because we’re all super fit. Now your team is all down to decrepits and injured – two of you can’t do anything, one of you is lazy and the other one you don’t like!’

Katey said she couldn’t quite grasp which one she was so Dave replied that she was one of the decrepits. Michaela then asked which one she was. Dave said,

‘The lazy one!’

Michaela snorted and said,

‘That’s it now! You are gonna get it! Yeah, you can wink mate, I tell you!’ although she was laughing!

He came back with,

‘If you exercised the rest of your body like you do your mouth, you’d be perfect!’

The friendly banter continued as she said,

‘Have we got losers in our room?’ Making the ‘L’ shape on her forehead. Katey joined in saying ‘losers’. Kevin, perhaps taking it all a bit too seriously asked them if they wanted the Blacks to leave. Michaela, giggling her head off said,

‘That would be nice!’

 

 

A Bit of Therapy

Because the contestants have been through the wringer a bit recently, the Biggest Loser team decided they needed a treat.

That treat came in the form of Sports Massage Therapist, Geoff. All of the contestants were offered a deep tissue, sports massage to help them get through the rest of the week.

Michaela volunteered to go first – perhaps a bit too quickly and eagerly! Maria told her to behave herself and Katey wished Geoff luck.

‘You’re going to need it!’ she said as Michaela and Geoff left the room!

On the whole, the contestants felt it was relaxing and helped get rid of all the knots and aches and pains. But, Kevin felt it had perhaps given him more aches than he had!

Tonight is the Temptation Challenge. Will anyone give in or has their resolve hardened after the cupcakes? Will Jamie’s ankle and Katey’s neck cause them to miss training for long?