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RSSFinalewatch: 'The Biggest Loser'
The live finale for The Biggest Loser is kind of bizarre, as it's basically two hours of people stepping on and off scales. They could easily do this in an hour (or less), but they choose not to. Still, it's great to see how people look and how they've been doing.
These spoilers are coming to you live!
First order of business: who did America vote for? Apparently, America prefers a cocky, bullying good-old-boy jock to a snippy-then-weepy New Englander -- Roger will compete in the finals. Roger looks like he's shed an entire person, and I can't imagine how either Ali or Kelly could compete with that, unless they cut off a limb right before getting on the scale.
The Eliminated
I love seeing everybody come back on stage, all dressed up and looking fine. They all look substantially healthier. Standouts:
- Mallory, Jackie and Amanda could easily compete on MILF Island -- they look incredible.
- Neill and Dan both seem to be sporting some variation on the Fauxhawk, making my eyes nearly roll out of their sockets. Besides the hair, they're looking good.
- Bette Sue gets a huge round of applause -- she's still sassy and fabulous. I loved her.
- Mark and Jay both look sharp -- and skinny -- in their spiffy suits.
- Bernie looks fantastic, and gets the biggest round of applause. Yay, Bernie!
- Holy crap, Brittany is SMOKIN'. Seriously, she always looked amazing, but now she looks like a pin-up girl. Wow. I'm surprised people weren't throwing underwear on the stage.
Curtis takes an early lead (he's lost the equivalent of a healthy female adult) and holds onto it for a long, long time. Not bad for someone who got booted off in week 2. Then Dan hits the scale and dethrones Curtis. Curses! I loved Curtis, and Dan bugs the crap out of me.
But Dan doesn't hold the top spot long -- Bernie, the people's hero and my Biggest Loser boyfriend, knocks him off podium, Go Bernie! Then it's a tense wait as the final three weigh in. Brittany, while smoking hot, doesn't pose a threat, but Mark and Jay both look dangerous. Jay doesn't make it, and Mark misses dethroning Bernie by only two pounds. Wow.
The Stats:
- Lynn: Starting weight: 409 pounds. Final weight: 329 pound. Weight lost: 80 pounds. Percentage lost: 19.56%.
- Jenni: Starting weight: 267 pounds. Final weight: 213 pounds. Weight lost: 54 pounds. Percentage lost: 20.22%.
- Jenn: Starting weight: 254 pounds. Final weight: 190 pounds. Weight lost: 64 pounds. Percentage lost: 25.20%.
- Brittany: Starting weight: 221 pounds. Final weight: 164 pounds. Weight lost: 57 pounds. Percentage lost: 25.79%.
- Neill: Starting weight: 317 pounds. Final weight: 229 pound. Weight lost: 88 pounds. Percentage lost: 27.76%
- Bette Sue: Starting weight: 261 pounds. Final weight: 186 pound. Weight lost: 75 pounds. Percentage lost: 28.74%.
- Maggie: Starting weight: 239 pounds. Final weight: 169 pound. Weight lost: 70 pounds. Percentage lost: 29.29%.
- Mallory: Starting weight: 217 pounds. Final weight: 152 pound. Weight lost: 65 pounds. Percentage lost: 29.95%.
- Trent: Starting weight: 436 pounds. Final weight: 301 pound. Weight lost: 135 pounds. Percentage lost: 30.96%.
- Amanda: Starting weight: 204 pounds. Final weight: 140 pound. Weight lost: 64 pounds. Percentage lost: 31.37%.
- Jay: Starting weight: 293 pounds. Final weight: 190 pound. Weight lost: 103 pounds. Percentage lost: 35.15%.
- Jackie: Starting weight: 246 pounds. Final weight: 157 pound. Weight lost: 89 pounds. Percentage lost: 36.18%.
- Curtis: Starting weight: 381 pounds. Final weight: 231 pound. Weight lost: 150 pounds. Percentage lost: 39.37%.
- Dan: Starting weight: 310 pounds. Final weight: 174 pound. Weight lost: 136 pounds. Percentage lost: 43.87%.
- Mark: Starting weight: 285 pounds. Final weight: 156 pound. Weight lost: 129 pounds. Percentage lost: 45.26%.
- Bernie: Starting weight: 283 pounds. Final weight: 153 pound. Weight lost: 130 pounds. Percentage lost: 45.96%.
The Final Three
The producers try to ratchet up the tension with the final three -- we get a "failure montage" where all three talk about problems and setbacks. Ali confesses to late-night FroYo snacking, while Roger talks about reaching a plateau as soon as he left campus. Kelly has the worst hard-luck tale -- she had nasty back pains and was diagnosed with a herniated disk. Her doctor warns her that aggravating it -- by, say, exercising like a maniac -- could lead to nerve damage. "Kelly, nothing is that important," he says. "Have you watched the show?" Kelly replies. I'm with the doc -- even if it is a competition, you shouldn't gamble with nerve damage.
We've already seen Roger, who looks incredibly fit. Now we see Kelly and Ali, and oh my god, both of these women really stepped up. Kelly looks incredible, completely svelte and sweet. She's a different person. And Ali? Ali may be a size two or four now. She's TINY -- and her arms are cut. There can't be an ounce of fat on the girl.
Roger goes first, and puts up an insane number. Kelly does a great job, but can't match it. It's up to Ali -- who loses almost half of her body weight. Holy crap! Ali wins it! We have a female Biggest Loser!
The stats:
- Kelly: Starting weight: 271 pounds. Final weight: 162 pound. Weight lost: 109 pounds. Percentage lost: 40.22%.
- Roger: Starting weight: 363 pounds. Final weight: 199 pound. Weight lost: 164 pounds. Percentage lost: 45.18%.
- Ali: Starting weight: 234 pounds. Final weight: 122 pound. Weight lost: 112 pounds. Percentage lost: 47.86%.
Highlights, thoughts and odds and ends:
- Paul is noticeably absent -- Alison says he's ill in Florida. Hmm -- I wonder what's wrong with him?
- Alison does some human-interest reporting, asking competitors about the changes they went through. To Mark: "You big crybaby!" Mark: "That's a cheap shot." Alison: "Like you didn't send me a few." It's true, he did.
- Curtis reveals that in order to qualify for health insurance, he needs to weigh at most 238 pounds. That seems really low to me. What kind of insurance plan is he on?
- Bette Sue talks about how proud she is of Ali: "It's worth all the humiliation I had to go through." Heh.
- For the weigh-in, Bernie has a mini berndana tied around his forearm. Hee! Plus, he manages to look like he's mocking himself when he flexes his muscles in response to Alison's cry of "look at those guns you got there, Bernie!"
- When Bernie realizes he'll be up against Mark, he's gracious -- "He has been just kicking my butt all season, so I think it's terrific I get to go against Mark one last time."
- I love that all the folk that rushed the stage when Bernie won the runner-up prize were wearing berndanas. That's awesome.
- Bob and Jillian look pretty damn good, although it's weird seeing Jillian in a dress. And is Bob wearing an ascot, or is that just some sort of sloppy tie? And is it tie-dyed? Oh, Bob!
- Jillian gets the best trainer-cum-cult-leader quote: "Make impossible your favorite word. Welcome the challenge." She is good.
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
Looks like Bernie has lots of new girlfriends out there.
Congrats to Roger for doing so well.
More on the finale on my site:
http://wadeonbirmingham.com/2008/04/15/weight-and-see-those-last-10-pounds/
WTG Ali! Team Pink was my fave from the beginning. Was guite impressed with her dedication and transformation. Hell, they all did great!
I watched this on the West Coast tape delay, and at least out here the "you'll know the third finalist within the first five minutes!" promo they kept showing turned out to be off by 100%. It was 10 minutes into the show before they made the announcement. Even for a show notorious for filler, I thought that was pretty odd they couldn't even make their own timeline.
Good outcome all around. I was rooting for Curtis or Bernie for the 100K and Ali or Kelly for the big prize. All the contestants should be so proud of themselves. Brittany looked great and could be absolutely stunning if she continues on the same path.
I was absolutely amazed at how good some of the eliminated people looked when they came back. All had lost weight, but some had lost a lot. Like so many I was hoping Bernie would win and wasn't disappointed.
Then when Kelly and Ali came out in their segment I was ever so amazed. Kelly looked so awesome that I didn't see how Ali could have changed that much since they left. Boy, was I ever wrong about that. I was hoping for Kelly, but knew I'd be happy if Ali won. And she did - way to go Ali!
And as far as Paul is concerned, I know they showed him in the hospital after he was eliminated so maybe he is still sick. But it is also possible that he has been eating a lot and has negated the work he'd done on the show. Otherwise I would think that they'd have sent a camera to him just to give him a chance to say something on the air (even just wishing Kelly luck) even if he couldn't make the trip for the finale.
I am so HAPPY that a GIRL WON. My son and I have been hashing this out since the start of the show and all his reasons of why a guy will always win because of the averages. Ali sure blew that away. But my only complaint since the concept of this show it to get rid of the survivor mentality of the show did you ever notice that the longer the contestants are on the better the weight loss is? I've tracked look at all the people from each show that are the first 3 weeks off. they don't lose as much as the people that are there for the whole show. I think they show keep everyone there like a bootcamp and force showdowns for the full amount of the weeks on campus and see what kind of personalties come out as the weight comes off with all those people stuck together week after week. that would be interesting, not able to get rid of somebody annoying.
Lets see them change it up next year. We got our GIRL!! Yeah ALI
I was so happy to see Bernie win!! Mark and Jay had already won alot on the show, so it was nice to see someone else win something. Kelly and Ali looked great. I thought Ali looked a little nervous after Roger weighed in, but she did it! As far as Paul goes, I read on another website that he had to have some of this colon removed. That will lay you up for awhile. They didn't give Ali much time to savor her victory though. It came in the last seconds of the show. Have a great summer everyone, be back next fall.
Great job Ali and Bernie. And of course Kelly. I liked the sequence they showed of each weigh-in picture in succession. You got to see the bodies shrink. For Kelly, I especialy enjoyed seeing her face change from a worried frown to a confident smile. That's what the show's all about.
The finish did seem rushed, even though they squeezed commercial breaks in between each weigh-in. I would have liked a little post-win interview with Ali and the other finalists.
Great job Sarah. I hope you're coming back. Are you on some kind of multi-million dollar contract?
Re: Paul - I read on another site that he's actually had a major surgery since the show and was suffering from a bacterial infection of sorts now. Maybe the hospital wouldn't allow a video team or maybe he didn't want to be taped in that condition? Not sure, but I wish him well.
I was rooting for Kelly, but was really happy that Ali won. She worked hard and deserved it. But man, Kelly looked even more toned after her six weeks at home. Her waist looked really small!
brittany did look amazing!!
I figured Mark had a better chance of winning the $100,000 than the $250,000 and to think he lost out by only 2 pounds and less than 1 percentage point!He and Bernie weighed almost the exact same amount at the start, but Bernie is a lot shorter. It wasn't really healthy for Mark to lose that much weight. I even worry about Ali losing too much. I think Kelly had the greatest potential until she hurt her back. She wants to get pregnant and losing weight can help, but losing too much can goof up your hormones also, so I hope she's at just the right weight to make it work! Now for me to lose the weight!