Guess who’s back? Back again? Commando’s back! Tell a friend?

I forget how the song goes but if you want to find out how tonight’s episode went, read on…

The trainers arrive and Shannan says they never know what to expect when they arrive… again.
The contestants recount the results of the Temptation for the trainers and both are surprised that Greg has gone… Though Shannan is also rather pleased that Laura, another ex-Blue, has managed to nab a white shirt. Gerard and Laura probably won’t win the qualifying weigh-in, but there’ll be at least two Blues in there and that’s made Shannan happy!

Michael says that Alex offered his spot in return for Greg’s Game Over card. Michael confirms that the rules are the rules, it wasn’t allowed.
Michelle was saddened by Alex having offered because she thinks that Alex still feels like he doesn’t deserve to be there. She’s told the Reds before that they all deserve to be there and as much as she’s gutted to see Greg go, Alex staying is still a good thing.
Courtney tells Michelle about his 990 calories. Courtney says there wasn’t any anger from Michelle, just a little twinkle in her eyes as she realises that he’s going to get to hurt him later!

She goes looking for him later to get him started training… and where does she find him? In the gym training already! Big difference, she says, from the boy who started. He’s a man, now!
Michelle jumps on his back and gets him doing laps of the room. Then he does some step ups with her still on his back. Then pushups with her still lying on his back!

And then… Commando Steve rocks up to the House for one last training session. Hooray!
Alex, Kelly and Michael haven’t ever experienced a Commando training session. Munnalita’s a bit worried for them.
Alex hears his voice booming out and wonders who it is, then he gasps and realises, “It’s the Commando!”
Kelly actually seems fairly worried, though I’d’ve thought they’d do some similarly intense training at the police academy?

When they get to their training location they’re asked to strap on elbow and knee pads, plus gloves. Which Kimberlie says is “never good!”
They run up a hill and look down on an obstacle course and a big pile of tires.

Steve says that today is about finding out if they’re ready for what life will throw at them, can they take the knocks and get back up.
Chris says that Kelly and Michael were both looking pretty scared and he knew that it’d be tough because the Commando can be very in your face and if you let that get to you, you’re done for.
Commando Steve says that you’ve always got to fight because if you don’t, life will chew you up and spit you out.

The training session for today is carrying all the tires through the obstacle course. No one is allowed to slack off or Commando Steve will get some more tires off the back of his truck and make them do it all day long!

Alex says that if he’d been asked in Week 1 to do this, he’d’ve asked for an ambulance. But now, with all the training he’s had since then, he could take it on.
They’re all looking pretty grubby by the third or fourth time through. Damien says he was getting badly out of breath. Steve says that Damien has to struggle every day because of his weight but he doesn’t let it stop him, he keeps going.
Marty has improved a lot since his confrontation with Steve, he’s channeling his anger into his training and in healthy directions.

Kim keeps looking over at the tire pile every now and then but it didn’t seem to be shrinking at all. She figures they could be at it for hours.
Kelly starts whinging about shooting pains in her shins and thinks she can’t possibly keep going. She thinks she’s mentally losing focus. Steve thinks she has the longest journey ahead in terms of proving to herself that she can do things.
She then makes the big mistake of talking back to Steve. Tsk tsk tsk! Steve tells her to stop caring what other people think and keep going, she says she doesn’t care what other people think, she’s just worried about not being able to compete tomorrow… Even though everyone else is doing exactly the same as what she’s doing. Steve tells her to stop worrying about tomorrow, the world might end tonight and you won’t have given it 110%… I’d’ve pointed out that then there’s no reason to keep going on the obstacle course since she’ll die fat now regardless!
Steve tells her that she can keep going, he’s had shin splints before. Courtney tells her that it’s all mental, just push through the pain, she’s not giving up!

So now Courtney’s helping Kelly all through the course. Steve notices the changes in Courtney today, he’s much stronger and fitter, but he’s not letting the rest of the team down, he’s looking out for them still.
Laura used to make excuses all the time but Steve notices she has a much more positive attitude now as well.
Kim’s been trained by Steve since the beginning, so he’s seen the change all the way with her. He’s hoping she can be the first female biggest loser!

They finally get the pile down to where it’s only one more lap each, which really boosted morale, Pati said.

Everyone’s exhausted and sore by the end. But they finally managed to cart all the tires up to the top of the hill. Hooray!
Everyone is really impressed with how well the team pulled together in the end. Pati says it was by far the hardest commando training they’d done.

Steve says he’s happy to have taken part in their journey and they’ve shown that they’re capable of continuing their journey on the outside now. “Soldier on!”
In an aside he says they’re an inspiration to themselves as well as to all the people on the outside watching them. He’s proud to have taken part in training them.

Shannan and Michelle arrive the next day to say goodbye to the pastels because they weren’t sure when they’d get another chance to see them again in the house, depending on who manages to win the challenge, etc. They wanted to tell them all that they’re very proud. Shannan is most proud of Kelly because she’s a single mum, two kids and full time copper. Marty agrees and says that it removes any excuses for anyone else about it being an intense program and all the rest because if Kelly can lose 14.3kg then anyone can do it. Kelly is really happy with Shannan’s praise.
Michelle singles out Alex, since he only spent one week in the house but still lost a lot of weight. He proves that you really can do it. Alex says he feels great but he had great teachers, the initial push came from Michelle and Jillian.
Michelle says that whether they get any further or not, Mission Accomplished because of everything they’ve done so far. She’s honoured to have worked with people who had the courage and guts to get in front of the entire country and get it done.

They say goodbye and good luck, see you at the finale or “In a couple of days!” Damien says.

Tomorrow night is the mega challenge and “those who fall behind will be out of the game forever!” No idea what that’s about but there looks to be a lot of running and swimming involved, so if hot wet sweaty fat people are your bag, check out tomorrow night’s episode, it’ll be a corker!