Archive for January, 2009

Well, if you’re a Melbournite, you’re in luck! Saturday’s Herald Sun purchasers can claim one from their newsagent, if they are interested in such a thing. It looks to be a digital contraption and has a Biggest Loser logo printed across the side.

No sign of this offer being made in other states but if you’ve nothing better to do on a Saturday morning, why not take a walk to your local newsagent and check for yourself?

Those in Melbourne and Adelaide may want to do so before 10am though. I hear it’s been getting a little warm lately.

The official website has put up the episode schedule for season 4 of The Biggest Loser Australia… and it looks exactly the same as last year’s schedule.

For those who have yet to see it:

• Sunday: Weigh-in
• Monday: Elimination
• Tuesday: The Warehouse
• Wednesday: Temptation
• Thursday: The Walk
• Friday: Major Challenge

For the uninitiated, each contestant weighs in on Sunday. In previous seasons the team which lost the least weight, based on percentage of their total weight, would face Elimination on Monday night. Expect something similar this year, with a Couples-y twist!

The Warehouse was a new addition last season and one which was widely regarded as pointless and a waste of the timeslot. Will they have taken the criticisms on board? Last year The Warehouse involved one team getting their choice of food for the week from two available options. They may have had to choose between red meat and white meat, for instance. The idea being that the teams would have to discuss the pros and cons of each choice, helping to inform the general public. In reality it lead to more bickering between the teams and many of the “choices” were no-brainers like canned goods versus fresh produce.

Temptation is where the contestants are tempted with some unhealthy foods in exchange for a prize, or a chance at a prize. Prizes have ranged from televisions to personal chefs and massages and even the much-prized immunity from elimination. It’s dramatic virtually every week and those who succumb to Temptation give great TV when their trainers put them through punishing exercise routines in response.

The Walk is another unique part of the Australian version of the series and is even more widely reviled than The Warehouse, yet it is apparently returning this year. The Walk lets one contestant pick up a random stone which has a hidden message written on it. Sometimes these messages can be fairly benign – one team gets a catered dinner. More often they completely circumvent the general course of the game by offering the power of instant elimination to the rock chooser or the ability to add 5 or even 10 kilograms to a team’s weight. The only instance of The Walk not being a cynical manipulation has been its use to select which reserve contestants would be put into the main game after a couple of contestants were forced to drop out due to health issues.

Friday night brings us the “major challenge” of the week. Past challenges have included tugging airplanes across the tarmac in a race between the teams, scaling all the stairs in a very tall office building, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a variety of slugfests at the house such as lugging lumber or running on the treadmills for hours on end. Always a great way to end the week!

And just a note to go out on – the Season 4 Contestant pages are up here on the Recap. You can access the very sparse profiles from the menu above. There’s very little information available on the official site as yet but once more becomes available I’ll get them updated.

Two more sleeps!