TBL Australia 4×65: Stacks On!!!
Previously on The Biggest Loser, Holly and Mel decided to turn around and go right back home again. And that made me very sad!
Jodi won the first white t-shirt and Ben became the first wannabe whiteboy to be sent back home.
Tonight it’s a repeat of one of last year’s challenges – holding an ever increasing stack of weights across your shoulders.
Easy, when it’s just 10kg. A bit harder when it’s 100kg and you’re holding it for half an hour!
Michelle and Shannan rock up to the House to find out what’s happened since they were last there.
They’re a bit quicker on the uptake than the final four were and notice Ben missing right away.
The contestants recap the Temptation for the trainers. Jodi’s sitting on the lounge hugging a cushion to her chest to conceal her white shirt.
Apparently it’s Jodi’s son’s birthday today and so she took that as a sign to go for Temptation.
Yes, she’s missing her son’s birthday for a chance at sticking it up some fat people.
Michelle tells Jodi that she’d better make sure she puts in all the effort she can to stay in the game now and Jodi says definitely!
Shannan then asks who took a chance on Temptation and is a little surprised that some of them (Sharif, Teresa, Meaghan and Andrew) took a chance. He thinks they should have backed themselves on their fitness.
Then Michelle asks who got up that morning and trained.
Surprisingly, Cameron is one of the people with his hand up!
Less surprisingly, Tania, Ramses, Jodi and Jeda all have their hands down!
Michelle is flabbergasted that Jodi didn’t train in the morning when she has a white t-shirt. She claims she was up all night training with Jeda. Jeda’s not exactly rushing to confirm that…
Ramses’ excuse? He has sore legs. Good lord, no wonder he’s so far behind the other men. Harden the fuck up!
And Michelle says as much, telling him that that just doesn’t cut it.
Michelle says that she’s tired of the excuses.
And oddly enough she gets to take the final four today. Poor Shannan can deal with the excuse-makers!
Michelle asks the final four if the other contestants have brought their bad habits back into the house and is their diet still okay, etc.
Apparently some of the bad habits are in evidence and unsurprisingly, some of their diets aren’t that great either!
All the final four need to do is stay strong and stay positive and keep working hard, Sammy says!
Michelle says Sammy, Tiffany, Cameron and Julie are powerful, strong and here because they’ve worked hard to be there.
Well, Tiffany has. I’m not sure that’s true of the other three, Michelle.
Michelle wants them all thinking they could be The Biggest Loser.
Again. Tiffany might. The other three won’t!
Shannan’s going to make everyone pay because a few of them didn’t get up to train in the morning.
Teresa’s trying to push Tania along throughout the workout. Shannan’s taken to pushing Ramses in the back to keep him running faster. Apparently Ram’s still making excuses not to train as hard as he can.
Amanda can’t do pushups because of her should, nor can she put her hand above her head. Shannan says every time Amanda has to twist to that side it’s causing her pain.
So it’s time for another trip to the medic for Amanda… so she can get another excuse for remaining fat!
Shannan wanders off to Amanda and Stewart’s room after the ad break. Shannan wants a chat about Amanda’s shoulder. Amanda says she can’t express how painful it was. Sometimes it’s fine, sometimes it’s screaming pain.
With the medic Amanda is put through a couple of range of motion tests. She says it’s painful very, very quickly and the medic says it’s more serious than he had thought and they’d have to have a chat with the doctor before making a decision.
Shannan’s got the returning gentlemen and Cameron in the kitchen for a bit of a cookery lesson. Shannan tells us men have a problem missing out on their fibre and getting the wrong sorts of protein.
He wants to find out if they can make good decisions about getting fibre and protein and as little fat as possible in their regular cooking.
Suspect this is not so much for the benefit of Andrew, Stewart and Sharif but rather squarely aimed at Cameron and Ramses…
Sharif lists off chicken breast and white fish as being good for protein. Vegetarians can go for tofu or tempe (? I don’t know how to spell it because I’m not a filthy hippy!)
Andrew asks about kangaroo meat and Shannan says that’s great too!
Shannan then tells us that today’s lesson ought to be useful for people like Ramses who doesn’t prepare any of his own meals at home.
Colour me horrified. I’d love for my woman to cook most meals but buggered if she’d be cooking them all! He’s not so old that that should just be what is expected by a husband.
Sharif has to tell Ramses to take the meat off once it’s done so as not to burn it. I guess Shannan really wasn’t exaggerating.
Andrew’s cooking an asian style stir fry with garlic and ginger. Shannan says it smells good.
Sharif is steaming some veggies, but only for 5 minutes because apparently that takes the hard edge off them but still leaves all the goodness in them. Thanks, Sharif!
86g of chicken breast has about 20g of protein. Sharif’s meal also has two cups of baby spinach. Also, a serve of broccoli, a squash and a serve of cauliflower. Around 13-14g of fibre in those last three.
Shannan says if you’re then training in the afternoon, a piece of bread with it all would be perfect. And in total it’s all around 280 calories apparently. Which fair boggles the mind!
Andrew’s stir fried his veggies and has 125g of barramundi on top. Shannan’s impressed because it’s a good, heavy meal, but it only comes out to 230 calories and has plenty of fibre and protein in it.
Then Shannan has to go have a chat to Amanda and Stewart again, after having spoken to the doctors and other medical folks involved in the show.
They know what’s in store for the following week and they also know how determined Amanda is to stay in the game… so they can’t let her continue in the game. And Shannan agrees with them completely.
If it was ordinary circumstances, it might’ve been okay for her to continue. But with what’s coming up, no way.
But there’s no tears, which Shannan is pleased by.
Oh god, old footage with her singing. Just kick her out already!
Shannan walks Amanda and Stewart into the lounge to let everyone in on the bad news.
Amanda says to us that she’s sure some of them were shocked she had to go, but it’s a competition and some of them were probably secretly pleased one of the “heavyweights” was being eliminated.
Yeah, or maybe they’d be happy that a whiner who’d repeatedly exhibited poor sportsmanship and was thoroughly undeserving of a second shot was being sent home…
Or possibly they’re all much better people than that and were genuinely disappointed she was going home.
But no, that wouldn’t play well in her victim mentality, so that’s to be ignored!
Shannan says if Amanda falls down and lands on her shoulder she could do permanent, irreparable damage. If she ends up needing a shoulder reconstruction, her weightloss would be finished.
After some hugs and kisses inside she heads out of the house with Stewart and Shannan carrying her suitcases and such.
Before she gets into the van Amanda gives both Shannan and Stewart big hugs. Where she’s raising her arm well above the 45 degree mark that was supposedly causing excruciating pain earlier. Nary a peep now she’s going home again!
After yet another ad break, everyone is heading towards an area with Ajay, Shannan and Michelle in front of a big stack of weights.
Meaghan, Jeda and Michelle all recall Cosi last year, standing strong with 100kg across his back. As Michelle says, “It was one of the most heroic challenges I’d ever witnessed.” Indeed, love him or hate him that was a phenomenal effort he put in.
Ajay’s in a pretty blue dress today. It has buttons on the front!
Tania wants a white t-shirt to show everyone the numbers she can actually pull and show them the competition they could have had if she had stayed in the game.
I’m sure they’re quaking in their boots, Mrs 12KG in 4 months.
Everyone has to stand on a white disk with a barbell held across their shoulders. One at a time they’ll pick a competitor to have 10kg put on their barbell.
The delivery people will be Shannan and Michelle, who look like they’ll be getting a good workout themselves today!
Sharif’s excited because this means he could possibly get payback on Meaghan for her picking him in the instant elimination.
First person to drop their weight or step off the disk, goes home immediately.
Last person to drop their weight or step off the disk gets the coveted white t-shirt!
Apparently today’s challenge is being called “Stacks On”! Hee!
Tania claims to have been doing a lot of weight work on the outside. So she’s quite confident she can do this. “Bring it on!”
Meaghan’s surprised at how heavy the bar alone is and she’s finding it a little tough to get comfortable already.
Andrew gets to pick first and he gives his first 10kg to Tania. He’s singled her out as the weakest person, figuring that everyone else is likely to target him so he’s hoping that Tania at least will go out before him, ensuring he at least won’t be instantly eliminated.
Jeda goes next. She also gives 10kg to Tania. “Thanks!” Tania says.
Jeda reveals that her and Andrew came up with the strategy of giving their weight to Tania first because Jeda was likely seen as the next weakest and this way Tania would go before either of them.
Teresa’s up next. She gives 10kg to Andrew. Andrew’s not surprised. And also isn’t surprised when Sharif targets him, too!
Sharif says this challenge is an opportunity to play smart and take out your biggest threat.
Which leads to Tania’s turn. And she picks Jeda, who is clearly a much larger threat than Andrew!
Ramses and Tania have decided to target Jeda first to try and ensure neither of them would be out first. Meaghan’s also in on the plan and she targets Jeda, too.
Then it’s Stewart’s turn and he’s giving his weight to Tania, too.
Shannan reckons they’re crazy and thinks they ought to be targeting the strongest person first.
Sean’s turn now. He picks Andrew, too.
Andrew’s turn rolls around again and again he picks Tania. Sharif characterises it as “weak gameplay”. Doesn’t seem to realise Andrew’s main chance here is to pick off as many as he can before he goes down – because he will inevitably go down as he is one of the biggest threats!
Jeda targets Tania again, too. Tania says she can see that Jeda is going to break, though she’s only up to 30kg so far.
Tania thinks back to Fitzroy Island when they had to balance with water weights on either side of them. Jeda only had 20kg on her when she fell, so Tania thinks she’s not strong at all.
Far be it from me to give credit to Jeda… but Jeda did have most of that weight on one side of her body, making it much harder to balance… And that was four months ago. And we all know which of those two put more effort in while not on the show!
Tania says, “Put 50 kilos on my back, Jeda. I don’t care! At the end of the day we’ll see who’s going to drop and who’s going to have more weight!”
Every time more weight goes on her bar, Tania’s getting angrier and losing her focus more, Michelle says.
This is right after the ad break, by the way.
Teresa picks Andrew for her 10kg.
Just before Tania says that her weight is rocking, it’s rocking, it’s “gawn”. “Fuck youse!” Ahhh, another gracious loser.
Tania says she’s angry because Jeda is about to break.
We get a shot of Jeda after that where she… well, she looks like the weight is getting heavy but she’s by no means freaking out yet.
Ramses then gives weight to Jeda, seemingly forgetting that it’s pointless eliminating her now.
Meaghan hasn’t forgotten though and immediately gives her weight to Andrew!
Stewart then picks Meaghan. Meaghan is a little disappointed as she was hoping she’d get through further before getting any weights.
Jeda’s weight finally slips off. She managed to hold 40kg in the end.
Andrew’s struggling. He’s got a lot of weight across his shoulders now.
Michelle says not only is the actual weight getting heavy, but it’s getting more difficult when you know everyone else is gunning for you.
He’s up to 90kg and the strain is showing. Ramses adds another 10kg to Andrew’s misery.
Then Meaghan picks Andrew, too. And rather than wait for Michelle and Shannan he just drops the weight, deciding he’s better off keeping himself in good physical condition for any remaining challenges. Smart boy!
Meaghan’s on 20kg. Stewart’s on 10kg. Sean’s on 10kg.
Stewart again goes after Meaghan. Apparently as retribution for Meaghan having voted for Amanda during Amanda’s second chance.
Yeah, starting to like Stewart a hell of a lot less now. That’s a dick move, plus it’s a dumb move. You need to wipe out Sharif and Sean if you have any chance at all, dumbass.
Sharif’s surprised he still has no weight. I’m surprised Teresa doesn’t either.
Teresa then gives 10kg to Stewart. Stewart’s surprised because he thought he, Amanda and Teresa had a tight bond.
Sean finally gives 10kg to Sharif and Sharif says they can’t have him standing around holding nothing!
Shannan finally pipes up and reminds them it’s about getting a chance back in the game!
Sharif again gives some more weight to Stewart. Sharif sees him as the next biggest threat, both for his determination and the fact he still has plenty of weight to lose.
Ramses has also started to target Stewart who’s… looking a little wobbly.
Stewart is starting to get a bit mouthy, which Michelle thinks is a bit unnecessary. Probably not very smart, either. Act like a dick and you’re not going to get treated better, dude!
Stewart’s struggling with his weight as the trainers add more. They slide off to the side and Shannan’s not allowed to help, just slide the weights back onto the bar.
He finally decides to drop out at 90kg as well.
Sean’s playing smart and again picks Sharif. Shannan’s boggling at Teresa having no weight at all and Sean still only having 10kg.
Teresa has to think for a bit when it’s her turn as she’d been focusing on Stewart before. She finally picks Meaghan by mistake. She was meant to be going after Ramses now!
Ramses then picks Teresa.
Sean then decides that Ramses is the only one not having any fun, so he can have some weight now too!
Teresa also goes there. As does Sharif.
And not long after Ramses lets his bar drop. At 30kg. Woeful, even his wife did a lot better than that!
Meaghan’s struggling. But manages to hang in there for one more pick, giving her weight to Teresa.
Meaghan’s up to 40kg and finally pikes out. She’d been holding that up for quite a while, unlike Ramses who got most of his 30kg in a matter of minutes!
Sean’s turn now. Sharif and Sean are swapping 10kg back and forth, essentially.
Unfortunately Teresa is also getting to focus on Sean, so he’s well behind the 8-ball.
Sharif’s up to 60kg now and is really starting to feel it.
Sean’s using his martial arts training session as motivation, to keep the mental toughness up.
Teresa is up to 30kg, Sharif is on 80kg and Sean is up to a very impressive 100kg… but he’s struggling, badly.
Sean’s trying to keep himself balance and finally has to concede defeat at a very impressive 110kg. That’s more than Cosi got eliminated with last year.
Team Orange is all that’s left.
But Teresa’s not going to let Sharif win without a fight, so it’s 10 more to Sharif!
Sharif laughs.
Teresa then says that they may as well just keep going back and forth with the weights until someone gives up.
Sharif says that’s all he’s got in him but Teresa reckons she’s got more in her still!
Ad break, big surprise!
Sharif is up to 140kg. 140kg! More than his own body weight at this point. That’s a new record for the stacks on challenge, too.
Teresa’s on 90kg, the first time a girl has got that far on the show… but she’s finally forced to drop it. Sharif drops his shortly thereafter, but he’s won the white shirt!
Shannan says to him that he asked once what it takes to be tough – that was tough. That’s what it takes.
Sharif’s joined Jodi in White Shirt land now. Now all he has to do is lose enough weight at the weigh-in.
Tania was first to get knocked out of the challenge which means she can now go home and lose pitiful numbers. Hooray!
Apparently Tania and Ramses haven’t spent more than 24 hours without seeing each other. In 8 years. Good lord, married people are mental!
Ramses is on the ground bawling his eyes out after Tania leaves. Lots of people huddled around him patting him on the back and knee and whatnot.
Wuss! Wusssssssssssssssss!
Only two white t-shirts are left. And another chance to get one is just around the corner.
But if you thought today’s challenge was agonising, wait till you see what’s next!
Tomorrow night it’s the eliminated contestants super challenge!
They’re going to have a 10kg ball and chain shackled to them and there’s a lot of running and question answering and whatnot going on.
But since tomorrow is a Friday you just know the result won’t be revealed until Sunday…