Previously on The Biggest Loser, Stewart and Sharif came back to the game while Julie left the game!
Also dream outfits were donned and audition tapes were watched and many, many tears were shed!

Tonight, it’s a workout with a difference – lugging furniture around!
Also, time for another Challenge. Probably the last Challenge for this season. And it’s escalator related!

Michelle and Shannan roll up to the house in an enormous removalist truck type… thing. Michelle has a megaphone and is yelling into it to get the Losers to come out. Meanwhile Shannan is laughing his arse off at her and not really doing much to help!

Apparently they’re getting ready to move into their new lives. They’re going to move furniture from inside the house and on into the truck.
Shannan wants to show them that moving their body up and down, loaded up with a bit of furniture, can burn massive calories!

They have to move all the heavy furniture from both Level 1 and Level 2. Ouch!
Shannan’s got the stopwatch out because he says he and Michelle have an idea of how long it ought to take them. Don’t disappoint them!

After the Losers head in to start shifting things around Shannan asks Michelle if she wants to go in and see what the strategy is and Michelle grins and says yeah!

Sharif and Stewart form a team right away and start carrying some of the really heavy things.

Sammy’s kinda cheating a little. She’s taking all the pillows and cushions and tossing them down from the top of the stairs to the bottom, where Tiffany then picks them up and carts them out to the truck. Teamwork! Sammy, Tiffany and GRAVITY!

Then they need to start moving the really heavy bits, like sections of the enormous lounge.
And Shannan says that’s when the cracks start to appear.

Lots of arguing and rushing through in dangerous fashion. Sharif’s looking to wear a lounge if he’s not careful!
Cam’s going a bit too hard which is causing a lot of the strife. He’s enthusiastic, Sharif says, but it starts to grate on them occasionally. Particularly when his ideas put himself and the others in danger.

At one point Cam suggests rolling the lounge over and he’ll catch it. “There’s no way you’re going to catch this, sunshine!” Declares Stewart!

Once they get sick of Cameron trying to kill himself they decide to slide it down the stairs instead. Sharif tries to mollify him by saying the way they did it was just a bit safer, that’s all…

Tiffany recalls them back in Week 2. Eighteen of them didn’t fit on the couch. But out of curiousity I paused to check. There’s 20 people on the couch. Two may be the trainers, it’s hard to say…
But they’ve come so far, Tiffany says. They’re fit, strong and so much healthier than they were back then.

“Moving furniture is hard, it’s awkward and it’s frustrating. That’s why we chose it!” Shannan grins goofily at us.

It’s not the conventional way to lose weight, Sammy says, but it’s working! They’ve worked up quite a sweat.

Shannan says that a couple of months ago, if their friends had asked for help moving, they’d’ve been making up heaps of excuses not to do it and not being able to do it.

They finally get the last couple of cushions up into the truck and are quite pleased with themselves.

One hour and thirteen minutes for two floors of furniture, Shannan says.

“… but!”

Everyone says oh noooooooo. You don’t want all that back up in the house, do you?!
Shannan says that what goes down must come up. Erm, that’s not the saying Shannan!

Cam and Sam look horrified.
Sharif and Tiffany get stuck back in, Stewart’s putting on his gloves. Cameron’s telling us he thought that it was a waste of time. Oh, Cameron…

Cam’s very unhappy. Tossing cushions out onto the parade ground. The dirty, dusty, gravelly parade ground. Michelle suggests that’s maybe not such a great idea as she dusts one off.
Cameron’s response? Nah, they’ll be alright, they’ll wash ’em!
Michelle’s loving it. Asks Cam where her “Why not” man has gone!

Shannan wonders how you can think it’s a waste of energy at this stage of the game. The more energy you burn, the more weight you lose! It’s that simple!

Cam struggles up the stairs with a lounge that Sharif is helping carry. He drops it as they get to the top and Sharif suggests Cam say he’s going too fast if he’s going to fast.
Cam picks it back up and says it’s not theirs anyway! Cam tells us he doesn’t get too upset about it because it’s being used as a training tool and sometimes training tools get dropped!

Shannan says that in a week he’d be sending Cam back out into the world, and until today he was convinced Cam had turned a corner and he’d been proud of what Cam had achieved. What’s life about, in the Blue team? Respect!
Cam says that throwing the cushions on the ground was okay because we’ll wash them later. Shannan reminds him that that’s not what Cam said – Cam said “someone” will wash them later. And that’s not respectful. Nor is dropping the couch and not worrying about it.
Shannan says it’s a reflection on him as a trainer if Cam goes out into the world with that lack of respect.

Sam’s wondering if they really want it all back in the house. They’re leaving in a week anyway!

Shannan’s finally giving them a hand, as is Michelle. It’s really not a job for weaker people so they need all the help they can get!
Sharif says that Cam’s getting back into the right frame of mind a lot quicker these days.

Sam thinks Cam got overwhelmed because old Cam would never have been able to do that!

Tiffany says she was about the most exhausted she’d been on the entire show afterwards.
“No one’s going to hire the Biggest Loser team furniture removalists. Especially if Cam’s involved and there’s no insurance!” – Stewart

Shannan says they still need to put some demons to rest. They’re all now a representation of the show and Michelle and himself.

Total time elapsed ended up around the two and a half hour mark. Craziness!
Shannan and Michelle says they’ll see them again very soon.

And after an ad break, Shannan and Michelle are still at the house it seems!
Shannan calls them all down. They’re all a little worried about what the surprise might be this time.

Shannan calls them all his little removalists and says they all look a lot cleaner and smell a lot better now too! Guess they all went off for showers and then reconvened for more fun!

They’ve got a projector set up in one of the rooms. It’s pulling in pictures from Michelle’s laptop, not old-fashioned slides.
Though the projector doesn’t look particularly new.

They’re going to be showing pictures of their old selves. Tiffany’s first. Her picture is from Isabelle’s first birthday.
And she looks… round. Very round. She knew she had a weight problem and knew she had to do something about it, but not enough to want to change the way she ate or do any exercise.
Tiffany says she may be smiling but it’s hiding a lot of things.
She’s determined not to go back to how she was.

Next up is Sharif. A pretty old shot. From when he was 16, almost 17. Entering Year 12.
Michelle says high school can be treacherous at the best of times, much less when you’re the size he was. He’s a very big lad indeed.
Michelle tells us his was the most confronting because she realised he’d been living as a very overweight person for his whole life.
Another shot of Sharif, too. From his wedding day. Fleur’s a size 8-10 and looks great. Sharif looks twice or even thrice as wide.
Sharif says he was smiling but behind the smile he’s thinking the photos are going to look crap. He and Fleur are going to renew their wedding vows because they hate them so much and want to take some new photos.

Then Stewart comes on. With a picture from his engagement, about 7 years ago. Stewart says in that time he and Amanda have both put on a lot of weight.
Next shot is from a holiday, the last time Stewart took his other daughter fishing. About 15 months ago. He’s bare chested and it’s not at all a good look for him.
Tegan’s always asking if they can go fishing again and he’s always making excuses. Now he’s realised he needs to take time out of his schedule to satisfy his family’s schedule.
You mean your family isn’t already part of your schedule?!

Cameron’s picture is… shocking. “You look massive.” Sammy says.
Michelle says he looks extremely uncomfortable. Shannan says he looks like a broken man, and I think that’s the best description. He’s leaning on the back of a chair and seems to be struggling to even stay upright.
There’s some other shots of him with his wife and his cute-n-skinny daughter where he looks done for as well.
Cam says if he could go back and talk to that Cam he’d tell him to get his act together and start losing weight!

Lucky last is Sammy. Sammy says it’s from the day before they left for the show. The girl standing beside her, her friend Nicole? Sammy thought she was smaller than Nicole. Literally, smaller than her.
She’s not. Very, very clearly not. Sammy says there’s no part of her that’s bigger than Sammy.
Shannan says one of Sammy’s bring problems has been perception of herself. But now Sammy can see the difference in herself!
Sammy tells us she wasted so many years and energy and time being upset, angry and sad. She won’t do that to herself again.

Michelle says to them all that it’s the past and it’s gone. Done and dusted.

And then Shannan announces, again, they’ve got another surprise for them!

Ooooh, letters from home!

They’re all taken off seperately to read their letters out loud. Cam starts reading a bit and starts crying. His letter is from his wife. She calls him her “darling husband”. Awww!
She must have started seeing him on TV at this point and seen the stuff about how she might leave him. So I guess she won’t be, else there’d not be a letter from her!

Tiffany has a surprise too. I wonder if it’s also a letter from home?
Michelle says she hasn’t read it herself yet.
Tiffany’s letter is from her husband, of course. And while we don’t hear Tiffany read it out, we can read the following on screen, “Here we are with another chance to write to you, sorry it’s typed but I didn’t have enough time to send you one by snail mail.”
Apparently her daughter Isabelle loves watching Tiffany on the TV. And Isabelle has also started doing pushups and running to be fit like her Mum! Michelle says she sounds just like Tiff!
Isabelle is also always asking if the foods are healthy. Tiffany is gobsmacked. Tiffany tells us she wanted Isabelle to have a better role model and she’s already changing things, even while she’s not home! She’s doing it just from what she’s seen on TV!
Ben’s also written a bit about his Dad Bob in the letter, saying that Bob’s become Ben’s new hero. And seeing them both do so well has been great. Relaying that because Tiffany doesn’t read it out on screen.

Stewart’s letter is from Amanda. Boring!
Shannan tells him the future Amanda talks about is in Stewart’s hands.
Shannan gets out of there pretty quickly after the letter reading. Does nobody like the guy?

Sam’s letter is from her boyfriend. Sam’s impressed that it’s an entire letter!
He says she looked amazing, gorgeous, stunning, etc. It was good to hear her voice and he didn’t want to let her go and he never will let her go. “Isn’t he beautiful?” “He’s gorgeous!” Sam and Michelle. Heh.
One of the bits in the letter Sammy doesn’t read on air mentions “their lil Romeo”. Apparently whoever he is, he’s still a little shit head! Lovely!
Michelle is very impressed by the way Matt’s supported and encouraged Sam, since that’s made things much better for her.
Sam says that it’s about the most dangerous thing Michelle could have given her since now Sam’s going to be pushed very hard!

Sharif’s letter is from his wife, Fleur. Of course.
Fleur’s letter is very flowery in language. GIRL.
Fleur says she fell in love with him because he’s fun and makes her laugh and he’s thoughtful.
Sharif says when someone understands you like that, they complete you on a spiritual level. And they don’t have any expectations of you, they just love you for who you are. She loved him regardless, but she’s also happy for him because now he can love himself, too.
Shannan asks Sharif if she met him when he was obese and Sharif says no, she met him when he was at his heaviest. And she loved him anyway.
Shannan tells us that it’s very rare he comes across a man who speaks so appropriately about his wife. They have an amazing connection.

Shannan also tells Sharif that he’s proud to have known him because Sharif’s helped Shannan a lot, too.

And now it’s Challenge time!
And for their challenge they’re going to… go shopping?
Well, they’re at a shopping mall, so it’s possible. Sam’s certainly hoping that’s what they’re doing. New body, new clothes!

But no! Ajay’s waiting at the bottom of some escalators in a pretty red dress. She’s looking slimmer, too.

They’re at Burwood Westfield or something like that. I’m sure somebody really cares where they are but that person is not me!
Ajay tells them shopping isn’t the reason they’re there. They won’t be spending their money, they’ll be spending their energy. All of it.
They’ll be travelling on an escalator.

Sharif says they were the blessing of his old life because it meant you didn’t have to walk up or down stairs!

Ajay tells them that while they will be walking up, the escalator will be going down… Ohhh, that’s going to burn.

There’s a number of barriers set up on the escalator and each Loser will have to stand between two of them. If you go through the barrier behind you, you’re out.

Cam’s still having trouble running without holding onto the treadmill, so this is going to be challenging for him.
Sharif doesn’t think it’ll be so hard. Oh dear…

And the prize for today’s winner? The power of The Walk.
Meh.

The order on the escalator, top to bottom, is Tiffany, Stewart, Sharif, Sammy and Cameron.
Almost like they have an idea of what order they’re probably going to drop out, isn’t it?

The escalator starts up and Cameron almost stacks it right away. Sammy’s not doing a lot better, she’s already finding it pretty tough. Not surprising as she’s the shortest competitor.

Stewart says the sensation is more mental than physical. You can see the stationary barrier but the moving steps. It’s weird.

Cameron’s struggling. Puts in a bit more effort and then gives up. Probably for the best, before he stacks it.

Sam’s hurting, too. Stewart’s trying to think of anything but the challenge in an effort to keep his mind off it.
Sam keeps looking around at the barrier behind her as it gets closer and closer…

… and after another ad break, Sam doesn’t last too long. She gives up, though she’s happy with how she’d done.

Sammy’s now got her fingers crossed, hoping that Stewart doesn’t win. Anyone but Stewart!

Sharif’s keen to win but being so big still, he’s finding it pretty rough going. He’s slowly getting closer to his barrier. Cam and Sam start calling encouragement to Sharif to try and keep him in the game.
Sharif doesn’t want to give up but he takes a moment to look back to see how far ahead of the gate he was and just then he slides back through the gate. Oops!

It’s down to just Stewart and Tiffany. Both look pretty focused.
Stewart asks how Tiffany is going but Tiffany doesn’t reply. Tiffany says it’s four against one. Nobody wanted Stewart to win!

Sharif is now down the bottom too, so he’s taken up the encouragements of Tiffany.
Yup. Nobody likes Stewart!

And Stewart’s noticed nobody is encouraging him. He needs to win the challenge though. It could be do or die for him.

But finally Stewart comes up the stairs to shake Tiffany’s hand. He’s conceding defeat. What? Crazy.
He says he made the decision that rather than quitting he’d go up and congratulate Tiffany.
It’s still giving up dude…

Everyone else is really glad Tiffany ended up winning!

Sharif thinks Stewart might just be biding his time now and hoping to make it as far as the weigh-in, because being above the Yellow Line might be his only chance.
Tiffany ended up walking for 32 minutes. Is that all? I was sure it would have to be more than that, going by how hard they struggled.

So now Tiffany has control over The Walk. Will this be a good thing, or a baaaad thing?

Find out tomorrow night… unless they really drag it out!
Apparently it’ll be the biggest twist in the game so far.

But Mr Voiceover Man is talking utter crap as usual. You’ll see!