Previously on The Biggest Loser Wayne was sent home, possibly for undisclosed family-related reasons.
Chris tried to reptend he was a threat in the game, despite being beaten by practically everyone in the game thus far.

Tonight… PIIIIGS. IIIIIN. MUUUUUUD.
Yes it’s the yearly muddy challenge thing where they all roll around in the mud for some sort of prize like immunity.

Everyone heads out to… some strange place with an obstacle course set up. Coloured flags, mud, tires, all the jazz.
Jarna doesn’t do dirty. Not mud, not paint, nothing.

On offer at today’s Challenge is Immunity.

And it’s every Loser for themselves this week. Theoretically, at least. Realistically I’m sure there’ll be some strategies in play…

At one end of the course is a mountain of tires, at the other end is a set of poles. 3 poles per contestant.
They start at the pole end then navigate through the obstacle course, which includes a big, filthy mud pit.
They then collect one or two tires, but no more, and carry them back to the poles to stack them on top.

Each pole holds a maximum of 10 tires. So the most tires one contestant can have is 30.
But their mission is not to fill up their own poles, it’s to fill up the poles of their competitors. Once you have 30 tires on your poles, you’re out of the running for Immunity.

The girls are planning on sticking together – all of the girls, apparently. Chris thinks they’re planning on targetting him first. Why? You’ll fold long before winning.
Joe thinks it’s suspicious too. He and Rick think it’ll be one of them getting gunned for.

David and Shannon are having to sit out due to injury, by the way. So there’s even fewer boys than usual…

Hayley wishes them all luck then suggest they take their marks. Because she has a starter’s pistol to start the race.

BANG! Ad break.

After the ad break Chris, Rick and Joe head off quite quickly. Chris is planning on heading out as hard as he can and see how he goes. Joe figures there’s no point getting worried about being dirty, he’s just diving right in.
The girls get to the first mud pit quite a bit after the boys and get through the pit much slower. And they’re all squealing and complaining, especially Caitlin.
Phoebe says the cargo net they have to crawl under is getting heavier as the mud clings to it. There’s a slope up the hill on the way back they’re all struggling with.

Chris is surprisingly the first back to the poles and decides to put his two tires on Caitlin’s pole first.
On his way back he sees people trying to climb up the slope and their tires are lined up the top with nobody having their hands on them. And he figures he’s going to be there for a short time anyway so he may as well have some fun and get some reactions.

So he trots up and starts grabbing tires and hurling them outside the course. You have to be able to grab them from inside the course and if you can’t get them from inside the course, they’re gone.
Phoebe says she’s going to have to kill someone now! She wasn’t going to put her tires on his poles anyway!

Joe says that Chris hasn’t really helped his situation at all since after that everyone else ganged up on him immediately and he hit 30 tires pretty quickly.

Well, it was good for a laugh but didn’t really help!
Chris is a little annoyed because he thinks he can compete and compete well, but he needs a chance…
You just had a chance and you blew it!

The girls then decide to start hitting Joe. But Joe’s not quitting, he’s just going harder.
Once Rick sees that the girls are going for Joe and him, he and Joe decide to get 4 tires between them and put them right on Daina’s poles.

Lisa says she can feel the mud seeping into her shoes and one time when she tried to get up out of the mud she feels her back pull and decides to call it quits.

Daina’s trying to get up out of the mud and up the hill at one point and she puts a lot of weight on her right hand… then feels her thumb bend right back and we see a shot of her clutching at her hand with tears in her eyes.
She tells us that she felt like she still had a lot left in her…
It’s only your thumb, Daina!

And she’s continuing on after an ad break. Though Caitlin’s urging her to stop. She tells her it’s not worth injuring herself to get immunity.
She’s quite disappointed but in the end she pulls out rather than making it worse.

Then Caitlin’s hurt her ankle. Apparently. A few of them suspect it might be her willpower that failed more than her ankle.

Jarna and Phoebe are the only girls left at this point. So Rick and Joe are trying to put all their tires on Jarna’s poles because she won’t lose enough weight at the weigh-in and will thus be a likely proposition for elimination.

Joe’s nearly gone by this point. Jarna’s trying to carry up two more tires, using the rope provided on the final hill to help herself up… and then that’s Joe out of the game with 30 tires on his poles.

Leaves Jarna, Phoebe, Rick and dark horse Phil!
Phil’s starting to struggle more.
The tires are coated in mud, their bodies are coated in mud, it’s getting heavier and heavier all round… but nobody wants to give up, no matter how tempting the idea is…

Rick puts the last tire on Jarna’s stack and now she’s out. But she’s proud of not having given up, only stopping once she was forced to quit.

Phil knows Phoebe will always fight on but he’s hoping he might have his day.
Phoebe’s thrilled to be in there near the end and she does a little dance and bounce thing in the interview afterwards but then says she was also a bit, “Now I have no backup!”

Phil and Rick are both targeting Phoebe now. Rick in particular wants to get her after what she’d done to him and Joe.
Jarna says Phoebe’s a workhorse, she doesn’t stop, she finds her rhythm and just keeps on moving. Shannan calls her a warrior. And she’s 19. And Phil says she’s a ranga and ordinarily that would mean they’d stick together but circumstances said otherwise.

Phoebe says got a lot more confidence now, since the tug of war in the mini-Olympics challenge. Caitlin had told her she’s stronger than she gives herself credit for. And she is! She can lift two tires and walk up a hill if she has to!

Hayley says she’s out and congratulates her. Phoebe staggers towards Hayley with outstretched arms and Hayley looks like she’ll accept a big hug but Phoebe instead goes to the side and Hayley gives her a light pat on the shoulder. Heh.

Rick will need a bunch more trips to put enough tires on Phil’s stacks to win where Phil only needs a few more tires on Rick’s to win. So he’s going to grab his chance and hope for the best.
Rick says he’d wanted to give up about an hour in but he’d gone on for another three and a bit hours. Definitely a mental game and he had the strength to push through it, as had Phil.

Phil’s using thoughts of his kids and how much they’d love the mud and love seeing their dad battling through it all to win.
He finally gets to the top and puts the final tire on Rick’s stack, dedicating it to his kids Memphis and Maverick.
Rick meanwhile had been having a bit of a sit down at the end but gets up to shake Phil’s hand at the end.

The challenge took 4 hours, Hayley says. Crazy!
And now Phil has immunity from the very first proper single elimination thing.

Tomorrow night Shannan’s team of underdogs will have to fight like hell to stay above the Yellow Line.
Then a loved one and a hero are a surprise double reward!

Not sure who the loved one is but the “hero” is Hazem El-Masri from the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL.
If you can’t tell, I’m completely thrilled by that revelation…