Tonight on The Biggest Loser… Masterclass, New Zealand style! Some Kiwi chef cooking something or other.

Then a really tall building that will be their “leap of faith”… Didn’t Lisa and Phoebe already do that into the water?
Oh well, I guess the boys will get a chance this time, too!

First up is Masterclass, Maori style. They’re going to learn how to use a “tai har”? It’s a traditional Maori martial art. It’s good for strength, agility, coordination. But the real benefit is it lets them focus and quiet their mind.
“Lucky” seems to be the Maori’s name. Think that’s a traditional name?

He says a blessing over them and their sticks before they begin.
Lucky says it’s not a fighting art, about hurting other people, it’s an art of self-discipline. The weapons of today are more about politics and so on. They use this training to prepare them for these challenges.

David’s the first guinea pig to learn a bit of stickwork. As a karate black belt he’s probably done similar training before and he seems to be digging it.

Now they’re adding some noise to it. And you bring it from the guts, not the chest.
Lisa’s having a lot of fun with it, too. David seems to really be trying to learn it. Wouldn’t be surprised if he takes it up when he gets home again.
Shannon says he was surprised at how much of a workout it was with “Blacky”? I thought that’s what Shannan had called him but that seemed a little too racially charged to have been his name…

Lisa says they all felt really good afterwards. It was a good workout but it was also very relaxing to perform.

After the ads Hayley takes them all for a bushwalk to meet a kiwi cooking legend, Charles Royal. He’s well known in New Zealand for reviving traditional maori dishes, using traditional ingredients.
Charles is taking them all foraging through the forest, picking various leaves, fungus and so on.
Shannon says on his way to becoming over 200kg he’d never really munched on grass, vines or fungus but why not try something new?

Charles finds some leaves with holes chewed in them by some insect or other. Apparently those are the ones to go for as they have the best flavour. Must have smart insects in New Zealand because the ones here will eat damn near anything!

They’re going to cook some Kawakawa chicken, made with the herbs they picked earlier.

Charles has some weird purple-y potatoes which are maori potatoes or something. You can get them in New Zealand and Charles assures them that they can get the potatoes in Australia, too.

He also has a powdered version of one of the leaves in a jar, too.
He also shows them they can fry up one of the kawakawa leaves on the BBQ and they’ll go all crispy and, I gather, delicious!
The chicken’s been seared in a pan first then on the BBQ, then back into the pan, by which stage it’s looking delicious!

Then Charles has another New Zealand specific plant, this time a vine. But he says you can use asparagus or gherkin or other things instead, if you can’t get the vine.
There’s some tiny red berries and some very exotic rocket lettuce…

Lots and lots of processes going on here. He makes a sauce thing using wine from the the first maori owned winery in New Zealand. Neat!

The maori potatoes are purple on the inside, mostly, too. Interesting!
285 calories, all up. And it’s a really good sized plate of food, too.

Lisa and David get called up to sample it and they agree that it’s a little different in flavour but really delicious.

After another ad break Charles is cooking up some lamb racks to put in a smoker tin that sits right on the BBQ, cool!
And yeah, some more potatoes and marrows and other bits and pieces.
It’s cool to watch but I’m not trying to list all the ingredients. Sorry, I’m just not going to do it!

His smoked lamb has about 320 calories per serving.

Hayley gets called up to be first sampler. Hayley tries one of the “ear fungus” mushrooms. She says it tastes like fungus. She says it tastes good. But definitely fungus.
Then she tries the meat and says it’s melting in her mouth and is delicious.
Shannon tries some next and agrees, asking Charles if he wants to come back to Australia with them!

After another ad break they get invited to some traditional maori place to be welcomed into the tribe and meet one of their elders. Lots of womanly singing. Though it’s more like howling.

And the elder speaks in maori, followed by Blacky (Michelle says Blacky so it must be right…) speaking maori, too. He’s welcoming them, apparently.
Then all the maoris do the singing thing.
Their maori meeting hall thing is very nicely decorated with the rafters all painted up and a tiki pole in the middle and a bunch of wood carvings around the walls and pictures and so on. Not cluttered up like some places you see, very functional, but it looks nice, too.

Blacky says that his tribe is on a health, wealth and wisdom pathway. They take from the past but they don’t stay in the past, otherwise they’ll always be behind. You use what you’ve learned from the past to help you fight the battles of “The Now”, Blacky says. And from there you can create a new future. “What you conceive, you achieve.”

“Wealth is my birthright, I claim it now, I follow my heart, I create my future, I share my gifts, I live with gratitude, I am wealth. My time is now. I decide, I commit, I act.” Blacky says it’s all positive affirmations. Not maybe’s or should’s or must’s.
Wealth is not the money sort, it’s health and everything that goes with a good life, Blacky says.

Then they all get to flail around acting out the affirmation while repeating it along with Blacky.

Now they’re going to share something with them that’s special to their culture. They share their gifts, that’s what it’s about.
They’ve got four “tonga”? No idea. They’re bone carvings on necklace strings, as the contestants have tended to get at the end of their time in New Zealand.
Blacky’s father blesses them all and then they get presented to them with more singing!

Lisa’s represents a new beginning and being connected to Mother Earth.
We don’t get to hear what the other three carvings represent.

The maori tell them their blessings go with them.

Then David stands on behalf of the Losers to thank them, humbly and sincerely. He feels privileged to have been there today.

David says to us he’ll be using Blacky’s affirmation for the rest of his life. Big praise!

After an ad break they arrive at a huge tower. Lisa says to Phoebe that they might be jumping off the tower? Phoebe says nah, it’s Masterclass. They don’t do such things on Masterclass!
Lisa’s steadfastly refusing to look up at the tower.
It’s the Skytower of Auckland, apparently.
About 200 metres above them is the Skytower observation deck which offers awesome views of the city, Hayley says cheerfully.

Very soon they will all be standing up there. And then shortly thereafter they’ll be throwing themselves off the edge.

Phoebe looks absolutely horrified. David and Shannon look well up for it.

Shannan says they’ll reach speeds of up to 80km/h. Trust the kiwis to come up with such a ridiculous thing, Shannan says.

But Michelle’s talking up the mental changes they’ll experience and they’ve got the mental strength from what they’ve been doing all week.

Shannon’s standing there with a grin on his face.
But not for long. They have a strict weight restriction. You can’t be over 125kg if you want to jump so he’s going to have to sit this one out. Poor bastard.
He tries to put on a brave face for the other’s though as he doesn’t want to ruin their experiences.
I’d’ve told him that that’s just another prod he can use to lose the weight so he can come back and do it for real!

Phoebe has a crippling fear of heights and falling. She’s worried that this might be the first time something goes wrong with it, ever.
She’s pale, pale white as they get out of the lift up the top.
And Shannan’s not helping, saying “Duuuude, that is seriously high!”

Lisa’s kids are going through her mind.

Shannan can understand they’re nervous. But they have to start visualising. Visualise being at the bottom, having successfully done it. They’ve done it, they’ve conquered it, they can do anything, etc. It all started one day when they filled out an application form then survived a training session they never thought they would then they overcame the 21km challenge and if they can run 21km, they can do this!

David’s the first to attempt it. He’s all hooked up in his harness. The safety guy asks him if he wants to have a look over the edge first and David says NO.
Shuffle back a bit for him, till it’s just your toes on the edge.
Then Shannan tells him to have a look over the edge, this might be his only chance.
Shannan tells him he’s been so brave and strong, this will be the final test. Can he do it all under pressure.
Shannan says that the test is doing it, against all his primal instincts, his mind was stronger.

Set your self free, Dave!

As he hits the 2/3rds mark he stops grinning and lets out a huge, “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Then when he’s back on the ground he yells “THAT WAS AWESOME!” Huge hug for Michelle. He says to her that he just told himself to trust in the safety gear and do it.
The first little drop was a little scary but after that he realised it was just amazing and awesome!

Lisa’s turn. “Holy snapping duckshit”?
She’s a little scared. But when she gets to the feet over the edge bit Shannan asks her what the negative thoughts in her head are and Lisa says she doesn’t have any. She’s trusting it all and wants to make the most of it.
Shannan is amazed. She was in tears beforehand but in the meantime she’s replaced all the negativity with positivity. Shannan thinks she’s safe for life, now.

Three two one and off she goes! Screaming most of the way down but with a massive grin on her face. She even puts her hands out to the sides and lets go as David also did.
She’s very excited when she gets to the bottom and a little shaky on her legs. She tells Michelle it’s like nothing she’s ever done before in her life and probably never do anything like it again. But it was AWESOME.
Lisa says she feels very proud of herself for having done it. Michelle tells her she can do anything now, she really can!

Meanwhile poor old Phoebe is still up top. Looking almost as shaky as Lisa did at the bottom and paler than the long white clouds New Zealand is famous for.

She slowly shuffles to the end with trembling legs. She looks over the edge a couple of times though she can’t work out why. It’s not making it any easier but she’s got to know what she’s falling into!
People are like ants beneath her. She shouldn’t be doing this, this is ridiculous.
“Shit. Shit. Shit. Shannan, I’m so terrified!”
Poor Phoebe. :-(

Phoebe’s having a really hard time letting go… but she finally manages to let go with some urging from Shannan. She can do this.
Phoebe’s fear of failure overrides her fear of heights. If she can’t do this she’s failed and she won’t let herself fail anymore.

She finally leans back and lets herself go over the edge.
She SCREAMS over and over all the way down, louder than she’s ever screamed on the show.
She has to have a lie on the target mat for a bit when she gets to the bottom.
But then Michelle gets her back on her feet. Her legs are still trembling like mad.

Phoebe says it was so ugly up there. But what got her past it was the realisation that doing that kind of thing isn’t normal, it just isn’t. It’s getting your mind around it though. That’s the secret to getting it done.
Anything’s possible, Phoebe, says Michelle. “You are a superfreak!”

Then Shannan decides he just can’t be bothered taking the elevator back down and takes a shortcut off the side of the building. He’s grinning and looking around at the sights as he comes down the line.
When he gets to the bottom he grabs Shannon’s hand and promises him they’ll be back. Wonder if we’ll get an update of that during the Finale? Shannon should be edging towards the weight where he can do it by then, it’d be a really nice touch…

Tomorrow night Phil and Joe get another whipping from the Commando… and the New Zealand folk take a trip back in time with the inevitable hike with a huge backpack they fill with sandbags representing their weightlosses of previous weeks. Always a lot of tears and a lot of promises of never going back to that weight involved there…