Previously on The Biggest Loser all the eliminated contestants came back from Elimination-land to do their 42km marathon… OF DOOM!

Seriously, fat people, running a marathon. They’re mad, MAD I TELLS YA.

Anyway, tonight the marathon will begin. Pretty sure they won’t do the whole marathon in one half hour episode though.
And I’m pretty sure most of the episode will be taken up by people puffing and panting and not a lot of talking outside the “After Action” stuff.

Early tip for winners? Rick and Daina.

But we’ll see…

Today’s the day for the marathon, Phil tells us.
Thanks Phil.
Phil puts his Bulldogs hat on. Even though it’s night time.

Joe’s a little scared of the amount of pain that’s going to be involved. It’s something he’s never done before.

Steve’s waiting at the start line and says they’ll keep it short. But before they begin, they remember spending time with the indigenous kids, right? In conjunction with some charity thing.
And tonight they’ve got another opportunity to help out the Red Dust Role Models. If they finish the marathon the Vodafone Foundation (?) will donate $10,000 on behalf of each of them to the Red Dust Role Models.
So it’s a pretty big incentive for them to finish!

Ready? Steve gets them to the start line. Then 3, 2, 1, go!
Both lads set off at a slow and steady pace. Since they’re not really competing as such neither is really pushing too hard just yet. They start out side by side but Phil loves his running, Joe says, so it’s not long before Phil pulls into the lead.
At about the 5.5km mark Phil is doing it a little rough, saying it’s still quite warm, even in the early hours of the morning.
Mate, you’re talking a lot, run more!

Joe’s quite happy with how well he’s doing and Steve is following along with him and says Joe’s inspiring him to run a marathon. Joe laughs and says he can run it by himself! Steve has a chuckle at that, too.

Phil’s at the 10km mark and is 11 minutes ahead of his time when he ran the 10km back in Sydney, which is very impressive indeed since he’s pacing himself to run 42km today!

Joe runs past the 7km drum and is travelling okay so he keeps running towards the 10km and is feeling good.

Phil goes past the 14km drum. They’ve only got a drum every 7km so when he gets to the 21km drum he gets to turn around.

12.4km in and Joe can feel the blisters on the bottom of his feet as he trudges onwards. He’s stopped running now and he knows there’s going to be pain when he’s done… but he’s not stopping.

After an ad break Phil’s trudging down the track now too. 2 hours 10 minutes and about 25km into it, he says. He’s in agony, he says, and is wondering if he can finish out the remaining 17km.

Joe finally gets to the 21km drum and turns around it as well. 28km mark and Phil’s still trudging along.
Meanwhile back with Joe is Steve, jogging along beside him to encourage him to greater efforts. Joe’s getting a second wind and is starting to think maybe he can do this and maybe even beat Phil?
Think that’s optimistic but he’s going well.

Phil says that the Commando had told them that around the 30km mark you can get a bit “disillusional”. Strange, the Commando is usually quite well spoken. Phil, however…
Phil’s determined not to give up. He’s thinking back on his time in NT and is back to a trot again.

Joe goes past the 28km at a slow trot then a while later, as daylight is starting to show, we see him walking some more. His feet are starting to hurt a lot and he’s trying to walk more on his heels so the sores on the balls of his feet don’t hurt so much.
Joe continues trudging along…

Back in the lead, Phil’s trotting along as the sun rises ever higher. Steve’s at the finish line calling out for Phil to bring it home strong. 200 metres to go.
Phil tries to break into a run at the end and towards the final few metres he starts his usual shouting about being proud to be a bulldog and it being for his kids and his wife and…

5 hours and 6 minutes is Phil’s finish time.

Phil thanks Steve for all his support during the last few weeks.

So Phil’s done. What about Joe?

Joe’s still going. It’s taking too long, he says. So at the base of this hill he’s going to start running again to get it done.
And at the 35km mark Commando Steve is waiting at the drum to encourage him and run beside him some more.
Steve tells him he’s going to finish the race. Even if it’s at a crawl, he’s going to finish!
They’ve had some blowups, Joe says, but that’s only because Steve knows he’s capable of so much more.

Joe finally gets to the final 200 metres and manages to finish strong.

But right after the line he has to sit down on the ground and he breaks into tears. 6 hours and 17 minutes is his final time.
Joe says the marathon is one of the most emotional things he’s ever done. So people might think it’s just a run and not worth getting worked up over but he’s in tears because of it anyway.

Meanwhile back at Camp Biggest Loser the contestants are heading off to where they’ll start the marathon. All of the contestants, not just the eliminated ones.
Michelle and Shannan are in their workout gear, as expected… but Hayley is also in a bodysuit, so it looks like she’ll be running too?

Lisa and David won’t be able to run, sadly. Shannon is allowed to walk the first 10km however. Which will be amazing if he can make it that far after where he started the competition!

All the participants taking part line up on the start line and Hayley sends them off with the starter’s pistol.
Shannon and a couple of the others are walking at the start. I think one of them is Caitlin but it’s hard to tell.

Wayne’s feeling good at the start.
Rick reminds us he’d promised Joe he wouldn’t quit so he wants to do his best today.

Caitlin’s trudging along and says she wants to prove to herself that she can finish something that she started.

Wayne’s out front early on. Daina’s not far behind. Wayne’s encouraging her to keep up. Think that might be a dangerous ploy for Daina as she won’t have the stamina to stay up with Wayne for the whole race.
Teneale’s in second place for the girls and Rick’s in second place for the men. Teneale and Rick aren’t concerned though as both think they can keep up their current pace for a lot longer than Wayne and Daina.

Jarna and Phoebe are running along together back in the pack a bit. Elise is… somewhere.

Romi’s in 6th place after she overtakes Caitlin. She wants to show everyone how hard her and her husband have been working on the outside.

Allan and Jenni are walking a ways back.

Shannan’s walking along and chatting with Shannon. He gets to the 4km mark in 43 minutes – which back on Day One would have been enough to see him home in first place!
Shannon says the best feeling about getting to the 4km mark and having 6km to go is that he really doesn’t care about the 6km to go. It’s just 6km. It’s nothing!

Romi wants to push herself further than she’s pushed herself before so her husband will be proud of her.

Shannon’s really proud of getting to the 10km mark. He’s never walked 10km before in his life!
They approach the 10km mark and there at the sign is a little something they’ve brought along for the occasion. It’s his girlfriend, awwww!
Big squishy hug after Shannon trots the final dozen or so metres.

As Wayne approaches some other mark with Shannan trotting beside him. Geoff’s there cheering and hollering like a teenager which Wayne says he’d’ve never been able to do when he first came on the show.
Geoff tells him to finish it for his father.

Tomorrow night… more running!