Previously on The Biggest Loser Lydia, Bek and Brenda returned to the game! I am only excited about one of those things.

Tonight the depths of Michelle’s binge eating will be revealed, Alex has a breakdown in training and the weekly challenge is kicking off extra early, involves a pool and… balls?

Okay!

But before any of that all four trainers are sitting in Loser Lounge waiting for the contestants to come out of the Elimination/Salvation room. They’re having a chat about who they think will come back. They’ve all got it pegged as being the one that’ll be seen as the least threatening.
Mish tells us that that means Lisa because she doesn’t have the weight to lose.

Of course Bek’s the one to come back in and Tiff is thrilled. Shannan is amazed and says to us that the other contestants should have seen her as a threat because she’s still got the weight to lose and she’s determined to do it and has the fitness to get there.

Eight contestants, four trainers. Who do the returning contestants want as their trainers? Steve still has two of his boys, Tiff still has two of her girls, Mish only has Margie?

Brenda says her big success this week has come with training with Shannan, so she’d like to stick with him. Mish seems a little annoyed by that. She tells us they’ve had some ups and downs in training.

Lydia, of course, is going straight back to Mish. Margie doesn’t seem too thrilled, saying that her relationship with Lydia probably won’t be the same anymore. Both will do whatever it takes to get to the Finale…

So Bek is sticking with Shannan as well and Bek seems quite happy with that. Think she’s enjoyed her week of boxing training with Shannan.

Boys are an endangered species, Mish says. Steve thanks her for pointing out the obvious. Time to fire up, boys. Lydia says they’re going to start calling them Panda One and Panda Two because they’re an endangered species.
Graham’s not fussed. Lydia might be up the top of the board but he’s not far behind, he thinks. Apparently Graham don’t math too good.

Shannan’s got his two girls in the gym doing treadmills on an incline. Rather than increasing the speed they’re going to keep bumping the incline up, symbolising climbing their way back into the competition and their success at getting past six other people.
Shannan has learned what makes Bek tick over the past week. Today’s session is about learning what brought Brenda to Camp in the first place. Brenda says she turned 40 and decided she was done simply existing and it was time to take control of her life. She’d been feeling sorry for herself over her partner leaving her because she couldn’t have a baby with him.

Brenda felt angry when her partner left and then managed to knock another woman up within a few months. She resented that woman getting what she wanted. Brenda’s in tears and coughing and can’t continue walking.
Shannan tells her she has to let the pain go to clean her soul, move on with her life and not dwell on it. Brenda tells us it HURTS. But she needs to live the best life she can and if that means without kids, so be it.
Shannan wants her to get to the point where she can talk about this stuff without breaking down and if she can get to that point the rest of her life will be smooth sailing after she gets out of the house.

Bek gives Brenda a big hug after the training session. Awww!

Steve’s trying to get his blokes fired up. He wants them to be doing a lot more work than any of the women so they can beat them every week from now on.
Two of the six women in particular are very strong, Steve says, Lydia and Margie, and the boys’ job is to catch up to them.
Alex tells us that they say age is no barrier, but sometimes it is. Mentally he can probably outdo them but physically he can’t get to that level.

Steve asks them if they’re nice guys just going along for the ride? Alex says whatever, he doesn’t care anymore.
Graham tells us that Alex has been struggling with the pain barrier of late and it’s breaking Graham’s heart, so Graham helps him as much as he can.
Steve tells us that Alex is more than twice the age of some of the other contestants and is having to overcome 30 years of neglect and yeah, it’s a lot to combat.

Alex tells Steve he needs to do it his way. Steve’s way is too hard for Alex. Steve says he’s right there, now, taking part in this session.
Alex says he can’t do it anymore! Buries face in hands and cries.
Steve tells him the emotions he’s feeling now will come because every day he’s asking a little more of himself. Steve tells him that he doesn’t actually need to work as hard as the others, doesn’t need to be able to keep up, he just has to keep working as hard as he can and he’ll keep losing the weight and getting fitter.
Alex guesses he does have the mental toughness because physically, his body’s pretty much done for.

Steve tells them both that as long as they’re doing everything they possibly can they can step on the scales and accept whatever follows.

Mish has her ladies at the outside gym. She tells us that she’s got two alpha females who’re both striving to be number one and both have the capability to do it. They’ve been friends since Day One but they’re also the other’s biggest competitor.

Margie says she’ll do her best and if that’s not enough to win, then it’s not enough. But Lydia would sell her soul to the devil in order to win.

Lydia tells us that she’s always thought her and Margie could go a long way and Margie’s mind is the most likely point of failure. It’s hard getting up every day and training. They’re tired and in pain and going home seems an easy option.

Mish asks the girls what she can do for them at the end of the session. Margie tells Mish she wants to hear that it’s not going to be much longer. She can handle the training but the whole thing is dragging on now, it’s getting harder as it goes on.
Mish says it should be getting easier for them and they need to keep telling themselves that and at some point it WILL get easier.

More smashing out some punches on the heavy bag and running around and squats and so on.
Mish thinks they’re the toughest and strongest competitors left and she’s planning on keeping them in the competition for a lot longer!

Tiff turns up for training but Michelle and Kasey are sitting in the lounge room, not training? Michelle can’t meet Tiff’s eyes and isn’t talking. What’s wrong? Take a guess. Michelle’s had another binge.
She’s an emotional eater and struggles with binge eating, so she needs to approach it as part of her recovery.
Tiff wants Michelle to take her to the kitchen and show her exactly what she ate. Michelle looks mortified.

Tiff wants Michelle to spread her binge out on the counter so they can take it all in, work out how much she has to work off and for Michelle to just take accountability for what she ate.
And yeah, it’s quite a bit of food. And Tiff asks if she ate it in the open and she didn’t, she took it to her room to eat.
All up? Tiff figures about 700 calories. Michelle is gutted and starts to walk away sobbing. Tiff chases after her and comforts her, tells her it’s really not that bad. She didn’t do the calorie count to shame her, just to show her that it isn’t that bad.
It was all healthy food, Tiff tells us. No sugars or trans-fat, nothing bad. They can work those calories off in an hour, the real thing they need to address is her mental state.

Tiff tells Michelle she can’t stop the binges but she needs to learn to have them further apart. Tiff says it’s a process, recovering from binge eating, it’s an addiction like alcoholism, Tiff insists.
Tiff wants Michelle to forget about it, not feel guilty about it. Eating that doesn’t mean she’s back at her starting weight.
Michelle sobs that she wants her Mum. Tiff understands but she wants Michelle to mature a bit more and not to eat her emotions. Yes, she’s worried about her family but she needs to look after herself right now. She needs to get this under control.
Kasey says you don’t get overweight without some binge eating. Kasey’s main concern in it all is how she can help Michelle get past the problem and turn to working out instead of sitting in her room or going to the kitchen.

Michelle tells us she feels a lot better after talking to Tiffiny.

After the kitchen chat they’ve gone to the dojang to work off the calories. Tiff says the session after a binge is crucial, it’s about teaching your body what to do with the calories – burn them off!

Tiff’s getting Michelle pumped up throughout the session, telling her not to think about winning the competition just think about beating the binge and recovering her health.
Tiff says Michelle’s great at the workouts and it helps get her back on track as it releases endorphins.
Michelle is hoping for at least a weightloss at weigh in and Tiff tells her she can get a great weightloss, it’s all in her head, she can absolutely do it.

Ahh, it’s actually a Contest today, not a challenge. It’s at the pool!
Kasey’s at a doctor’s appointment (reason not stated) so it’s only seven of them today.
They’ve all fought hard to get to this point but some have fought a little harder than the others – the top four. Currently that’s Lydia, Margie, Alex and Michelle!

So for leading so far they’re the only ones who get to compete in The Contest today.

And the reward is going to be a big one. The winner will not be going on The Walk. They’ll get a power immediately – the power to SEND SOMEONE HOME.

OUCH.

Everyone’s shocked. And horrified.

Then Hayley drops the other part of the reward – the person will only be sent home until weigh in. HA!
Michelle looks a little more hopeful at that.

So the question is, who needs Camp Biggest Loser most of all? Who needs their trainer for the rest of the week?

Margie thinks she’d actually be fine, it’d be good to see family and friends, wouldn’t distract her at all. Even the beer can wait!
Michelle says her Mum’s birthday is tomorrow so she’d love to see her Mum. Awwwww! And she can stay focused on the outside, her Mum wouldn’t let her slack off.

Brenda and Bek have been home already and both seem to agree they’re better off staying inside.

In the pool there’s two bungee cords at one end. There’s also a number of medicine balls ranging in weight from 1kg to 9kg. You fight against the strain of the bungee cord to deliver a ball to the other end of the pool.

Lydia’s in top spot at present (“Shit!”) and will thus face off against Michelle who is in fourth. Margie and Alex will therefore face off in the second round. Margie’s amused by that and Alex has a laugh too and says he hates Margie so much! Margie rubs his head and gives him a kiss on the forehead and tells him it’ll be alright. Heeee!

Whoever delivers their medicine balls first will win round one. They have to deliver them ALL? That could take a while.

Lydia says you could try and do it quickly but if you slip the bungee cord will snap you right back so it’s better to take it a bit slowly with long, powerful strides instead.
Michelle’s had a tough week but she’s determined to try and win. Michelle misses one of her baskets but Lydia then misses her one. Lydia’s still ahead, but not by a lot!

Maybe Michelle’s in with a chance?

Michelle’s thinking about seeing her Mum and Lydia realises Michelle could very well catch up to her if she pushes hard enough.

Lydia’s been piling all her balls at the front of the basket/circle thing and is having trouble fitting more in. Lydia’s on her final ball though and Michelle’s starting her final lap as Lydia tries to fit the last ball in.
But Lydia manages to get her final ball in and Michelle finishes her final run not long after… and then bursts into tears. :(

Lydia wraps her up in a big hug and tells her it’s not over yet. Might Lydia win and send Michelle home? :D

Everyone feels really sorry for Michelle, Lydia’s in tears herself while they hug at the end of the pool.

Lydia wins round one and Hayley tells Michelle it’s been 11 weeks so there’s nothing wrong with wanting to go home for a bit.

But now it’s time for Margie and Alex to face off. Alex wishes Margie good luck and says he hopes she doesn’t pull a groin.

Whoever wins this round gets to go head to head with Lydia in the final round.
Alex says he’d love to win something, even if it was just marbles, to see Margie’s face when she loses.

Margie’s taking a big lead right from the start and with Alex’s injuries and bouts with illness he never really stood much of a chance. Alex is struggling a lot while Margie’s finding it all pretty easy.
Alex says the women can kick their arses now but remember the tortoise and the hare? He’s the tortoise!

Partway through Hayley asks Margie how she’s doing and Margie replies quite chirpily, all things considered.
Then Alex starts to have some fun with it, pushes Margie a bit as he’s going back, grabs her rope, then tries to carry two balls at once in an effort to catch up. Hayley threatens to disqualify him, disqualify him and then teach him how to swim!

Margie’s having a good laugh at it all too, tells us she feels like she was a little kid again.
Alex gets back to the collection of balls and puts one of his in Margie’s box as Margie’s carrying her last ball back. All in good fun, Alex tells us he had good fun and a bit of a workout, and good on Margie for winning.

Now it’s time for Margie versus Lydia in the final round. They’ve not had a head to head since the Marathon. Could be interesting!

The final round is a different challenge entirely. There’s a pole at either end of the pool with a suspended, angled platform hanging out over the pool. A knotted rope is attached to the top of the pole and when it’s time to start they stand on the platform while holding the top knot. If neither has fallen after a period of time they move down a knot. Then down another, etc. Last woman standing, wins!

Everyone knows there’s some tension between the two and a lot of competitive angst. So lots of people are looking forward to this face off.

Both of them are shifting their grip a lot to try and ease the pressure on their hands. Margie’s the heavier of the two so she’s expecting a harder time of it, but Lydia’s got smaller hands so she’s finding it hard to get her hands around the whole rope.
Not allowed to wrap the rope around their arm or anything, can only hold the top of the knot.

Lydia’s bitching and moaning about the gloves, saying she can’t hold on, it’s too hard and Hayley reminds her she’s not meant to be able to last forever it’s just who can last the longest.

Lydia finally chucks it in and falls off and into the pool. She struggles back out of the pool and then collapses on the pool deck. She tells us she found it really hard to breathe and stop shaking. It scared her quite a lot.
Hayley’s over checking on her and Bek brings her a bottle of water while the others look on. Brenda tells us Lydia tends to put a lot of pressure on herself and she’s collapsed like that before and cried. It’s not about losing, Brenda thinks, just the pressure to do her best.

Margie thinks it was more of a panic attack and maybe an excuse for not winning?

Lydia said when the time came to swap to the second knot she just got the shakes and felt really unwell. Bit harder than it looked, Hayley asks? Margie says it was a lot harder than she thought it would be.

Margie thinks she may have put more of a target on her back but she still feels she’s the fittest and strongest there, so she’ll be okay.

Margie now has POWAH! Power to send herself or someone else home until weigh in.

Tomorrow night… Who will Margie choose?
Then the Temptation kicks off. 24 hours with a Temptation booth in the middle of the lounge room. Who do we see lurking around? Lydia, Brenda, Bek, Graham and Alex are all there. And I think I saw the top of Kasey’s head? Maybe? So either Margie or Michelle go home?

And a midnight medical emergency. DUN DUN DUN. Might be Kasey, related to whatever her doctor appointment was about? Might be Michelle after a binge goes wrong? Might be Lydia with another panic attack or a real problem that was masquerading as such?

DRAMA, KIDS! Weeeeeeeee!